Dexter The Well-being Dog Visits Local Hospice
Turned down by the drug squad he is now bringing joy to staff and patients
Dexter entertaining staff at Meadow House
A four-legged visitor brought a smile to the face of staff and patients at Meadow House Hospice in Ealing in the shape of Dexter the police dog.
The four-year-old Labrador didn’t make the grade as a sniffer dog as he was deemed too ‘sociable’ for the drug squad, but his good nature gave him a second career in the Met as a ‘well-being’ dog. He is currently the only dog serving in that role.
Handler PC Mike Sheather said, “We were paired up a couple of years ago. I saw the potential of the Met having a dedicated wellbeing dog after Dexter spent much of the pandemic helping raise staff morale.
“My chief inspector asked me to write a business case and the rest is history.”
PC Sheather has been a dog handler almost from the start of his career in the Met in 1993. He explained how Dexter, a pedigree black Labrador bred by the Met Police at Keston, was originally earmarked for training as a passive scan drugs dog.
A week into his training back in 2020 it was apparent that he wanted to interact with people too much and was getting distracted from his detection work.
During the pandemic, Dexter and other dogs from the police dog school visited emergency service workers dealing with the impact of Covid. The staff, who were working in challenging and stressful conditions, found the visits very welcome.
During Mental Health Awareness week, Dexter visited each of the Met Taskforce Hubs, giving staff the opportunity to talk to each other openly, raise concerns regarding their wellbeing and find out how to get support.
PC Sheather says that meeting and interacting with Dexter proved to be the gateway that some officers needed to access counselling.
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March 22, 2022