Natty, the Therapy Dog
Natty, the Therapy Dog
A rookie pooch at GFD chills out in the hot seat
By Ross Howell Jr.
Photographs By Bert VanderVeen
Ask anyone in the Greensboro Fire Department, and they’ll tell you rookie year is tough.
Sure, you’ve survived training, passed your exam and received your city employee number. But for months you’re still on probation and can be fired for shortcomings in your performance, conduct or attitude.
And while you’re learning the job and getting accustomed to an unusual work schedule, you’re also trying to prove yourself in the eyes of fellow firefighters — and meet strict GFD standards for performance, conduct and safety.
It’s a delicate balance between standing out and blending in.
But for one GFD rookie, it’s not possible to blend in.
She attracts attention wherever she goes. Maybe it’s that lush, flaxen mane that glints in the sunlight. People call out to her by name. And word is, she got the job because of the boss, Fire Chief Jim Robinson.
Now that’s pressure.
But if Natty, the young female golden retriever who is GFD’s first therapy dog, is feeling the heat, she sure doesn’t show it.
Most days, you’ll find her at the department’s public safety training facility next to Fire Station 1 on Church Street, chilling — the ill-informed might say napping — by the desk of her handler, Capt. Shawn Hyatt, who runs the Emergency Medical Technician (EMT)-training program for all GFD staff and trainees.
Natty may look relaxed, but, like her handler, she has a big job.
“When Chief Robinson was named to his position, one of the first things he said that he wanted was a therapy dog for firefighters,” says Patty Potter, a retired anesthesiologist who serves as president of the Greensboro Firefighters Association. It’s a relatively new nonprofit organization established to support the morale, community engagement, and physical and mental health of GFD members. Raising funds to bring on Natty was the association’s first project.
“Ed Kitchen, who is a board member of our association, also serves as president of the Bryan Foundation,” Potter says. “They provided the donation for a therapy dog.”
Not long after, Natty was picked up from a breeder in Asheboro. She was 8 weeks old.
“So, here we are,” Potter adds, laughing.
Natty wags her tail.
“For first responders, there’s a lot of stress,” Hyatt points out. “The hours are crazy, they see plenty of trauma and sometimes they come up with unhealthy ways of trying to cope.”
“The chief had seen health issues in the department,” Potter explains. “Alcoholism, drug use, depression, potential suicide — things like that.”
Hyatt nods in agreement.
“Those aren’t just department issues,” he says. “Those are national issues.”
A Greensboro native, Hyatt worked in construction before earning his EMT certification. He has 12 years with GFD — two as a captain.
“When I got my own station, I had a bunch of young guys on the crew,” Hyatt says. He recalls a shift when he took his firefighters on a stressful emergency call.
“I’d seen stuff like that probably a dozen times, so I could just move on,” he continues. But Hyatt realized that his younger firefighters might have never experienced anything like what they’d just witnessed.
Back at the station, he got them together to talk about the call and see how they were doing.
“I learned that was something important to do,” Hyatt remembers.
Although she’s still new to the job — still a puppy for that matter — Natty has participated in a similar session. Recently, firefighters returned from a difficult call and reached out to Hyatt to see if he and Natty would come by their station.
“So we drove out,” Hyatt says. He told the firefighters that he wasn’t there for a counseling session, that nobody was expected to speak if they didn’t want to.
“What I saw in that environment was that Natty can be a conversation starter,” he continues. “The guys just seemed to relax and open up, and we hung out for a while and talked.”
Carol Key, GFD deputy chief of essential services, points out an interesting aspect of firefighters’ response to stress.
“Many times, when someone has been on a severe call and we suggest they take time off, they reject that idea,” Key says. “They actually prefer to be around the people who work with them.”
That fact has led to the development over the years of a robust GFD peer support teams program that has become an important component of maintaining firefighter health.
The support teams’ work is strictly confidential, so Key is not privy to any conversations, but she knows that the groups are very active. Support teams are sometimes requested by other fire departments — even as far away as Florida.
“Natty can be a part of that effort,” she continues. “If a peer can show up with a dog and help a firefighter calm down, that’s very valuable.”
Golden retrievers are noted for being friendly, eager to please and gentle — ideal for the role of providing solace. But Hyatt points out that Natty’s disposition is more important than her breed.
“You’re looking for the right dog with the right personality and giving her good, basic obedience training,” he says. The goal is to develop a dog who remains calm and does her job, even when facing distractions or stress.
“Dogs, by themselves, are a kind of therapy,” Hyatt says. “Any dog.”
Studies have shown that interacting with a dog reduces cortisol, the hormone associated with stress, releases oxytocin, the hormone associated with feelings of well-being and happiness, slows heart rate and lowers blood pressure.
“But it’s not like we’re thinking, ‘Alright, now we’ve got a dog and everybody’s going to be fine!’” Hyatt adds, smiling.
“Natty’s just another piece of the puzzle that helps us address the mental and emotional health of the people in our department,” he concludes.
Natty recently returned to Greensboro after a couple of weeks in Charlotte, where she completed additional work with her original trainer, a retired fireman.
“She’s still a work in progress,” Hyatt says. “But she’s doing great.”
When Natty’s not at the training facility, she’s at home with Hyatt and his family and their two dogs.
“She’s a part of the family now,” he adds.
Hyatt continues her training daily, working in 20-minute sessions on obedience and interaction with people in public spaces.
Not as large as the fireman’s helmet she was photographed next to when she first arrived at GFD, Natty’s getting to be a big girl now, weighing in at 45 pounds. When she’s fully grown, she’ll tip the scales at around 60 pounds, roughly the weight of the full turnout gear — including breathing apparatus — that firefighters wear when they answer a call.
Service dogs, as you’d expect, must wear service vests.
Hyatt shakes his head.
“She went through a phase where she just exploded,” he says. “She outgrew the first vest we bought so fast, I decided to wait and see how much bigger she was going to get.”
Natty lifts her head, raising her ears to listen as several police academy recruits pass through the training facility lobby, heading for an EMT class. The space reverberates with the laughter of a group of firefighters talking nearby.
Natty yawns and stretches out on her side.
I ask Hyatt what he believes Natty would want readers to know.
“Just how important she is, how happy she makes everybody, how she loves people,” he replies. “That’s her job,” he adds. “To be Natty.” OH
Ross Howell Jr. is a contributing writer.