Officer Jazmine, the newest facility dog at the University of Connecticut’s Police Department, was as cool and calm as can be when we met.
Most dogs’ first instinct is to investigate their visitors, to go sniff and circle around the stranger. But Jazmine didn’t do any of that. I wasn’t entirely sure she even saw me until I noticed her rapidly wagging tail.
“Hi Til — I mean, hi Jazmine!” I exclaimed with slight embarrassment. Two seconds in and I had already mistaken the new recruit for her sister. Despite the contrast between Jazmine’s bronze golden retriever fur and Tildy’s paler yellow lab coat, force of habit to call out for Tildy got the better of me.
While her handler, much of the campus and myself are learning how to stop constantly confusing her with her older sister, Jazmine is quickly learning how to fill Tildy’s shoes.
Jazmine made one of her first appearances without Tildy on Wednesday, Feb. 26 for HuskyTHON’s Day of Strength, the single biggest university fundraising day aimed at raising $375,000 in just 24 hours.
The four students operating the check-in table drew everyone’s attention to Jazmine when she walked in. Despite announcing her arrival with such enthusiasm and volume, Jazmine remained calm. Her wagging tail was the only sign of excitement.
Everyone paused their conversations and looked up from their computers to get a look at the pup. Most of the students working during the event were confined to their designated stations of t-shirt selling and donation-collection, but they gleefully welcomed her when she came around.
According to Jazmine and Tildy’s handler, Sergeant Justin Cheney, the UCPD’s dogs’ primary role is to interact with the student body. Throughout the Day of Strength event, there were very few moments when Jazmine wasn’t with anybody.
People were constantly walking in and out of the room. Whether they were just walking in or had been there since the very beginning, Jazmine was often the first thing their eyes latched onto.
Despite Tildy having retired, Jazmine still has a friend to accompany her to these events: Officer Carson.
The six-year-old black lab/golden retriever mix has been with the UCPD since 2021. He is also Jazmine’s new best friend.
Their closeness was evident the first time I met them at the station. Most dogs are curious when a new person walks onto the scene, but with Carson and Jazmine, I’m not sure they knew — or cared — that I was there. They played tug-of-war with each other for a stuffed monkey and somehow managed to thrash around within the small space of Cheney’s office.
While Carson is much calmer, it didn’t take a lot of effort from Jazmine to get him energized during the Day of Strength event. Within the first 15 minutes of the dogs being there, Jazmine was ready to start playing. The pair started off tame, but it didn’t last long.
Right in the middle of the room, Jazmine pounced on Carson first. This contained fun quickly pivoted to ruckus. The dogs ran into people and tables, causing several metal water bottles to fall to the ground and create even more noise.
From all of my time with them, this was the only moment I heard Cheney reprimand Jazmine. She quickly understood her handler wasn’t pleased and settled down as soon as she heard “Hey!”
Unlike with the Jonathans’ caretakers, Cheney encourages everyone to approach and pet Jazmine and Carson. He wants everyone that sees the dogs to feel welcome to come up and say hi.
Jazmine was let off her leash anytime we were at an event. She was free to roam, so much so that at times I thought we’d lost her. She snuck herself underneath tables and behind other students. It seemed like Cheney briefly thought he’d lost her too right before we left the Day of Strength.
She spent the event in constant search of attention and petting. Cheney compared her outgoing personality to Tildy, who acted more reserved.
“Tildy would almost check-in on me to make sure it was alright,” he said. “Jazmine just goes on her own.”
Cheney played the role of photographer during this event more than he played sergeant. Whether the photos were of the dogs with the event coordinators, students visiting the event or the dogs by themselves, Cheney had his camera app ready to go — even if it was just Carson and Jazmine photobombing.
After an hour of circling the small room, Cheney took out Jazmine for a walk around campus. She trotted along behind the Student Union for lawn dwellers and students making their way to class to see. Despite being one of the most congested areas of campus, not many people stopped us.
This progressed through the center of campus. We traveled behind the Business School and the Recreation center, eventually winding down toward Arjona and Monteith.
Several students jerked their heads at the sight of Jazmine. Even yards away, people turned to get a look at her. While not very many students stopped us mid-walk, nearly every other student we passed cooed at the sight of the dog. One student leaned into her friend and exclaimed in shushed tone, as if we couldn’t hear her, “Look it’s Tildy! Wait, no! It’s Jazmine!”
Jazmine is not only learning how to be a part of the UCPD, but also how to be a part of the Cheney family.
Like all of the UCPD dogs, Jazmine was trained to be a support animal by Canine Companions. This is the leading organization that provides facility and service dogs to people with disabilities and professionals working in healthcare, education and criminal justice. It breeds and trains dogs to “enhance therapies, promote participation and reduce anxiety for clients in professional environments,” according to their website.
After their shifts, Jazmine joins Cheney in returning home to his wife, two daughters and Tildy.
The Cheney family has two recliners in their living room. Each daughter has claimed her own. He said in the morning, one dog sits with one daughter in her chair; in the evening, the other dog joins the other daughter in hers.
A lot of students see the UCPD dogs as surrogates for their dogs at home. I saw students show care to Jazmine like it was instinctive. At the Day of Strength event, one student noticed Jazmine jump at the sound of a prize wheel suddenly turning. When he noticed it was about to turn again, he leaned in to cover Jazmine’s ears and muffle the sound — a reaction a pet owner would have to protect their own furry companion.
Jazmine received the same enthusiastic welcome at Hillel as she did at the Day of Strength event. Before she walked in, the room was quiet. Small groups of students were separated among the tables and conversations were minimal. At the sight of Jazmine, the room was filled with coos and puppy dog eyes. One student exclaimed “Oh my god!” when she saw her.
The student Isabella Rubin, a senior individualized pre-med major, was the most active with the dogs. She ran around Hillel’s wide-open space, exchanging roles of “chaser” and “chased” with Jazmine and Carson.
Rubin has a golden doodle back at her home in Buffalo N.Y. She said that the campus dogs give her the comfort that her own dog does.
She said the dogs “remind me of my childhood,” and the “comfort of having a best friend there.”
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