Round Lake-area group trains service, comfort dogs; ‘I couldn't leave the house alone before I had her'
An illustration major, Tousignant said there was a time he would not leave home alone for fear of having a panic attack. Then Lilly entered his life, courtesy of training at Round Lake-based Canines 4 Comfort.
As a freshman at college, Tousignant said he left Lilly at home. He would leave his room for a variety of reasons with his roommate, but class was a different matter. When he returned as a sophomore, Lilly came along.
'Now I have a lot less absences,' he said. 'I tried the first year without her, and it was very hard. I couldn't leave the house alone before I had her. Every day, I can do more than I did before.'
Tousignant's Lilly was one of 10 specially trained dogs going through their paces Tuesday at a Canines 4 Comfort training session in Gurnee, sharpening their skills to help people when a need arises.
Lisa Wernli, a Waukegan native now living in the Round Lake area, is the founder and executive director of Canines 4 Comfort. An experienced dog trainer, she started the organization in 2017, recognizing the need for service animals in a variety of situations.
Starting with psychiatric service dogs who help people with conditions like PTSD, anxiety and depression, Wernli said Canines 4 Comfort branched into training emotional support dogs. By 2020, she began training facility dogs, which are commonly referred to as comfort dogs.
'A facility dog can have two or three handlers,' Wernli said. 'They do not live at the facility. They go home with a handler. A psychiatric or emotional support dog (helps) one individual.'
Of the 15 facility dogs trained by Canines 4 Comfort in the past five years, Wernli said eight are at police departments, five at schools, one — Macki — is at the Waukegan Fire Department, and another is at the Lake County Courthouse. She has trained 26 emotional support or psychiatric dogs.
Beth Moss, a battalion chief with the Waukegan Fire Department who is Macki's handler, said in May that the dog is a benefit to firefighters who have had a challenging day or victims who have had a traumatic experience. She takes Macki to different events around the city, too.
'A young girl was lining up sticks for her,' Moss said of an interaction at an event in May. 'Macki waited for a moment and let the girl know she was playing with him. It's a way to interact with the public in a positive way, not on a bad day for them.'
The Waukegan Police Department will have its own comfort dog once training is complete. Wernli said two dogs in training are designated for the Waukegan Police Department, and one will be selected.
When there is a situation somewhere where a need is great, Wernli said multiple comfort dogs will go to assist with the situation. Ellie Jensen, a counselor at Prairie Crossing Charter School, and Annie Gernedy, a MTSS coordinator there, are Emi's handlers.
Emi spends her day at Prairie Crossing and goes home each evening with either Jensen or Gernedy. She has been at the school since March. The dog helps students with their social-emotional education and with potentially uncomfortable situations.
'She has improved the school community,' Jensen said. 'The kids enjoy her and crowd around her.'
Dogs trained by Canines 4 Comfort have helped solve crimes and potentially save lives. Wernli said that at one police department, a sexual assault victim would not talk about their experience. Then the facility dog joined the interrogation.
'Once they brought the dog in, the victim was able to provide the details,' she said. 'One time, a person was going to make an attempt on their life. The dog interrupted the attempt and awoke the parents.'
Wernli said Canines 4 Comfort can train eight to 10 dogs a year. If it can find more people who take puppies through obedience training, it would increase the supply of service and facility dogs.
'People shy away from it because they are concerned about giving up the puppy,' she said.
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