State police introduce Luna, department’s first-ever comfort dog

FRAMINGHAM, MASS. (WHDH) - State police officials introduced the world to their newest four-legged colleague on Thursday.

Luna, a four-month-old English black Labrador, will be the department’s first-ever comfort dog.

Thanks to a donation to the department, Luna will be assigned to the Employee Assistance Unit and will be brought to any first responders the unit is working with as part of its post-traumatic stress decompression and healing process.

Luna will also be made available to civilian victims and survivors of large-scale incidents.

“The function of the comfort dog is to provide relief from stress for people during times of crisis,” Lt. James Massari said.

Luna already made her debut in the field last week in Springfield, where an officer got shot.

“She was there as a calming effect for the officer and actually helped the officer open up about the incident,” Luna’s handler trooper Chad Tata said.

Luna will continue training until she’s about one year old and then she can be certified as a therapy dog.

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