SAN DIEGO — Walking into a courthouse can feel pretty intimidating, especially if you’re just 8 years old and you have to testify against someone that hurt you.
San Diego District Attorney’s Office has a special tool with four paws that helps some of the most vulnerable and youngest victims testify in court.
“Here we go, we’re going to work, let’s go,” Marilyn Ambrose, 92, says to her 5-year-old goldendoodle as they walk into the San Diego County Central Courthouse in downtown.
“Grace, I call her ‘Amazing Grace,’ but it’s really just Grace,” she joked.
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Grace is one of the furriest “employees” at the San Diego District Attorney’s Office. With her official badge, she is one of 11 dogs locally and one of 322 across the United States that help people testify in court, often against people who hurt them.
“The dog feels that. They feel tension of the child, there’s no question,” Ambrose said.
The four-legged “attorneys” can help any victim, but Court Dog Program Director and Deputy District Attorney Carrie Johnson said the dogs most frequently are used to support victims of child molestation.