Walking through the Waukesha County Courthouse, you might expect to see staff members.
But you probably wouldn’t expect to see a dog. Well, meet Pepper!
“One of Pepper’s favorite activities is to sniff,” says handler Jennifer Dunn. “Although her most favorite thing is meeting people.”
Jennifer Dunn is also the Director of Victim Services for Waukesha County, and Pepper is officially known as a canine victim assistant specialist. Which means she gets to met a lot of people.
Her whole job is to comfort people who have to come to court.
“When someone is crying, that definitely gets Pepper’s attention,” Jennifer says. “She will put her paw on them or her chin on their knee and she will really keep her concentration on them the whole time.”
Pepper is always ready to offer love and affection, and Jennifer says she’s an amazing coworker.
“Now that we have Pepper, we have seen that rapport building takes seconds where it used to take some time,” Jennifer says. “Who would want to sit and talk with me when they could meet and cuddle with Pepper?”
Pepper even has her own coloring book and stuffed animal to help kids get comfortable with the trial process.
“We’ve had children tell us, at the end of a visit, ‘I can’t wait to come back.’ Which is unheard of – who wants to come back to the DA’s office next week for at trial?” Jennifer says.
Pepper came to the Waukesha County District Attorney’s office in December 2020, and Jennifer says it was just in time.
“The following November we had the Waukesha Parade Tragedy and it almost felt like there was a reason we had gotten Pepper because she became an integral part of that process,” Jennifer recalls. “Every hearing in the lead up to the trial, Pepper was a part of.”
Over and over, Jennifer’s clients say they couldn’t have made it to court without Pepper’s support.
“Honestly in 26 years with my career in this office and this program, Pepper is the best thing that I’ve done,” Jennifer says.
The cost of Pepper’s care comes completely from donations and grants. If you’d like to contribute, visit this link.
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