University of Wisconsin-Stout will welcome its newest community member this week: a 10-week-old puppy who, once is fully trained, will serve as the first-ever therapy dog for the University Police. The puppy, who was donated to the department by Schmidt Doodles to help with emotional support for victims of crimes, students, and people in the community, has not been named yet, and the Police Department has been reaching out to the community to see what they should name the dog.

The first round of submissions yielded 319 name ideas, and the second round of voting narrowed the field down to three final names. Stout’s newest service member will be be given one of these names: Harvey, named after Harvey Hall, Blue, named after the primary color of our university, or Cedar, named after the Red Cedar residence hall. Students are encouraged to put in their VOTE HERE to decide the final name of the puppy. Voting will close March 6th at noon, and the puppy and his new name will be introduced to the public on March 6th at 1 pm at in the Chancellor’s Conference Room on the third floor of the Administration Building. Stoutonia will have a reporter there to cover the story, and we look forward to meeting UW-Stout’s newest public servant.