The UW-Stout Police Department officially welcomed its newest member this past Thursday. The 10-week-old double doodle will serve as Stout’s first ever therapy dog for the University Police once he is fully trained. University Police and the Involvement Center put on a campus-wide effort to find a good name for the dog. The survey saw an initial pool of 319 potential names narrowed to a group of eight, which was again reduced to the final three options: Harvey, Blue, or Cedar. The final poll garnered 442 total votes in under 24 hours and yielded the official name of the newest addition to our campus community: Harvey! He is named after Harvey Hall, which gained its namesake from Lorenzo Dow Harvey, whose leadership in the early years of UW-Stout set it on the path to what it has become today. The final round of voting was very tight, but Harvey won with 43% of the total vote.

Officer Ryan Murray, Harvey, and the Stout Students that came to the event. Photo by UW-Stout MarCom

Harvey was introduced to the public at 1:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 6th at the Chancellor’s Office. A wide assortment of people showed up to see the reveal, including Stout administrative staff, members of the wider community, and several Stout students. The new Chief of Police Gregory Kalosis talked for a short while about how they plan to use Harvey going forward. Chief Kalosis reiterated that Harvey was brought to Stout to help with emotional support for crime victims, students, and people in the community. It will most likely take around a year for Harvey to complete the necessary training to be certified as a therapy dog, but while they are training him, they’ll be showing him off all around campus to make sure everyone has a chance to meet him and give him some experience with interacting with many people at once. After everything had been said, Chief Kalosis brought out an official Oath of Office, which was signed by himself and Chancellor Katherine Frank and stamped with Harvey’s pawprint.

Left to right, top to bottom, Vice Chancellor Guenard, Chancellor Frank, Chief Kalosis, Officer Murray, and Harvey. Photo by UW-Stout MarCom

Schmidt Doodles from La Crosse donated Harvey to the UW-Stout Police Department, along with Bear, Harvey’s brother, who was donated to the UW-La Crosse Police Department. Harvey was happy to see all of the people who came out to see him and seemed content to bounce around the room, sniffing shoes and accepting pets before moving on to see the next person. Attendees were welcome to interact with Harvey, although they were warned not to pick him up due to his struggles with motion sickness. Officer Ryan Murray, who will serve as the dog’s primary handler and trainer, confirmed that Harvey had made a mess in two separate squad cars since being picked up the previous day. Although I was only able to interact with him for a short time, your humble reporter can confirm that he is, indeed, a Good Boy. Keep an eye out for Harvey and Officer Murray as you go about your day on campus!

Harvey was tuckered out after all the festivities. Photo by UW-Stout MarCom