In 2003, Ellen O’Neill-Stephens, a deputy prosecutor in King County, Washington, started bringing Jeeter to work. Jeeter was a Labrador-retriever mix trained by Canine Companions for Independence as a service dog for her son Sean, who is disabled. At the courthouse, the dog turned out to be useful in a way nobody had planned.
O’Neill-Stephens began bringing him to juvenile treatment court, then to criminal trials involving children. In 2005 the Seattle Times reported that Jeeter had helped twin girls get through their testimony in a sexual abuse case.
Ellie, the first
In 2004 the prosecutor’s office acquired its own dog, Ellie, also from Canine Companions, handled by senior deputy prosecutor Page Ulrey. Ellie is considered the first professionally trained facility dog in the country to work in a prosecutor’s office.
“Ellie was a game changer for all of us,” Ulrey said in a 2026 Washington State Bar News feature. “The courts are a high-stress environment with heart-wrenching trials involving victims of violence, sexually abused children, and cases where lives are truly at stake. Ellie brought a sense of calm to those involved in the cases and beyond.”
O’Neill-Stephens went on to co-found the Courthouse Dogs Foundation in 2008 with veterinarian Celeste Walsen. The foundation’s definition is precise: the dogs are graduates of Assistance Dogs International member organizations, handled by legal professionals, and serve as legally neutral companions for witnesses during the investigation and prosecution of crimes.
What Courthouse Facility Dogs Change
Megan Winder, a deputy prosecuting attorney in Pierce County, Washington, described a trial involving two young siblings. The younger child could barely enter the courtroom. “But when Astro, our courthouse dog, sat quietly at his feet and the boy clutched the dog’s leash, something changed,” she said. “His body calmed, his voice steadied, and he was able to tell the truth about what happened to him.”
As of March 2026, the foundation counts about 400 courthouse dogs working in 41 states, plus roughly 120 in nine other countries. California has about 34 programs, more than any other state. A 2017 state law, effective January 2018, allows a child witness in cases involving serious or violent felonies, and certain other victims, to be accompanied by a trained therapy or facility dog while testifying.
Judge Jeanette Dalton of Kitsap County, Washington, told Stateline how it works in practice. “Sometimes they need the leash in their hand. Sometimes they need the dog touching their feet. Sometimes they just need to see the dog.”
Sources
- Washington State Bar News, When Comfort Enters the Courtroom (Feb. 2026)
- The Seattle Times, Dogs lend comfort to kids in court (May 2005)
- Stateline, Canines helping out in the courtroom (June 2017)
- Courthouse Dogs Foundation, Leadership
- Courthouse Dogs Foundation, Where the dogs work (United States)
- California Penal Code section 868.4
