Blog IRIS NA MÍDIA

Federal court goes to the dogs for a cause: Leader dog trainee first judicial pooch

5/30/2005

By Ken Palmer kpalmer@flintjournal.com • 810.766.6313

Straining against her leash, Miranda sauntered up to Senior U.S. District Judge Paul V. Gadola, her tail wagging wildly.

She nipped at the judge's robe, then rolled onto her back.

"Hi, Miranda," said Gadola, who accepted the invitation and bent over to rub the dog's stomach.

"That's not very ladylike, Miranda," quipped Monica Secord, a law clerk for Gadola and Miranda's trainer-companion.

It might have seemed out of place in the quiet, serious atmosphere of federal court. But the scene in Gadola's outer chambers on Thursday is pretty much a daily occurrence at the federal courthouse in Flint, where animals have been part of the landscape, off and on, for years.

Miranda, a 4-month-old black Labrador retriever, is a leader dog in training. She'll spend most of her first year with Secord before going back to the Leader Dogs for the Blind headquarters in Rochester.

If all goes well, Miranda will help a blind person get around.

Secord, 29, of Grand Blanc, is a first-time puppy trainer who signed up with the Leader Dog program while still in law school. When the call came that a dog was available, Gadola agreed to let Secord bring the pup to work with her.

Naming the dog was a collective effort, Secord said. The staff agreed on Miranda, after the 1966 Miranda v. Arizona ruling, which held that police must warn defendants they have a right to remain silent.

Miranda accompanies Secord to work every day so she'll be acclimated to people and places while leading a blind person. The regimen includes daily walks, both inside and outside the courthouse.

"I think she knows more people in the building than I do," Secord said.

"We call Miranda our puppy therapy," said Tammy Hallwood, who works in the court clerk's office. "It's part of your day. We're really going to miss her when Monica leaves."

Staff in the federal courthouse on Church Street are accustomed to animals in the building.

Zeb, a black cat, became something of a local celebrity after Gadola and his staff adopted him from the local Humane Society shelter.

Gadola, an animal lover who has cats at home, reluctantly agreed to adopt a kitten. Instead, the two staffers came back with the skinny, 10-year-old Zeb, whose owner was forced to give him up when he moved.

Zeb spent his remaining years at the courthouse after Gadola and staff spared him from a probable death sentence.

Zeb followed in the footsteps of Buddy, a burly cat who roamed the chambers of U.S. District Judge Stewart A. Newblatt. Buddy went to live with a probation officer when Newblatt retired in 1998.

Gadola recalled being in Newblatt's chambers when Buddy climbed onto the desk and plopped down on the lawyers' papers. Zeb was known to use the same attention-getting strategy, he said.

Miranda, the first courthouse dog, has been a pleasure, Gadola said.

"The dog has really been well-behaved," he said. "You hardly know she's even here. Sometimes you'll hear (a short bark), but that's it."

Miranda will leave with Secord when the lawyer completes her term as law clerk in September. A few months after that, the dog will go back to the Leader Dog organization to complete her training.

"I just compliment her for (doing this)," Gadola said of Secord. "It's a real gracious gesture, training a dog and knowing you'll have to return it."

No one expects that Miranda will be the last dog or cat to hang at the courthouse.

"(Assistant U.S. Attorney) Bob Haviland says the next dog or cat we have should be named after the other half of the Miranda case -- Arizona," Gadola said.

© 2005 Flint Journal. Used with permission