“She just kept hugging Rosie,” a psychologist told The New York Times. “She” was a fifteen-year-old testifying about her father repeatedly raping her, as well as impregnating her. Rosie is a golden retriever named after Rosa Parks who helps abused children testify in New York courts. Similarly-trained dogs work with children or developmentally disabled adults around the country.
The girl’s father, Victor Tohom, was convicted and sentenced to 25 years, but now his defense is appealing based on the use of the dog, saying it made the girl’s side of the story unduly sympathetic and that the dog could possibly help calm liars as well as the traumatized. (We are in a sad state if a raped young girl needs help in that department, but we digress.)