Harford Mourns Loss Of Kilo, County's First Therapy Dog

HARFORD COUNTY, MD — The first Harford County therapy dog has died. Kilo was 12 years old.

Kilo passed away Oct. 1 after serving as a therapy dog in the Child Advocacy Center since April 2014, comforting children and families who had come to the center in Bel Air amid allegations of neglect or abuse.

"Kilo was instrumental in the drafting of Senate Bill 1106, which seeks whether to establish a statewide approach for providing courthouse dogs to child witnesses and the reason Harford County was selected as one of the two pilot counties," the Harford County Sheriff's Office said in a statement. The other participant in the program was Anne Arundel County. Through the program, children testifying as witnesses in criminal or civil cases may be accompanied by a therapy dog in court.

Detective Carey Gerres trained Kilo on her own through the organization PAWS for People (Pet-Assisted Visitation Volunteer Services) and started volunteering with him in Harford and Cecil counties on her own before they officially began working together at the Child Advocacy Center, which handles sex abuse cases in collaboration with the sheriff's office and state's attorney.

When Gerres testified in support of the bill to allow Harford County to pilot the Courthouse Dog and Child Witness program, she said that it helped make courts more equitable for children. She mentioned one case where a mother considered not going through the process of charging a child sexual abuser who was a family member because the judicial process could be traumatic.

"She told me that had she known from the beginning that her daughter was going to have the support of a therapy animal, she would have been much less worried about the possible negative effects this process would have on her daughter," Gerres said, after she and Kilo accompanied the girl to court, occupying her behind the scenes while attorneys, her mother and agents discussed the technical parts of the case.

Kilo also went to other communities to provide education and outreach about the importance of therapy dogs.

The Harford County Sheriff's Office purchased Kilo to support the Child Advocacy Center's program in March 2018.

"There is no way to ever fully acknowledge all of the positive change Kilo and Detective Gerres helped usher in for CAC clients, staff and our wider community," the Harford County Sheriff's Office said in a statement. "Kilo helped innumerable children and families through the darkest time of their lives and aided personnel at the CAC with surviving the difficult but necessary work they must do each day. He was one-of-a-kind and will always be in our hearts. Kilo’s legacy will live on in the therapy animal program he helped create and the courthouse canine pilot legislation he helped craft."

Kilo is survived by Detective Carey Gerres, Senior Deputy Nate Gerres and their children.

"Kilo was a partner to Carey, a member of the Gerres family and furry friend to all who knew him," the sheriff's office said. "He will be missed by everyone at the Sheriff's Office, Child Advocacy Center and Family Justice Center."