In early 2025, Arlington County Public Safety Wellness Coordinators Leslie Geer and Donna Young faced the heavy responsibility of helping first responders process the trauma of an unprecedented event: the devastating mid-air collision at Washington National Airport.
Amidst the crisis, they had an unexpected ally by their side to help them support Arlington’s hard-working first responders, a wellness dog named Bill who had been visiting from DC Fire. Geer just so happened to be dog sitting Bill for the week.
Geer and Young quickly discovered Bill’s uncanny ability to emotionally disarm personnel, breaking through the stigma and hesitation that often surround mental health in these high-stress professions.
“Having Bill there made a profound difference in how we engaged with the community,” Geer said. “We saw firsthand how a dog makes people more comfortable seeking support after trauma. We’ve been advocating for a permanent canine resource ever since.”
In January 2026, that vision became a reality. The Office of Public Wellness, serving Arlington’s Fire, Police, Sheriff, and Emergency Dispatch teams, officially welcomed its first full-time wellness canine, Dottie. Dottie is a Black Labrador Retriever with an instant, palpable love for everyone she meets.
“She’s already passed all her certifications with flying colors, and we are ramping her up,” Geer said,
explaining that she is in her “lovably defiant teenage” phase at 15 months old. “She marches to the beat of her own drum in the best way possible, and she is incredibly sweet and loves people. In fact, she’s already visited several fire stations and the dispatch center, and the only real ‘issue’ we have is that she never wants to leave when the workday is done."
Her workdays consist of accompanying her handlers, Geer and Young, to appointments and meetings across Arlington County Fire and police stations.
While Geer and Young, both licensed clinical social workers, facilitate therapeutic discussion, Dottie’s role is to provide support the best way she knows how, by soliciting pets, accepting treats and spreading a sense of calm energy throughout the room.
“Our office supports all public safety sectors through three pillars: mental health and peer support, family preparedness and financial planning, and physical health and nutrition,” Geer said. “Dottie is a vital part of that first pillar, helping to dissolve hesitancy that so much of this population feels about seeking [mental health] support.”
She’s already been successful, with Geer able to cite same-day examples of her efficacy.
“During a difficult fire debrief this morning, she wandered the room, offering a quiet presence that allowed personnel to pet her while they spoke,” Geer recounted. “As one firefighter noted, Dottie was the perfect distraction — filling the awkward pauses and making it easier to push through the discomfort of talking about their feelings."
Young and Geer clarified that they are mindful that not everyone is a 'dog person,' only bringing Dottie into situations where people feel comfortable. So far, though, they’ve found that welcoming reception to Dottie has been overwhelming.
Facility wellness dogs like Dottie often enjoy long careers, frequently serving their agencies for nearly a decade. Though she is the first dog to serve the Office of Public Wellness and is still early in her tenure, Dottie has already become an invaluable member of the team.
“Right away, people were so excited she is here, and the enthusiasm about her is at an intensity I wasn’t anticipating,” Young said. “I knew people would be excited, but I didn’t know it would be like this. We have had so many requests for site visits with her.”
Dottie was born to do this job. Literally.
At eight weeks old, Dottie began training with Heeling Hands, a Leesburg-based non-profit organization that develops dogs to become service animals and facility support resources.
Ashlyn Cohill, the Training Director at Heeling Hands, said it was apparent early on that Dottie was made for the kind of work she is now doing with Arlington County.
“Dottie has always been such a sweetie, so friendly, from the moment we picked her up from a breeder we work with in Iowa,” Cohill said. “It has been so obvious all along that she would enjoy helping lots of people, which is a contrast to lots of our service dogs, who tend to be one-person dogs. Dottie loves people wherever she goes and wags her tail and wants to stay with the people who need her. Every time I work with Dottie for ongoing training, she’s game to do anything, and go anywhere. She is going to be a great facility girl for Arlington.”
It’s not all work for Dottie, who gets both a fulfilling career and a loving forever home out of this arrangement. When not on the clock, she lives with her handler, Leslie Geer, who makes sure that Dottie has a work-play balance and a healthy dose of affirmation.
“Dottie is still growing into her new job, her personality, and her paws,” Geer said. “We make sure to play a lot of fetch, and although she’s still too floppy to be good at it, she still loves a good round. She’s also very passionate about bones and gets a solid case of the zoomies after a bath. I never waste an opportunity to tell her: 'You aren't just a pretty face; you’re smart and you’re capable.' Our hope is that she grows into the 'goodest girl' for this department. And, she’s already proving she’s up for it.”
Young and Geer encourage members of the public to come say ‘hi’ to Dottie should they see her around town. She’s met people of all ages, including babies, and has yet to meet a stranger.
“Please feel free to show her some love whenever you see her,” Young said. “She really does love everybody.”
Photos courtesy Arlington County