New legislation aims to give customs and border agents one more tool to improve mental health. The Pearl Act has passed in the House and would provide dogs from local shelters to be trained as support canines for law enforcement.
It’s being led by Congressman Tony Gonzales, joins us to explain how this concept came about and the need to enhance mental health tools for these agents. He also walks us through the process of training shelter dogs and providing them to patrol agents, discusses the potential for the program to relieve overcrowding at rural animal shelters, and outlines anticipated next steps and possible hurdles for the bill moving forward.