This good boy comforted first responders at the January fires. Now he's up for an award

Chatsworth resident Steven Zonis was on the fence about getting another dog after his poodle Misha died.

 "I was very broken-hearted about it and told my wife, 'That's it. No more,'" Zonis said.

But the now-retired engineer changed his mind after his wife said she dreamed about a black-and-white puppy. That set the couple off in search of a new standard poodle with the intention this time around to train it as a therapy dog.

Steven Zonis with his dog, Rudy.

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Fiona Ng

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LAist

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A few weeks later, they locked eyes with a four-week-old, black-and-white puppy they would soon name Rudy.

"He was just Mr. Personality," Zonis said. "Rudy smiles, and Rudy shows affection, and he gives hugs. He makes excellent eye contact."

Rudy is now 6, and Zonis and the poodle with the uncannily calming disposition provide comfort to patients at local hospitals, children in schools, and to first responders — most recently of both the Eaton and Palisades fires — as part of the Los Angeles Police Department’s therapy dog program.

Rudy's harness. Two of the three pins represent the Palisades Fire, and the Eaton Fire, respectively.

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Fiona Ng

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The work Rudy did in January has earned him a nomination in this year's Hero Dog Awards, a nationwide competition held by the American Humane Society to find the country’s most courageous doggos. Voting ends Sept. 15.

Rudy is among five finalists in the therapy dog category. Winning his category will move him into the overall final round. He is the only dog representing L.A. — and the whole of California.

"Rudy and I were up at 4 a.m. every day of the fires," Zonis said, going from the emergency command post to the daily briefings. "Wherever they needed us."

The two hung out at the locations where first responders gathered.

" We'd walk around and say, 'Hello,' and and we would thank them for their service," Zonis said. "They had a chance to pet the dogs — and it just made them feel a little bit more like they were still at home with their own dog."

Rudy, part of Los Angeles Police Department's therapy dog program, poses with his human colleagues.

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Rudy's presence had a profound effect.

 "The beauty of dogs is they don't lie," he said. "When they show love, you recognize it. And people just love to pet the dogs. It gives them a break from the stresses that they're dealing with."

Any dog can be trained

Zonis said any dog can become a therapy dog with proper training. Zonis started training Rudy with his grandchildren. From there, they moved to nearby hospitals, including Children's Hospital Los Angeles, where Rudy was certified as a therapy dog. Next, the poodle joined some 40 other dogs in the LAPD program.

" We have therapy dogs from tiny little chihuahua mixes up through Belgian Malinois and German shepherds," Zonis said, working with the police, fire departments, and federal agencies. "We're out there just to try to make their difficult circumstances just a little bit easier to cope with."

And a dog has to be trained to handle difficult — and different — circumstances.

"We encounter everything from sirens and people fighting and equipment crashing. Sometimes we also desensitize for bullets," Zonis said.

Rudy, and his sister Ella. Both are certified therapy dogs.

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Therapy dogs also are trained to be comfortable with getting in and out of elevators, up and down stairs, in dense crowds, small spaces, and around strangers who could come out of nowhere to pet them.

While guide dogs are dogs trained for one-on-one services, Zonis said therapy dogs are generalists whose job is to solicit and hold the attention of people.

Zonis recalled one incident at a hospital, where he and Rudy were waved into a room with an anxious child on the bed. The doctors and nurses had tried for an hour — to no avail — to examine the child. Once the poodle jumped onto the bed, the kid immediately started to pet him, as Zonis regaled the child with stories of the poodle as a puppy.

 "The doctors, quiet as church mice,” Zonis said, “and the nurses are passing instruments back and forth, and they're quietly doing what they need to do."

When Rudy is not working, he is just like other dogs.

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For their volunteer work around the country, Zonis and Rudy received the  United States Presidential Gold Medal for Volunteer Service in 2023.

While his poodle is all business when he's on duty, Zonis said Rudy's just like any other dog off the clock.

"You haven't heard him bark once this whole time, right?" Zonis asked during a visit to the LAist newsroom. "For one thing, he barks all the time at home."

Learn more about therapy dog training

Zonis suggested two places as resources for therapy dog training:

• Blue Line Dogs
•  American Kennel Club