You are the one who holds the space. You sit with survivors, support witnesses, and show up for victims on their hardest days — and you do it with steadiness, compassion, and a dog by your side. But the weight of that work goes somewhere. And for too many handlers, it goes unacknowledged.
Secondary traumatic stress is real, it is common in this field, and it is not a sign of weakness. It is the cost of caring deeply — and there is a path through it.
Katie Gray, founder of the Empowered Heart Foundation and a tireless advocate for handler wellness, opens Day 2 with an honest, grounded exploration of what secondary trauma looks like for facility dog handlers, how to recognize it in yourself and your colleagues, and the evidence-based strategies that make this work sustainable over the long arc of a career.
This is not a session about pushing through. It is about building the inner resources to show up — for your dog, for the people you serve, and for yourself — year after year.
On July 16, 2022, Constable Jesse Schellenberg and his canine partner PSD Jade responded to a call like so many before it — dangerous, unpredictable, and requiring everything they had. What happened that day would stay with Jesse forever. He credits going home alive that night directly to the training and preparation he and Jade had received together — a testament to what true partnership between a handler and a dog can mean when it matters most.
In this closing keynote, Sgt. Schellenberg reflects on that day, on the bond that carried him through it, and on what it means to place your life — and your trust — in the paws of your partner. His story is a powerful reminder of why this work matters, why the training behind it matters, and why the dogs we honor in this community are extraordinary in ways that go far beyond the courtroom.
It is a full-circle moment for the 2026 conference: the Vancouver Police Foundation — whose generosity supports the training and equipment that keeps VPD handlers and their dogs safe — sponsors our opening morning and closes our final day with this remarkable story. We are deeply grateful for their partnership, their commitment to this community, and for making both the beginning and the end of this conference possible.
The closing keynote of the 2026 International Courthouse Dogs® Conference is proudly presented by the Vancouver Police Foundation.
