MADISON, Wis. — The Dane County Sheriff’s Office welcomed two new team members, who bring a whole new service to the department.

Therapy dogs Luna and Nova will be working with their handler, Deputy Eric Miller.

“I consider them my daughters,” said Miller. “So, I think it’s pretty awesome to have take your daughters to work day.”

The 7- and 8-year-old golden retrievers started out as Miller’s pets. He noticed right away how great they were with people.

“I wanted to get them to be well-trained dogs, just amazing dogs that were really obedient,” he said.

As a law enforcement officer, he often thought about how much comfort and joy they could bring to people he met on the job. He decided to go through training to get them licensed as therapy dogs.

“They were both trained by me mostly,” said Miller. “And I had some assistance from a couple private companies to kind of guide me through the right steps.”

When he transferred to become a sheriff’s deputy in Dane County last year, he pitched the idea of utilizing Luna and Nova too, and his boss was all for it.

“I think we are realizing that simply getting a call for service and responding to a call for service isn’t sufficient for neither the community needs, nor the needs of the deputies,” said Miller.

The goal is to provide more emotional support in difficult times. Most pet owners can agree, there’s nothing like the unconditional love and loyal presence of a dog when you’re feeling sad or scared.

“Especially in this career, we kind of hide behind our badge and our uniform, and don’t want to show our weaknesses because we have to be strong for the community,” said Miller.

Luna and Nova have already responded to critical incidents with Miller and have done community meet-and-greets.

“We’re still trying to figure out some other aspects of what their job will entail,” he said. “It’s a brand new program, and we’re excited about it.”