Orland Park K9 Holly graduates first crisis response therapy canine program

Orland Park’s K9 Holly just moved beyond the familiar patrol-dog script. Holly and Officer Gordon Przislicki graduated April 24 from what Illinois officials call the nation’s first Crisis Response Therapy Canine Certification Program, a new public-safety track built around crisis intervention, de-escalation and trauma-informed response.

The inaugural class included 11 certified therapy canine teams from seven Illinois agencies, and the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board says the teams are now eligible for the state’s mutual-aid deployment system for large-scale incidents and critical events. The certification program, created under Senate Bill 1491 and signed by Governor JB Pritzker on August 1, 2025, took effect January 1, 2026. ILETSB describes it as a 24-hour course spread over three days, with classroom instruction, field training, scenario-based actor-led assessments and a final handler-canine evaluation.

Holly’s route into service is rooted in one of the region’s better-known dog rescue pipelines. Orland Park brought Holly into the department in October 2025 after Officer Przislicki partnered with the Cook County Sheriff’s Tails of Redemption program, which pairs shelter dogs with people in custody who teach them basic obedience. Cook County says the program began in 2018 with five detainees and five shelter dogs, and it has grown to kennel capacity for up to 35 dogs at the Mental Health Transition Center, with three local shelters supplying dogs. Since launch, 258 detainees have participated, 193 dogs have found forever homes and nine Tails of Redemption dogs now serve as full-time therapy dogs at Illinois law-enforcement agencies.

That background matters because Holly’s job is not only to sit still and look composed. The village said the new certification prepares Holly and Przislicki to help on mental-health calls, support residents during traumatic events and strengthen community engagement. For hyperenergetic working-dog handlers, the lesson is plain: intensity is not the problem when it is channeled into a tightly structured role. Holly’s success shows what happens when drive, obedience and emotional steadiness are trained together instead of treated as competing traits.

Illinois officials have framed the program as a broader public-safety tool, not just a novelty. ILETSB Chairman Sean Smoot said the effort builds on the board’s earlier introduction of Trooper, the therapy dog used to support officer mental health resiliency. With Holly now certified, Orland Park adds a dog that can help steady a scene as well as any patrol K9 can secure one.