Meet Sage: USU’s youngest employee

Sage, a 10-week-old Labrador retriever and the newest member of the Utah State University Police Department, made her way around campus on Nov. 13 and was greeted with enthusiasm as those walking by stopped to pet her.   

“Sage, you are just my favorite thing,” said USU student Matt Richey.  

Serving as the department’s new Critical Incident and Crisis Response K-9, Sage’s job is to work with people, be friendly and comfort those who need it.  

Police Chief Jason Brei started at USU in July after previously working at the University of Arizona. He was the one who pushed for the department to acquire a K-9 to serve in this capacity.  

Sage was born on Sept. 4 and was picked up from the breeder in Arizona by Brei and her handler, Shane Nebeker, on Oct. 29. The two then drove the 15 hours back to Logan with her sitting on the lap of whoever wasn’t driving. Nebeker said it was a great bonding experience with Sage.  

The department received funding for Sage from a group of people at Vector Solutions, a company that sells software to law enforcement, firefighters and education organizations. The group, led by Chris Cummings, put together $2,000 to fund the purchase.  

Sage is from an English line of a Labrador retriever. Brei said this means she is a bit blockier than other lines, and she won’t have as much prey drive or be as antsy as other Labradors.  

The name Sage was chosen by Nebeker, who is a sergeant with the department and worked for the Utah Highway Patrol for 25 years before coming to USU. He wanted the name to represent the university and found inspiration in “The Scotsman.” 

“I thought, ‘What really is the university?’” Nebeker said. “It’s the place where the sagebrush grows.” 

Some USU students begin to pet Sage, the new Critical Incident Crisis Response K-9 for USU’s police department.

Before Nebeker was chosen as the handler for the new K-9, Brei conducted a department-wide search. He sent out an announcement describing the position and what he was looking for, and asked anyone interested to submit an employee’s report, which included a letter of interest and a resume.  

Nebeker became interested in the position because of past experiences where he said a dog was the one thing that could bring down his emotional distress. He also felt he was a good fit because of his long career in law enforcement.  

“I’m a dog guy. I’ve seen what dogs can do,” Nebeker said. 

As her handler, Nebeker will be with Sage all the time, bringing her home with him each night. He is the one who will bring her to different situations where her help is needed.  

Nebeker and Brei said this type of K-9 differs from other K-9 typically used by police that aren’t able to socialize with the public. In contrast, Sage is meant to be greeted and petted by those around her.  

Nebeker said during interactions like this, the dog’s serotonin level rises just as much as the person’s does. 

“Dogs just love to please people,” Nebeker said. “They’re just as happy to do this as we are to interact with them.” 

Sage will serve as an emotional support animal of sorts, but Brei said her work reaches much further than that.  

“There are specific times that people are in need of a stress relief, and be able to connect with a human being or an animal,” Brei said.  

Brei said this kind of stress relief is helpful for victims of physical trauma, sexual assault or other crimes against a person. In these situations, people often tend to put up emotional barriers that can prevent law enforcement from helping, but Brei said having a connection to an animal can help them calm down. 

“There’s different stages to calm back down to a point where they’re in a mindset to give information — to convey information that we need to be able to help them to solve a crime, to identify a suspect,” Brei said.  

Sage, the new Critical Incident Crisis Response K-9 for USU’s police department poses on The Quad.

Nebeker said as he has worked on different cases, he realized the department was missing a connection to the people and to the community. The hope is that Sage will serve in this capacity.  

“This is a great opportunity to make a connection,” Nebeker said. “To help people understand that we are human. We have a role to play, but we want to have that connection that people feel like they can come to us.” 

To bring a dog like Sage to the university, Brei knew he needed to find a sponsor to fund the project. He reached out to Cummings with Vector Solutions, a partner of the department, and explained the idea he had for bringing a new K-9 unit to USU.  

Because Vector Solutions had already given out their allotted amount of money for the year, they could not act as corporate sponsor for this project. But Cummings didn’t give up, and he got a group of former police officers to come together and pitch in money to support the purchase. 

“I pitched the idea to everybody on my team, and everybody thought that it was a great idea to give — to donate money to a very worthy cause,” Cummings said.  

Brei had asked for $1,850, but the group raised $2,000 total for the purchase.  

After arriving at USU, Sage received her first round of vaccination on Nov. 6, and since then, Nebeker has taken her out to work a few times. 

“So far, so good. She loves people,” Nebeker said. 

Sage is starting her formal obedience training, and she still has one more round of vaccinations to receive before she can officially go on duty, but she will be seen doing her job around campus starting in December. 

USU students meet Sage, the new Critical Incident Crisis Response K-9 for USU’s police department.