The Olive experiment is one that is succeeding - wildly beyond anyone's expectations.
Olive, the tiny poodle-mix who was trained to socialize with and calm children appearing in court during Cole County Court children's dockets, has embraced her celebrity status and moved beyond serving only in courtrooms.
Trained by Brandon McMillan, the (about) 5-year-old dog - no one really knows her age, which is as it should be for a hound of renown - has appeared on McMillan's CBS show "Lucky Dog." She was also part of a nationwide commercial.
More importantly, Olive and her handler - Lisa Bax, who is a Court Appointed Special Advocate volunteer - have worked with scores of children facing the daunting task of appearing in court.
"Olive and I are unique," Bax said. "We do not serve just one child or one specific child - we serve any child."
CASA is a volunteer-powered network of people from all walks of life who believe society has a fundamental obligation to make certain the children thrive, are treated with dignity and are kept safe, according to the Capital City CASA website.
CASA volunteers, appointed by judges, watch over and advocate for abused and neglected children. They try to make certain the children don't get lost in overburdened legal and social service systems or languish in inappropriate group or foster homes. Volunteers remain on their clients' cases until the children are placed in safe and permanent homes, according to casaforchildren.org.
There are only 57 volunteer advocates in the county right now, while there are about 140 children who have to appear in the courtroom.
Organizers would like to have one volunteer for every child or set of siblings, according to Mary Winter, who is president of the Capital City CASA board.
"Unfortunately, the number of children who have to be taken from their homes is growing," Winter said. "Two hundred children enter foster care each year."
So, the organization would like more volunteers.
Nine people are completing the weeks-long training to be CASA volunteers and will soon be sworn in as advocates for children. But, that won't be enough.
"In the last couple of years, we've been trying to let people know that there's a thing called CASA," Winter said. "Some people have kind of heard of CASA, but still don't know what it is. So, that's what we're working on is trying to raise awareness."
Olive is the perfect vehicle for raising awareness, Winter said. As she's recognized more and more, people may begin to associate Olive with what CASA does and why she's important to the program.
"People will start to understand about how we help children - how it's right here in our community," Winter said. "These children have done nothing wrong. They're just living with adults who are not taking care of them."
So, people can either help them to get into a stable place, or they can let the children flounder and fail, she said.
CASA are involved in children's lives during critical times, Winter said.
Society can either help them to become good teenagers who become a good adults, or it can let them fall, which causes what she calls a domino effect.
"Either way, they're still right here," Winter said. "We have to get that message to more and more people in Jefferson City and help them understand why this is so important here in our community."
CASA organizers hope Olive - or her celebrity - will help raise awareness of the need for volunteers.
The organization has planned an "After Hours" event, featuring Olive and McMillan. The show host is to fly to Missouri and share his insights and experience during a question-and-answer session 5:30-7 p.m. Nov. 14 at Capital Bluffs at Turkey Creek Golf Course, 1616 Oil Well Road.
No pets, please; Olive will be working the room.
Tickets are $20 and may be purchased in advance at Hy-Vee, 3721 W. Truman Blvd.; Samuel's Tuxedo and Gifts, 236 E. High St.; Premium Pets, 700 E. McCarty St.; Marshall and Company Hair and Wellness, 2421 Edgewood Drive; and at Animal Medical Center of Jefferson City, 610 Dix Road. They may also be purchased at capitalcitycasa.org/after-hours
McMillan is not charging for the Missouri appearance, Bax said.
And the admission price will hopefully pay for his flights and hotel.
It's an after-hours event, so go to the mixer right after work.
It's intended to raise awareness for CASA - including Olive's role in the organization, said Bax, who will explain about CASA.
"Olive's role is mainly to greet people - she will work a room," Bax said. "She doesn't know a stranger. So, she'll work a room and socialize."
What else is a celebrity dog to do?
They'll discuss what Olive does as a certified therapy dog for the courtroom - how she goes there twice a month. They may discuss the expanding role she plays in children's lives - how she now sometimes goes to where the children live if need be.
Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem has signed a special order that allows Olive to serve any child, Bax said.
The poodle can go into a child's foster home, if the foster parents allow it. She may go to a clinic or school, so long as administrators of the institutions allow.
"The order is just saying that Olive and I are under an ethical scrutiny of CASA. It's a formal legal document that says I'm not just some stranger with a dog coming in somewhere," Bax said.
They may go to Great Circle, which works with children on a variety of issues, or to visit a child or at Jefferson City Academic Center or the Prenger Center.
"We try to serve any child who could use a furry little friend," Bax said. "The original version was for her to be truly a courtroom dog. It evolved to the point where the prosecutor's office will call. And, they may have a criminal case, of sexual assault - sexual abuse on a child - in which we will go sit with a child while they wait to make their testimony."
It doesn't surprise McMillan that Olive has the personality to work with any child, even in the worst circumstances.
"Her job at the courthouse is just where it begins," McMillan said. "She could be a therapy dog for anybody. It's not like she has to be a therapy dog for kids in the courthouse. She could be a therapy dog for a school. She could be a therapy dog for seniors living in a facility."
The one thing she has 98 percent of other dogs don't is the personality to be a therapy dog, he said.
The one thing you want in a dog's personality is "super-calm, super-stable, nothing phases them." McMillan said.
Olive wouldn't care if somebody landed a helicopter next to her.
"You can't teach that. That's pure DNA," he said.
A therapy dog must be over-trained for things that could happen things that children potentially could do.
"You over-train for everything. I never expect a kid to pick her up and turn her over on her back and pull her paw," McMillan said. "It won't surprise her. 'This is what I went through for my training.'"