# The PEARL Act: A Dog Rescue Program for Border Protection

The PEARL Act (which stands for "Providing Emotional Assistance with Relief and Love Act") creates a new program where U.S. Customs and Border Protection can adopt dogs from local animal shelters and train them to work as support dogs. Instead of breeding or buying dogs specifically for this purpose, the agency would rescue shelter dogs and give them jobs helping CBP officers and agents.

The program needs to get started within 60 days of the law passing, and it will run for three years as a pilot program—meaning it's a test to see how well the idea works before deciding whether to make it permanent. During those three years, CBP can adopt shelter dogs, train them, and put them to work as support animals for their staff. This could mean dogs helping officers with stress relief, emotional support, or potentially other tasks the agency determines would be useful.

For animal lovers, this is good news because it gives shelter dogs a second chance at life while also serving a public purpose. For taxpayers, it might be more cost-effective than other ways of acquiring working dogs. The main practical impact is that some shelter dogs will be rescued and trained for government work, and CBP will have support animals available for their personnel. After three years, Congress will need to decide whether to continue the program or let it end.

PEARL Act

Gonzales, Tony

Providing Emotional Assistance with Relief and Love Act or the PEARL ActThis bill requires U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to establish&nbsp;a pilot program to adopt dogs from local animal shelters to be trained as support dogs for CBP’s Support Canine Program. Support dogs are used for grief assistance, trauma mitigation, and morale.