A 1-year-old Golden Retriever named Sunny has become a familiar, tail-wagging presence at California State University, Northridge, where he holds the title of the school's first therapy dog. Several times a week, between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., Sunny and his handler, Officer Kingsley Cifuentes, stroll the campus grounds, drawing students who stop mid-stride to crouch down and pet him.
According to NBC Los Angeles, Sunny completed his therapy training in Northern California before joining CSUN, where he now supports student morale and mental health and offers comfort to those who cross his path. Cifuentes describes him simply as sweet and good at his job, and the station reports that Sunny's popularity has been building both on campus and on social media.
Sunny is part of a larger expansion within CSUN's Department of Police Services. The school looks forward to formally debuting him alongside K9 Bertie, a German Shorthaired Pointer brought on for explosives detection to replace the retired K9 Daisy, at an event later in the academic year, according to CSU Northridge. Unlike Bertie, who was acquired through private foundation donations, Sunny's role is focused entirely on engagement rather than detection work.
Socializing Now, Certified Later
For now, Sunny is still working toward full therapy certification, a process that per the school will take place once he's between 18 and 24 months old. Sunny is still training and is not doing one-on-one appointments. The Daily Sundial reports that campus organizations can already request group visits with him through campus email or his social media account.
In the meantime, Sunny walks campus with Cifuentes, where students stop to interact with him.
Part of a Broader Campus Safety Strategy
Sunny's arrival fits into a wider push by CSUN police to address student well-being beyond traditional law enforcement. The department's Mobile Campus Response Team has a Mental Health Response Coordinator, and the department offers a workplace de-escalation workshop, according to CSU Northridge.
The department hosting these programs operates under real institutional heft: CSUN's Department of Police Services traces back to 1958, when it began at what was then San Fernando Valley State College, with officers working out of a mechanical room and dispatching calls using a steam whistle atop the campus boiler plant, the Daily Sundial's historical reporting notes. Today it operates from a 26,000-square-foot facility and holds formal accreditation through the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators, a standard requiring compliance with more than 200 professional benchmarks for university policing.
The Science Behind the Snuggles
There's research backing up why a dog like Sunny matters on a college campus. Research highlighted by the American Psychological Association found that college students who spent as little as 10 minutes petting a therapy dog or cat experienced a significant reduction in cortisol, the body's key stress hormone.
A 2025 study reported by ScienceDaily went further, finding that university students given regular, unstructured access to therapy dogs over several months showed sustained decreases in stress and depression, along with higher self-compassion. That kind of informal, drop-in interaction is essentially what Sunny is already offering during his pre-certification walks around campus.
Funding Police Canines
The scale of CSUN makes that kind of outreach especially useful. The university enrolled nearly 37,000 undergraduate and graduate students in fall 2025, making it the fourth-largest campus in the 23-campus California State University system.
CSUN isn't alone in hosting therapy-animal events: Cal State LA holds Paws and Relax events, with visits during busy times, including midterms and finals.
Bertie's acquisition was funded through private foundation donations.
For now, Sunny's job remains the same: show up on campus a few times a week, let students pause their day for a quick scratch behind the ears. NBC4's segment on Sunny aired during the station's 11 a.m. newscast on Wednesday.
