Comfort dogs have been deployed to Uvalde, Texas, from near and far

[IcyPeas]

https://www.npr.org/2022/05/26/1101501384/uvalde-texas-shooting-comfort-dogs

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. These dogs are amazing

[Stinky The Clown]

2. Goldens are well suited to that duty.

Good doggies. I know you will do your jobs well.

[nolabear]

7. I used to do therapy with my Golden in nursing homes.

Joe was one of those perfect dogs—bombproof, willing to do anything, we’ll trained, never met a stranger.

We trained together with a group called The Delta Society and worked in nursing homes a couple times a week.

Honestly, Joe didn’t need me. He took walks up and down the hall with a man who never left his room until “ Joe needed a walk.” People who didn’t know what happened yesterday talked to him about the pets they’d had as kids.

I went to school for years and never matched him for being a therapist.

[Demovictory9]

14. Chihauhaus and cats are feeling slighted

[LeftInTX]

15. I went on the hunt for chihuahua therapy dogs and found two!

&ab_channel=WISH-TV

[BigmanPigman]

3. Dogs are the best medicine for many problems.

When I volunteered at my local Humane Society we took animals to juveniles in care facilities as well as seniors in nursing homes and they made everyone feel better. We had rabbits and even rats, not just dogs.

[Rhiannon12866]

8. They also had two rescued dogs at the retirement community where my grandmother lived

Residents living in apartments or condos could bring any pets with them, they just couldn't replace them. I remember my grandmother telling me that one man brought his horse!

And dogs or cats lived on the halls where residents who needed more care lived. When my grandmother eventually moved there, that's where I got to know the two dogs. It was a program they called "Noah's Oasis" and they even let those living there to "rent" birds. Someone would come in to clean the cages and feed the birds, so the residents could just enjoy their company. And when I visited, I brought dog treats so we got to see quite a bit of the pups...

[BigmanPigman]

10. I wouldn't go anywhere permanently without my dog, no way!!!

When I was in the hospital in 2016 my dad brought my little 7 pound baby to visit me. We both felt better right away. She curled up behind me on the bed and all the nurses came in to see her since she was a cutie pie.

[Rhiannon12866]

11. Oh, same here!

And I can remember that workers there would bring their dogs in to visit with residents, too.

The first time I encountered this, I went with my grandmother to visit her childhood friend who was living in a nursing home. They also had a resident dog, a lab who got on the elevator with us when we prepared to leave. We weren't sure what to do, so returned to the floor where the dog got on and asked the nurse - and she said "she knows where she's going." And she was right, when we got to the ground floor, the pup got off and trotted right down the hall...

[BigmanPigman]

12. It is really a win-win situation.

Dogs love being with people and pleasing them too.

[Rhiannon12866]

13. And the residents love the company - and the affection

You'd see pets all over, people out walking their dogs. And even when they had to move into a place where they needed more care, they didn't have to give up having pets, the two dogs on my grandmother's hall lived right there with them.

And I remember at one point, the residents adopted a cat who was about to have kittens. The men in the woodworking shop constructed a comfortable "house" for them - with a glass top so that residents could look in at the mom and kittens. And when the kittens got old enough, they were eagerly adopted by several residents there - so both mom and kittens found good homes in the community.

[IronLionZion]

4. Good doggos

[Rhiannon12866]

5. Awww! Brilliant idea!

And I'm guessing that most of us could use one about now. *sigh* I'm incredibly fortunate that I have my own...

[summer_in_TX]

6. Wow, some of those may have come from my town.

A group of our high school students have been raising and training goldens like these for service animals under a partnership with a local nonprofit all this last school year.

[IcyPeas]

16. The article in the OP mentions this group from San Antonio

Are these dogs from your town...?

Other comfort dogs and handlers are coming from a little closer to home, like Therapy Animals of San Antonio .

It's great that the students are learning to do this. Even if it brings just a few moments of comfort to someone suffering.

☮️

[summer_in_TX]

17. A couple of counties away from San Antonio

The dogs are provided by Freedom Canines International and socialized as service dogs by the students of the Agricultural program and Future Farmers of America.

I'd forgotten until I googled details that these pups were specifically being trained to be diabetes alert dogs. So I guess they weren't the ones they took to Uvalde.

[Raine]

9. Aw ❤️ I was hoping the dogs would go there

I remember they went to help after some of the other horrible events.

[MustLoveBeagles]

18. Dogs are the best medicine

[Demsrule86]

19. I hope they bite Abbott...JK might be bad for the dog. Seriously, they are wonderful dogs.