The school shooting that took place in Uvalde, Texas has left many families in deep shock and grief in the area. To overcome it, five different organisations have deployed therapy dogs to give comfort to the families that have suffered a loss.
Therapy dogs, often also called comfort dogs, provide a valuable service to individuals facing traumatic incidents that could impact them psychologically. They are often used to help people who have gone through difficult situations or individuals with mental health problems.
According to NPR, the Lutherian Church Charities have deployed eight golden retrievers to the area and more are expected to come. Talking to the publication, Chaplain Kris Blair said, “So many people put up walls when they have heavy emotions, and so just lending our dogs to them will sometimes break through those walls…The humans can't necessarily get through, but the dogs will certainly start chipping away at that wall, and are able to distract them a little bit from all the chaos that's going on and let them focus on something happy.”
The comfort dogs are not only helpful in helping families of victims, but even law enforcement officers and medical respondents who are overwhelmed by the situation.
Pictures of the comfort dogs at the memorial for the shootings have been posted on Twitter by many users. One of them, Sharon Murphy, wrote, “The Comfort Dogs in Uvale, Texas today. The light may have been dimmed, but darkness will not prevail. @K9ComfortDogs”
The shooting has once again sparked a heated debate on gun safety and its accessibility in the United States with President Joe Biden vowing earlier this week to push for a "more rational" approach to gun regulation in the wake of the country's latest mass shootings.
