Topics
Dogs Comfort Grieving Families at Sandy Hook
Staff Reporter
First Posted: Dec 18, 2012 07:04 AM EST
The whole world is grieving over the loss of young lives in the deadly rampage that occurred Friday at the Sandy Hook Elementary School. The inexplicable shooting, washing away the lives of the innocents remains a scar and nothing can soothe the overwhelming grief of the family members.
But a touch of comfort was offered to the grieving families as a team of golden retrievers traveled 800 miles from the K-9 Comfort Dog Ministry at Lutheran Church Charities in Illinois to help console them.
Ten dogs were sent for the grieving residents to pet while speaking to or praying with the animal's caretakers, reported the Chicago Tribune. This was done with the aim of providing a bridge after the shocking event, in which 20 children and 7 adults lost their lives.
Tim Hetzner, president of the Addison Organization stated, "Dogs are nonjudgmental. They are loving. They are accepting of anyone. It creates the atmosphere for people to share," reported Chicago Tribune
Talking of the kids who are struggling to come out of the incident, Hetzner said that you could identify who was really struggling with grief because they mostly sat quiet and preferred to pet the dogs.
One of the dog handler, Lynn Buhrke, believes that the dogs become the bridge as people just sit down and talk to you.
Apart from the kids, even the adults were noticed approaching the dogs.
Fox news reports how it has been scientifically proved that dogs have the ability to lower blood pressure, heart rates and simultaneously drop stress levels.
The concept of using dogs to comfort grieving families began after the 2008 Northern Illinois University attack.
See Now:
NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone
©2024 ScienceWorldReport.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The window to the world of science news.
More on SCIENCEwr
First Posted: Dec 18, 2012 07:04 AM EST
The whole world is grieving over the loss of young lives in the deadly rampage that occurred Friday at the Sandy Hook Elementary School. The inexplicable shooting, washing away the lives of the innocents remains a scar and nothing can soothe the overwhelming grief of the family members.
But a touch of comfort was offered to the grieving families as a team of golden retrievers traveled 800 miles from the K-9 Comfort Dog Ministry at Lutheran Church Charities in Illinois to help console them.
Ten dogs were sent for the grieving residents to pet while speaking to or praying with the animal's caretakers, reported the Chicago Tribune. This was done with the aim of providing a bridge after the shocking event, in which 20 children and 7 adults lost their lives.
Tim Hetzner, president of the Addison Organization stated, "Dogs are nonjudgmental. They are loving. They are accepting of anyone. It creates the atmosphere for people to share," reported Chicago Tribune
Talking of the kids who are struggling to come out of the incident, Hetzner said that you could identify who was really struggling with grief because they mostly sat quiet and preferred to pet the dogs.
One of the dog handler, Lynn Buhrke, believes that the dogs become the bridge as people just sit down and talk to you.
Apart from the kids, even the adults were noticed approaching the dogs.
Fox news reports how it has been scientifically proved that dogs have the ability to lower blood pressure, heart rates and simultaneously drop stress levels.
The concept of using dogs to comfort grieving families began after the 2008 Northern Illinois University attack.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone