Comfort dogs are available to the students of Robb Elementary School as they return to class for the first time since the grisly school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, rocked the nation.
While the site of the shooting is permanently closed and set to be demolished, its students have been distributed among three elementary schools, with eight schools in the district receiving at least one of 10 golden retrievers trained as comfort dogs.
SCHOOL STARTS FOR UVALDE STUDENTS FOR FIRST TIME SINCE MAY ATTACK
These dogs are provided by the Midwest-based Lutheran Church Charities K-9 Comfort Dog Ministry, which has sent dogs up to 970 miles away.
The dogs, whose names are Abner, Cubby, Damaris, Devorah, Elijah, Joy, Katie, Martha, Priscilla, and Triton, began their visit at the Uvalde memorial site Tuesday. One of the dogs had previously met one surviving family, and as a result, the entire ministry was invited by the district to its schools for the first three weeks of classes.
“The first day of school should be one of excitement and celebration, but for many of the children, parents, and teachers of Uvalde there was apprehension, fear, and sadness as that day approached,” the ministry wrote in a Facebook post. “The gift that the LCC K-9 Comfort Dogs team can give to Uvalde is to walk beside them and offer support in any way they can. To see a child smile, relax, and seek comfort in petting the soft golden fur of one of the Comfort Dogs is a blessing to be a part of.”
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A study in the Frontiers of Psychology journal found the positive effects that human and animal interactions can have on social attention, social behavior, interpersonal interactions, mood, stress-related parameters such as cortisol, heart rate, blood pressure, self-reported fear and anxiety, and even cardiovascular diseases.
For the first day, 3,724 students were in attendance, which was 88.8% of the anticipated enrollment, Superintendent Hal Harrell wrote in a letter to parents obtained by the Washington Examiner.
