Lutheran ‘comfort dogs’ welcome students back to Newtown school

As the students of Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, returned to class in January for the first time since December’s deadly shooting spree, they and their parents were greeted by police escorts, support counselors, teachers—and a team of “comfort dogs.”

With the memory of the December 14 massacre that killed 20 children and six staff still raw, it was a tense scene with a heavy police presence, but Lutheran Church Charities’ seven golden retrievers brought a healing presence, said LCC president Tim Hetzner.

“We were told that some of the students didn’t want to come to school, but when they heard the comfort dogs would be there, they came,” he said. “Some teachers also said they needed the dogs, to be able to face the students.”