A kid’s best friend brings comfort after the horror
FOR ONE young survivor, the Sandy Hook massacre was unspeakable. For days afterwards, she barely uttered a word. Then, sitting with a golden retriever called Ruthie, she broke her silence.
As the child opened up, her mother began to weep. ‘‘She is usually such a talker,’’ she said. ‘‘Not since that day.’’
Tim Hetzner has watched scores of similar encounters since he arrived at the scene of the worst school shooting in American history. Appalled by the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, he drove 15 hours from Chicago with a team of 10 dogs trained to help comfort the heartbroken.
Grieving families and survivors have spent hours stroking and embracing the animals, with some of the children describing the worst morning of their lives for the first time as they talked to the dogs.
‘‘We call them comfort dogs, but sometimes they’re more like comfort rugs,’’ Hetzner said. ‘‘The children sit or lie down with them. They’re great listeners – big furry counsellors who don’t take notes.’’
The town fell silent yesterday morning as a bell rang out for each of the victims, a week after 27 murders that stunned America. A group of survivors was reuniting today, some for the first time since the tragedy, and the dogs were on hand to ease the reintroductions for the most timid of the children.
Hetzner, president of Lutheran Church Charities, runs America’s biggest team of comfort dogs. Some of his 60 golden retrievers have been deployed after each of the nation’s recent catastrophes, including Hurricane Sandy and the Joplin tornado that killed more than 100 people last year.
Nicole DeRonck, former president of the Connecticut School Counsellor Association, said the canine therapy might not be mainstream, but it worked. ‘‘This is certainly not hokey,’’ she said. ‘‘It’s helping.’’
Michelle Catucci, a counsellor who drove to Newtown in the aftermath of the massacre, said the dogs had been invaluable in relaxing the youngest survivors.
During one therapy session at Reed Middle School, a group of comfort dogs was stationed in the hallway. ‘‘You have to show these kids that the whole world is not a bad place,’’ Catucci said.
A 7-year-old pupil from Sandy
Hook Elementary School brought a dog named Draco to the session with him. The counsellor sat in a circle with the boy, his parents and the 6-year-old hound. ‘‘We talked about the day of the shooting, and the child would get down on his knees and play with the dog as we spoke,’’ Catucci said. ‘‘It’s one of those things that can open the door to a conversation.’’
Outside one of the funerals this week, a fireman knelt by Libby, a local comfort dog, and allowed his outward stoicism to slip. Tears ran down his face as he tousled the golden retriever’s coat.