Therapy Pets Assist Grieving Families

ATTLEBORO, Mass. -- When news reports began describing the tragic fire that killed 97 people in a nightclub in West Warwick, R.I., two pet owners brought their specially trained dogs to help victims and their families.

PETS & PEOPLE Pets & People trains therapy animals. For more information, call Sally Alexander at (781) 899-5029.

Debbi Baker, of Sharon, Mass., and her friend Cotton Silverman, of Rehoboth, Mass., brought two therapy dogs to help the families waiting to hear word of their relatives who were in The Station nightclub last Friday.

The dogs, Joshua and Molly, usually offer unconditional love to the residents of the Attleboro Pleasant Manor nursing home. Baker and Silverman brought the dogs to Rhode Island just hours after the fatal fire.

"It was like going to a huge wake -- the fear, the apprehension, the terror," Silverman said. "It was horrible, absolutely horrible. People were hysterical. Some people had no affect because they were still in shock."

The dogs went right to work, able to silently provide comfort when words could not.

"[Molly] went right up to one woman who was holding a teddy bear, and the woman just put the teddy bear down and said, 'Much better,' and just broke down into tears and just cried into her coat," Baker said.

The dog owners say it is the spirit of the dogs, their loving temperament and compassion that make them therapists in a difficult situation.

"The minute we walked in there, Joshua found a woman sitting on the floor crying, and he just pulled the leash out of my hand, and he went over to her," Silverman said. "And she buried her head into Josh's fur and just sobbed for 10 minutes."

Therapy dogs are trained, tested for temperament and certified before they head into stressful environments. Therapists have known for years the benefits pets can bring in times of trauma.

"That's what they're there for, to give people some kind of comfort," Baker said. "They don't have to talk to them, don't have to say anything about what they're feeling and how sad they are. The dogs know."

Between them, Baker and Silverman have seven certified therapy pets, including one cat.