WILLIAMSBURG, VA — It's been one week since a mass shooting in Chesapeake changed the lives of a community.
Therapists say that grief and coming to terms with tragedy can look different for everyone and can take a long time, which is why some dog owners are providing a helping paw to those hurting.
On Monday night Jean Nohle says 17 dogs from her program Perfect Paws Pet Trainingoffered their friendship at a vigil at Chesapeake City Park.
"I saw everything from smiles to tears this one lady saw him and picked him up and just buried her head in him and was crying I asked her if I needed to get her a Chaplin and she said no she needed the dog," says Nohle.
Nohle and other volunteer therapy dog owners like Lourdes Parker says her previous Labrador named Lupita made five hundred visits to schools nursing homes and cancer centers when she was alive and helped a lot of people.
"We’ve lost her for two years now and I was missing that so that’s why we got our four-month-old doodle that we named Teresita," Parker said.
Similar to her first dog, Lupita, Parker says she named her doodle after a patron saint, Saint Theresa, because of the different places they visit to comfort people.
"So that’s why we name her little Theresa and Theresa was a wonderful saint a remarkable woman traveled all over Spain and did so much work," explains Parker.
Tesha Thorton a specialist who sees patients who have endured trauma and distress says that therapy dogs wear a badge of man’s best friend proudly.
"You can talk and just be open and transparent and not feel as though that person is looking at you differently or more harshly and it's more comfortable," says Thornton.
Trainers like Nohle also believe that in addition to being a great companions, dogs are also a good sidekick to everyday heroes whose job is to also help others.
"Times have changed and we are finding first responders need the dogs worse than patients do as well as our employees at nursing homes and hospitals they need the dogs, and we need them badly," says Nohle.
As a reminder to animal lovers, there is a distinct difference between service animals and therapy dog. Service dogs will typically have a vest on saying SERVICE and therapy dogs will have a yellow tag making it ok to pet them and show them affection.
