While questions swirl over the shocking inaction of the local police in Uvalde, Texas, several trained dogs were sent there to provide comfort and support to the people impacted by the mass shooting on Tuesday. 

Eight golden retrievers ranging in age from 3 to 9 were on the ground less than 24 hours after the tragedy. The dogs are trained to offer a unique form of support for children and adults, as well as first responders and residents of the community. 

Bonnie Fear is the response coordinator for the group that supplied the animals. Here’s part of what she told Good Morning America. 

“We just see a lot of shock, crying, [people who are] distraught, especially coming in the day after a mass shooting,” Fear said. “People are not ready to process or listen or answer questions. So we just show up with the dogs.

”We listen if they talk. We’re silent. We let the dogs connect with people, and they can express their feelings at that time, and we’re not counselors, so we are just present, standing with them in their sorrow.”

Some of the dogs in Texas have been on the scene of previous school shootings too. 

Here’s ore from Fear’s interview with GMA. 

“Cubby has been to all the mass shootings and crises with me since 2016.”

The President and CEO of Lutheran Charities is named Tim Hetzner. His organization provides the dogs that work at the sight of these horrific events. He shared an incredible story of what he experienced in 2012 after the shooting at Sandy Hook in Connecticut. 

“I remember one situation in Sandy Hook, four days after the shooting. We were at a community center, and this couple was there with their young boy. … I had a dog named Howe at that time. Howe looked up at the boy, got up, walked over to the boy, rolled into his legs and the boy came down on top of him. They just laid there. After about 10 minutes, the boy lifted up Howe’s ear and told him everything that happened in that classroom. Parents started crying because it was the first time the boy had talked in four days. First time and it was a dog.”

The dogs will stay in Texas until at least Memorial Day. 

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