When tragedy strikes, words often fail. After the recent school shooting in Minneapolis, grief understandably swept through the community in waves of shock, sorrow, and disbelief. Vigils sprang up, flowers covered church steps, and neighbors held each other close. Yet amid the pain, a quieter kind of comfort padded onto the scene — six golden retrievers with soft coats, soulful eyes, and a gift for listening.
These are the K-9 Comfort Dogs of Lutheran Church Charities (LCC), led in Minneapolis by Pam Lienemann, the handler for Gideon, a 10-year-old English cream golden retriever. For families, children, and neighbors overwhelmed by the tragedy, these dogs offer something unique: presence without judgment.
Gideon, a 10-year-old comfort dog, offers calm and connection to a young girl grieving in Minneapolis.
©Lutheran Church Charities
A Calling, Not a Choice
Pam says she never planned to step into the role of dog handler and grief support. “I became involved when Lutheran Church Charities came to our church with a bunch of golden retrievers to introduce us to the ministry,” she says. “I knew within moments that this wasn’t something I necessarily wanted to do; it was something I had to do. I felt very called to it.”
That calling turned into years of training, team building, and eventually, the arrival of Gideon. “I’m actually Gideon’s team lead,” she shares. “They call us the ‘top dogs.’ It’s hard work, but it’s very rewarding.”
And Gideon isn’t just any golden retriever. “He’s a 10-year-old purebred English cream golden retriever,” explains Pam. “He went into training at our facility in Illinois when he was eight weeks old, and he was placed with us when he was 16 months, which is a little early. But he was very, very good at his commands and knew his stuff. All of the dogs have to have achieved their 2000-hour training certificate in order to even be considered for placement.”
Day-to-day, Gideon serves the Minneapolis community at schools, nursing homes, hospitals, and colleges. “He has his own Google Calendar to keep track of things,” Pam laughs. “And then when something like this happens — a shooting — and we get the call (we don’t go unless we’re invited), and then we work with our teams to see who’s available to help.”
All lined up and ready, the comfort dogs bring calm hearts and wagging tails to communities in need.
©Lutheran Church Charities
Six Dogs, One Mission in Minneapolis
Gideon may have led the way in Minneapolis, but he wasn’t alone. Five of his peers weren’t far behind. “Gideon was the one from Minneapolis,” Pam tells us, “and then we had comfort dogs Mary, Hagar, Charity, and Samaria from Wisconsin. And comfort dog Samson came in from Illinois.”
Within 12 hours of receiving the deployment request, all six dogs and their handlers were on the ground. “Once we get a commitment from our teams, we let the inviting party know we can be there. And then we try very hard to make sure we have boots and paws on the ground within 24 hours,” Pam shares. “In this case, the call came in by 11 a.m., and within 12 hours, we had everybody in place here in the Twin Cities.”
From Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois, six comfort dogs came together in Minneapolis to share love and support.
©Lutheran Church Charities
The Golden (Retriever) Rule
So why are all of the LCC’s comfort dogs golden retrievers? According to Pam, it all comes down to temperament. “We only use purebred Golden Retrievers for a couple of reasons,” she explains. “Golden Retrievers, by nature, are the most loving, gentle dogs that I know of. They would rather spend more time with people than with other dogs. Their love for the human being is something that comes very naturally to them.”
From breeder selection to two years of training, each comfort dog is carefully prepared for moments like these. “Our dogs need to be trained to work with multiple handlers,” she tells us. “That goes on until they’re about nine or 10 months old — maybe some a little earlier, depending on the dog — and then they go to live with one of our professional trainers for their finishing work. That really cements in those commands, and makes sure that they are on the target trajectory to pass their end exam and get their good citizenship certificate, as well as their 2000-hour certificate.”
I knew within moments that this wasn’t something I necessarily wanted to do; it was something I had to do. I felt very called to it.
Pam Lienemann of K-9 Comfort Dogs of Lutheran Church Charities
Healing in Action
The real proof of the dogs’ impact comes in the quiet moments. Pam recalls one encounter last week outside a Minneapolis church memorial site. “I met a young woman outside the church who was visibly shaken and upset. It turns out she is Fletcher Merkel’s neighbor,” shares Pam. “She wanted to make sure she could do something … and doing something is so hard in these situations.”
Pam pointed her toward the volunteers managing the flood of flowers at the memorial. “I saw her again on Saturday, and she was a brand new person, because she had something to do. She was making a tangible difference in the only way she really could, other than her ongoing support for the family. So that really hit home with me.”
Children, too, find unexpected ways to process trauma. “They will sit down on the curb or the ground and start petting the dogs. And as they pet the dogs, they start to relax. And as they start to relax, they start to talk. And as they start to talk, they start to heal.”
“We’ve seen a number of the children who were in the school that day,” Pam says. “They’ve come by to see the dogs. And they cling to each other and then cling to the dog.”
©Lutheran Church Charities
Lessons from Sandy Hook and Beyond
This isn’t the first time LCC Comfort Dogs have responded to tragedy. “Newtown (Sandy Hook) was one of our very first large deployments,” explains Pam. “A couple of our leadership people from Illinois ended up spending seven weeks out there.”
The teams have also comforted communities after Hurricane Helene, the Southern California wildfires, and Uvalde. The list goes on. In each case, the dogs provide stability in chaos. “I have stood this dog in front of a freight train going down the track, blowing its whistle, and it doesn’t shake him,” Pam says with a sense of awe and appreciation. “It just does not shake him. “I have not walked into any circumstance with Gideon where he has not performed exactly how we want him to perform.”
Pam has seen children whisper secrets into Gideon’s floppy ears. “In Sandy Hook, they brought the kids into an auditorium, and they had all 14 dogs there along with counselors, kids, and parents,” Pam recalls. “There was a little boy who had not spoken for four days, and he lay down — a lot of times, the kids will just lie on these dogs, and they’ll take it because they’re golden retrievers. That’s what they do. Anyway, this little boy lay down on the comfort dog, Howie. And after about five minutes, he lifted Howie’s ear flap and told that dog in full detail what had happened in his classroom. He didn’t tell the people. He told the dog.”
For Pam, that moment illustrates the safe space comfort dogs create. “It’s all about giving them that space they need to feel safe and relaxed. We’re finding that when someone goes through this kind of trauma, in the initial days, once they start to tell the story, they will tell it over and over and over again. Having not been through this kind of tragedy personally, I think that helps them. The more they tell it, the more it helps them get it out.”
Caring for the Caregivers
As you might imagine, deployments are draining for dogs and humans alike. “For the dogs, it’s a mandatory three days of rest and no vest,” Pam tells us. “Yesterday, Gideon spent most of the day on my living room floor with a fan blowing on him … And then we went outside and played a little bit — just did fun things.”
Handlers, too, need their recovery time. “Every night, when we’re out on deployment, we all get together and go through a debrief — about what we’ve seen and heard that day, the things that we can’t tell publicly,” she shares. “And then when we get home … yesterday, I did nothing. I had a lot I could have gotten done and needed to get done, but I was just incapable of moving, both physically and mentally. We take time to rest, and Lutheran Church Charities is always there for us if we need to talk.”
This time was especially personal, given the tragedy’s proximity to where Pam lives. “This time, I probably cried more than I normally do — this time, it’s home. It’s our children, our school, our people.”
“They are trained to be calm, and believe me, they are,” Pam says of all of the comfort dogs in service. “I haven’t found anything that would shake Gideon, other than fireworks. He doesn’t care for those, but we cut him some slack when it comes to that.”
©Lutheran Church Charities
A Path Forward
Even as Minneapolis grieves, Gideon and the other comfort dogs continue to bring light to dark places. Sometimes it’s five minutes of reprieve, sometimes it’s a first smile after tragedy. Always, it’s a reminder that healing doesn’t happen alone.
“They don’t really do anything but be a bridge,” Pam explains of the pups. “When you think about it, a dog is non-judgmental. They don’t share your secrets. You can tell them anything, and they’re not going to tell anybody else. And they create a safe place for people to relax and process a little bit. They also create a safe place for people to smile, and sometimes it’s the first time they have smiled since the incident.”
For those who want to support, Pam points to the LCC website. “You can send them to Lutheran Church Charities’ website, and they will find ways to donate to the dogs, the hearts of mercy and compassion, and any of the three ministries. Quite frankly, that’s the best way to help us.”
In a world struggling to make sense of senseless acts, these comfort dogs remind us of something beautifully simple: sometimes the greatest healing begins with soft fur, a steady presence, and ears that never judge.
