Angels with Fur?

Job, the Comfort Dog

Feature by Judy Otto, Editor of the Lutheran Witness Mid-South District Supplement, article written for Saturday 6-14-25 Bedrock Buzz

Love comes in all shapes and sizes—and it often comes covered in fur, as every pet owner knows. Indeed, many believe that “Dogs are angels with fur,” as a favorite refrigerator magnet claims.

But Lutheran Church Charities—the same entity that created the Disaster Response Ministry and training program that educates and prepares our Mid-South Lutheran Early Response Team (LERT) volunteers to respond to disaster-stricken communities with aid, support, and comfort—also evolved and refined the previous concept of the therapy dog, creating a unique K-9 Comfort Dog ministry that brings unconditional love and comfort to those impacted by disaster and loss.

According to Lutheran Church Charities (LCC), their K-9 Comfort Dogs and handlers provide a safe, comforting and calming presence for those who experience fear, isolation, hopelessness and uncertainty. The ministry also provides a vital service to people who have undergone human-caused trauma or natural events.

The Mid-South District’s LCC K-9 Comfort Dog is a handsome and lovable Golden Retriever named Job, deployed from Christ the King Lutheran Church in Memphis and handled by Genie and David Swan.  

By human standards, Job has achieved celebrity status: he has thousands of followers on Facebook and is recognized and welcomed regularly with hugs and pets by the children at Christ the King Lutheran School, as well as at nursing homes, assisted living facilities, hospice houses, senior centers, other schools and libraries—anywhere love and comfort are needed.

 But where Job’s special talent and training shines is when disasters strike communities, and survivors are facing the disorientation and shock of loss and struggling to process it.

In March 2018 Job was deployed to Parkland, Florida, after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglass High School, where 17 people lost their lives when a gunman opened fire. He was one of 19 LCC K-9 Comfort Dogs from across the nation to visit the students, giving and getting love. By the second or third day, the children started opening up and talking to Job about their experience and their feelings; on the third and fourth days they were talking to their counselors.

On September 23, 2021, a gunman went inside the Kroger grocery store in Collierville, Tennessee, armed with multiple guns and started firing. According to local media, 15 people were injured, 70-year-old Olivia King was killed, and the gunman was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

In November, for community members at the survivor’s forum, Job was a listening ear and a friendly face. He was invited to the dedication of the new Collierville Associate Resource Center, where mental health services, trauma counseling and victim advocacy services—and a dog named Job!—continue to support associates, first responders, survivors and the community impacted by the tragedy.

Job was presented by Kroger leadership with a comfortable bed to use during his visits to the counseling center, where his calming and listening presence are welcomed.

In June 2024, K-9 Comfort Dog Job traveled to Fordyce, Arkansas, the scene of a shooting at the Mad Butcher grocery story, where four were slain and ten wounded, including two law enforcement officers. He and his handlers from Christ the King, Memphis, were joined by K-9 Comfort Dog Persis from King of Kings, Glenpool, Oklahoma, to offer comfort to survivors of the mass shooting, families impacted by the tragedy, and the community’s first responders.

Both comfort dog teams were invited to return for the store’s reopening 12 days later, to listen, grieve, provide comfort, pray and show care to those hurting throughout the community.

 In September 2024, Job and his handlers were one of the nine LCC K-9 Comfort Dog teams that traveled to Winder, Georgia, to help community members recovering from the Apalachee High School shooting, where a 14-year-old student allegedly killed four people and injured nine others.

Lutheran Church Charities has dispatched over 130 Comfort Dogs in 27 states. Their job is to share love with anyone who needs it; and no one does it better than Job!

Like Job, all LCC K9 Comfort Dogs are specially bred Golden Retrievers who are trained by LCC professional canine trainers at one of their Illinois facilities. Volunteers foster the dogs during their training, which involves 2,000 hours over an 18-24 month period. When dogs meet the program standards, they are placed with a participating congregation to continue training with LCC K-9 Comfort Dog trained handlers.  

More Comfort Dogs are needed, joining those who have served in the aftermath of historic disasters such as Superstorm Sandy, the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting, the Boston Marathon bombing, and several more disasters and shootings that have occurred since LCC president and CEO Tim Hetzner was first inspired to create this ministry in 2005—in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

At that time, he participated in LCC’s disaster response by helping rescue homeowners who had pets, and this experience helped him to recognize the extraordinary strength of the bond many people enjoy with their dogs. 

When LCC staff returned to Chicago following Katrina, they began to borrow dogs to take to disaster scenes to comfort victims. When a mass shooting occurred on the Northern Illinois University campus in February of 2008, LCC was given special access to grieving students and faculty because of the dogs.

This is when Hetzner felt God was sending him a message: “Don’t wait for disasters. Place dogs in churches.” That same year LCC acquired its first four K-9 comfort dogs, two of which were assigned to churches. From there, the program proved to be increasingly popular with Lutheran church congregations.

“Comfort dogs are consistent with the LCC mission: The LCC K-9 Comfort Dogs are a bridge for compassionate ministry, opening doors for conversation about faith and creating opportunities to share the Mercy, Compassion, Presence and Proclamation of Jesus Christ to those suffering and in need,” their website explains.

“LCC K-9 Ministry teams do not proselytize but rather are a ministry of presence bringing comfort, a listening ear and prayer. When the Lord calls, we must go and serve Him. Isaiah 6:8 tells us, “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me.’”

“We only go where we are invited, and we never charge those we serve.”

If you would like to learn more about adding this wonderful outreach ministry to your congregation’s effort, visit the LCC website at  LCC K-9 Comfort Dogs