TULSA, Okla. — Comfort comes in all different forms, but one local Golden Retriever is bringing solace and joy to victims of human tragedies like the shootings at Saint Francis in Tulsa and Uvalde, Texas.
One look at her golden, puppy dog eyes and it's easy to see how Persis is able to comfort people on the worst, day of their life. She is specially trained for tragedy and disaster deployments and is a calming presence for people experiencing a crisis.
Her handlers say her ability to connect and settle others is truly unique.
"There is eye-to-eye contact and there is a little signature thing that she does with her paw. She will bring her paw right around to somebody and just suck you right in," said handler Steve Hurry.
Her training began early in life.
"It starts when they are 6-to-8 weeks old. They go where they pick up the dogs and they start with them and turn them upside down with the palm of their hand and they play with their feet. If the dog pulls the feet away, they don't select that dog," Hurry said.
If the dog lets you play with its feet, then they keep that dog and put them into the training program. It can last anywhere from 18 months to two years.
Persis is so skilled that she was called on to comfort people in Uvalde, Texas following the mass shooting that killed 19 students and two adults in May of 2022.
"When they would start petting her, they would start to relax and take a few deep breaths and sometimes they wouldn't say anything. Sometimes they would cry a little bit., In general, they just got a moment to be present with her and catch her breath in that moment in time," says handler Eric Wendlebo.
He says their first trip to Uvalde was really, tough.
"It was five or six days after the shooting, and we were just sort of in the period where the families were having visitations and the funerals were beginning. The day the shooting happened was their last day in class and so when they went back to school, it was obviously a very anxious time for a lot of folks," he says.
Persis is one of 130 comfort dogs all across the U.S. and is part of the Lutheran Church Charities comfort dog ministry. She interacts with people at churches, schools, nursing homes, hospitals and disaster response situations for free.
To book Persis you can contact her handlers at 918-645-2644 or online here.
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