WTC Therapy Dogs

Copy of article from the Red Cross Website.� The yellow Labrador is Coulee Creek's Katy- Did-It (Kate), owned, trained, and handled, by Pat Dickinson of Oregon.

Therapy Dogs Lift Spirits at Ground Zero

Written by Cynthia Long, Managing Editor, RedCross.org

New York City, October 2, 2001 -- It's lunchtime at a Red Cross Respite Center near ground zero at 101 Murray Street, and dozens of New York City firefighters and police officers line up to receive a hot, heaping plate of beef stew, chicken and rice or salmon with mashed potatoes and green beans. They stand quietly, their expressions weary, until they see Tekva and Kate scampering over. Some of the emergency crew members kneel down, holding their hands out to the dogs and whistling. Others call, "here, pooch!" Everyone grins.

Tekva, a 2-year-old Keeshound, and Kate, a three-year-old yellow Labrador retriever, are part of the Hope Crisis and Response Team working with the American Red Cross to help bring emotional support to thousands of people affected by the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. Supported by the Delta Society, a nonprofit organization "dedicated to improving human health through service and therapy animals," Tekva and Kate are two of four dogs working in New York City with their handlers.

Cindy Ehlers, 43, from Eugene, Ore., heads up the Hope Crisis and Response Team. Ehlers started working with a therapy dog in May of 1998 after the deadly shooting by a student of Thurston High School in Springfield, Oregon. She and her Keeshound, named Bear, who has since passed away, made weekly visits for a year to help the community recover from the shooting.

On their first visit, Cindy and Bear went into the library at Thurston High. "She worked without a leash and mingled among many, many crying students," Ehlers said, "but she stayed with the five students that none of the counselors seemed to be able to reach. They were too withdrawn." Ehlers explained that traumatized people emit a scent that dogs immediately pick up on. She said they can smell fear and distress, and that Bear knew these students weren't coping as well as the others. "She followed the same pattern with each student - she'd go sit next to them, wiggle a bit, make a funny noise, move closer to them, and then make and hold eye contact," Ehlers said. "Once she made eye contact, they'd open up. Bear nestled up against one girl, who turned, looked into her eyes and immediately grabbed her around the neck in a hug and started sobbing."�

Ehlers' partner in New York is Tekva (pronounced teek-vah) and she and yellow Lab Kate provide comfort and a much-needed release for grieving people affected by the Sept. 11 attack.

The city of New York arranged for a boat to transport families (An email from one of those meeting Kate and Pat) along with Red Cross grief and spiritual counselors to the wreckage of the World Trade Center as a way to provide the families with some closure by enabling them to witness the scene with their own eyes. The boat departs from the Family Assistance Center, established by Mayor

Guilliani on Pier 94 overlooking the Hudson River, and drops the families a few blocks from ground zero.

Ehlers, Tekva's handler, and Pat Dickenson, Kate's handler, have boarded the boat with their dogs to adopt a family to comfort for the journey. Once aboard, both women said that either the dogs adopt the families or the families adopt the dogs. The handlers simply stand back and let it happen. "On each boat there are between 50 and 70 people, and I usually play it by ear to see what happens," Ehlers said. "Yesterday we were walking down the aisle when a woman reached down and grabbed Tekva. She buried her face in her fur and started