Counseling Uvalde families is a long-term commitment — and dogs have helped

Dark scribbles. That’s what students in Uvalde were drawing in the days immediately after the shooting at Robb Elementary School that killed 19 kids and two teachers, said Ayla Rahmberg, a San Antonio-based volunteer with Canines for Christ. “The pictures were so sad,” Rahmberg said. “The feelings they were drawing were really heart-wrenching.” But over the summer, the national organization provided therapy dogs to accompany or just interact for a few minutes with hundreds of kids. The dogs were with them at funerals, community events and vacation Bible school, a summer church tradition. The kids are back in school and their sketches have become brighter, Rahmberg said.

“There were pictures that we saw of kids drawing a school with a dog and a heart around it,” she said. “That is new. That was a change. We are watching healing. That progress is happening. It’s slow. The grief is not going to ever go away, but the process is hopefully in motion.” Multiple organizations have helped Uvalde residents deal with loss and grief, in and out of school settings, with many trying to hire mental health professionals from a supply of applicants that can’t keep up with demand. That leaves animals to play a central role. Parents have purchased puppies for their kids. The Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District, which started classes Tuesday, has therapy dogs for its students. Sacred Heart Uvalde, the local Catholic school that doubled its enrollment after the tragedy, has had dogs on campus almost every day since its semester began Aug. 15. Canines for Christ will supply them once a week for the rest of the year. “Something about petting a dog. People start petting a dog and it just brings down the defenses,” said Jill Powell, another volunteer and the organization’s director of membership. “It helps you feel better and more relaxed and helps you start talking.”