Nine golden retrievers on the march making their way into a recreation center in Newtown, Connecticut for an emotional rescue to help comfort the children who survived the attack at Sandy Hook Elementary and other children in town. Therapeutic canines were sponsored and trained by Lutheran Church Charities transported in a van for a 900 mile ride from Illinois. 

 

And what it is a comfort dog?

 

A comfort dog is one who brings comfort to other people when they are suffering or hurting or bring happiness to people, it helps people process the grief they…

 

So they are specially trained?

 

They are specially trained. These are all trained service dogs. So we don’t use them with disabled, but we use that training, and then we train the additionally to work with all different age groups and people. To some people and we’ve seen this with children, it brings a sense of calmness in the time of confusion for them during this period. To some, it helps them process their grief, so they are crying, and they hug the dog and to some children now come up sad, and they walked away happy. Do you know that Luther is incapable of being mean? Luther is a friendly dog.

 

Well, Katon loves dogs. 

 

When does training begin to be a comfort dog?

 

Five and a half weeks, we buy puppies at five and a half weeks and turn them upside down in how their temperament is and from that point on, we

 

But you turn them upside down, so if they are turned upside down and they flail, they can’t be a comfort dog. 

 

Right, our initial screening is if they can be relaxed in that position, then we start the next process, which is a trainer that works with them one on one for the next eight months to a year. 

 

We’ve been asking on our blog, what do think can be done to keep kids safer at school. Amira says, schools should have more security guards with better training and more available defense resources for the trained security personnel. Ian suggests, limiting access points for perpetrators and educating students on what needs to be done in case the worst happens. From Kal, campuses could be surrounded by fences that can be climbed as easily as chin-linked fences. Jack thinks the best course of action is to have at least to or more staff in a school with guns to protect themselves and the kids. John writes, the only reasonable solution is to have stricter gun control, not a single American needs an automatic weapon unless it’s government issued. Macey says, too many people have guns and use them for the wrong reason. In Nick’s opinion, a change in gun laws wouldn’t solve the problem. We need to focus on mental instabilities in children. Heather also says, we need more attention brought to mental health care to prevent things like this from happening. CNN is looking for your i-reports, if your class or school is taking action to honor Newtown, Connecticut, head to i-report.com and upload your photos in Newtown assignment.