Daniel is new comfort dog for Immanuel Lutheran Church ministry

Dec. 24—Daniel has been at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Joplin for about a month, and he's already receiving Christmas mail.

He recently received a card and bandanna from Samson, the comfort dog at Zion Lutheran Church in Marengo, Illinois.

"When you're the new dog, you get lots of mail," Jason Glaskey, minister to youth and families at Immanuel Lutheran and a comfort dog handler, said as he opened the envelope with a chuckle.

Daniel is the new comfort dog at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Joplin. He continues a ministry that was started in 2011 as the church sought to offer emotional support to the community in the wake of that year's tornado.

Immanuel is letting the community know Daniel has arrived and their team has been fully certified. They're looking forward to building relationships and meeting people.

"It's been rewarding," Glasky said, "when I meet people and they say, 'Oh, I remember the other comfort dogs; this is the new one?' They've been expecting and waiting for this dog to come to town."

The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod runs the comfort dog ministry through Lutheran Church Charities and is based in Chicago.

Launch of program

Immanuel's comfort dog ministry started in the summer of 2011 after comfort dogs visited Joplin from Chicago, rotating two or three dogs a week at the church's relief center. Before the tornado, the church had never heard of Lutheran comfort dogs and their mission of emotional and physical support. The church and Joplin both got to know the emotional support dogs during the recovery process.

"By the end of the summer, we had fallen in love," Glaskey said. "We had seen the effectiveness and realized the need for the continued support."

At the time, comfort dogs Louie and Jackson had just completed their training and were assigned to Immanuel Lutheran Church and Martin Luther School. The ministry used the dogs in a variety of ways, both locally and nationally, as they helped people who had gone through disasters. In addition to helping area residents with post-tornado support, they also visited Newtown, Connecticut, after the Sandy Hook Elementary shootings in 2013 and Las Vegas in 2017 after the mass shooting at a music festival.

"We don't just respond to disasters, though," Glaskey said. "Typical days are much lighter, much happier, most of the time. We get to go to nursing homes and visit the residents there. We get invited into schools to visit with classrooms. The people of Joplin will find us at community events, the park or the mall going for walks. We like to spread smiles and build relationships with people."

The ministry with Louie and Jackson came to an end when the dogs aged toward retirement. Jackson died in 2019, followed by Louie in 2021.

But even as Louie approached retirement, the church was already thinking about a new comfort dog. It takes a lot of funding and volunteers to run the ministry, and they started preparing for the long process of getting a dog.

Daniel is almost 2 years old; his birthday is coming up on Jan. 15. The light-brown golden retriever has been raised since he was a puppy to be a comfort dog by Lutheran Church Charities. He's received more than 2,000 hours of training. Daniel also has two brothers who are also comfort dogs, one in Nebraska and one approaching placement.

"Daniel is a really smart dog, very well trained," Glaskey said. "We were very impressed when we met him for the first time. Comfort dogs need to be calm in stressful places, they need to be still so they can be petted and they need to be attentive to people around them. He really enjoys meeting people, and he's really good at helping us to help people."

Daniel's business card

Every comfort dog has a business card with its photo, a popular collector's item when meeting a dog. Daniel actually has three cards: one as a puppy, one from when he was in service and now one as an official service dog.

His current card features his home church, social media channels (follow the pup @LCCK9Daniel on Instagram) and a verse. Daniel's verse is, appropriately, Daniel 12:3: "Those who are wise will shine as bright as the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever."

Both dogs and their handlers are trained to be good listeners. They care for the needs of the community, and when appropriate, pray with them, share scripture and offer faithful encouragement.

"There are so many people we meet every week who are not tied to a church, but they get to meet Daniel the comfort dog," Glaskey said. "They get to experience the mercy and compassion that a comfort dog can lead people toward."

Comfort dog handlers are all volunteers, screened by Lutheran Church Charities. Daniel's handlers went to Chicago for three eight-hour days of training. They then came home with Daniel and trained for five to six more weeks while sending videos to Chicago for critiques. Final evaluations with a trainer in person completed the process to become certified handlers.

Jennifer Jankowski, comfort dog handler and science club teacher at Martin Luther School, said that when out in public, Daniel is often greeted by smiles and pats. She said Daniel makes everybody a little lighter the day that he sees them.

"I've worked with dogs for many years, and they're always there," Jankowski said. "They're always your friend. You can pour out your soul to a dog and you know it's not leaving that dog. It's that comfort of having something you can hold, touch and pet. If you need to cry in his fur, he's OK with that."

'Reach out to us'

Immanuel's comfort dog ministry is self-funded, and there is never a charge for what they do. The ministry accepts donations to the comfort dog travel fund so that they can be ready to go if called upon. People interested in Daniel can connect through immanuel

joplin.com/comfortdogs or through Daniel's Facebook or Instagram pages.

At this stage of their ministry, Glaskey said they are reestablishing relationships in the community and ready to start adding to Daniel's social calendar.

"Another thing about our ministry is that we don't invite ourselves," Glaskey said. "We wait to be invited. If anyone out there knows a teacher or a school we should visit, reach out to us. If anyone has a hospital floor or nursing home that Daniel should visit, we are hoping people will call and invite us."