TOLEDO, Ohio — A golden retriever who lived in Toledo, and who acted as a comfort dog after many high-profile tragedies both locally and nationally, passed away this week.
Trinity Lutheran Church announced Anna's passing on Anna's Facebook page on Saturday.
"It is with deep sorrow that we share the passing of our beloved, Anna Comfort Dog, who is now Permanently Deployed Serving the Saints."
Nancy Borders, who runs the comfort dog ministry at the south Toledo church, says Anna was used as a comfort dog after several mass shootings around the country, including those in Michigan State, Oxford (Mich.), Parkland, Las Vegas, and Dayton.
In 2017, WTOL 11 profiled Anna as she provided comfort to two girls, aged 14 and 9, as they testified in the trial of father and son Timothy and Esten Ciboro.
The Ciboros were convicted of raping the girls and are currently serving time in prison.
The success of Anna led the Lucas County Prosecutor’s Office to employ another comfort dog, Ezra.
Anna was 13 months old when she was placed at Trinity Lutheran in 2015, already fully trained.
There were eight handlers to start with when Anna arrived at the church. All eight needed to be trained on the over 30 commands that Anna already knew.
“She ended up training us, because she was so much better than we were,” said Borders.
Lutheran Church Charities started their comfort dog ministry in 2008 with 4 dogs. The dogs belong to a network of comfort dogs across the country that includes 130 golden retrievers.
“They train the dogs to be very calm, to be able to be around children, adults, pre-schoolers, and to be with people who are stressed, hurting, and in pain,” said Borders.
When on assignment, Anna would spend about a week helping victims, first responders, and other survivors of tragedies.
Border says Anna died from a heart attack and was suffering from an undiagnosed tumor at the time of her death.
"We have mats, like a floor mat for each dog, and one's going to be missing now. And that's going to leave a big hole," said Borders.
Anna was 9 years old.
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