By Chris OrletRecord Managing EditorThese are no ordinary mutts.Unlike dogs bred to hunt, retrieve, herd or even guide the blind, Jackson, Louie and Jessy were bred to be still — just remain totally passive, even in a room full of frenzied first-graders.The trio are also on a mission: helping communities recover from tragedy.The three Lutheran Church Charities K-9 comfort dogs and their handlers visited Warrior Ridge Elementary Friday. They came from Joplin and Concordia at the invitation of St. John Lutheran Church in Warrenton and the staff at Warrior Ridge Elementary School a week after 7-year-old Mason Vandiver, his mother Lexy, and one of his mother’s co-workers were murdered in a brutal Valentine’s Day domestic assault near Jonesburg.Another co-worker remains hospitalized, but is expected to recover from her injuries.The dogs are professionally trained to respond to situations of grief or tragedy.“They intuitively know that their job is to help the children,” says volunteer Jim Mills of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Concordia. “They very quickly tune in to kids and their needs.”Mills says the dogs instinctively know who to go to, who is hurting and who needs them the most.Mills adds, “This is Jesus on four feet.”Another volunteer, Dennis Oetting, Concordia, said the dogs are therapeutic because the feelings of the traumatized person goes out and is soaked up by the dog, almost like a sponge.“Sometimes the dogs won’t let me move away until the child is ready,” he said.And Jackson and Louie have travelled to some of the nation’s recent disasters, including Joplin after the 2011 tornado, Boston after the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., after the 2012 school shooting.The Rev. Gregory Mech, of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Joplin, said he and Jackson and Louie drove five hours simply to be of service.“People came from all over the country to help us in Joplin after the 2011 tornado,” he said. “We found the comfort dogs others brought to be enormously helpful so we decided to get our own dogs to help others.” Tim Hetzner, LCC’s president, said that prisoners train the dogs for nine months to be service dogs. Then, depending on where they’ll ultimately be placed, the dogs spend an additional four to six weeks learning the comfort dog portion of their job.Lutheran Church Charities has more than 70 such dogs at work across the country, responding to various needs.Warrior Ridge Principal Dr. Bobbi Russell said she was very grateful for LCC’s assistance and for the support of the entire community.“Last week was a very sad week,” she said. “but we’re making sure all the kids are feeling safe and feeling loved.”

Mika Rounds, a first grader at Warrior Ridge Elementary School, pets Jessy, one of the comfort dogs that visited the school last Friday. Chris Orlet photo.