Making arrangements for the death of a loved one is always a difficult and heartbreaking task to go through. Thankfully, there are some funeral homes that employ workers that give much needed comfort.

Sandy Del Duca from White Plains, N.Y. recently had first-hand experience of how the unconditional love and comfort from a trained therapy dog can ease the loss of a loved one. Sandy met Lulu, a curly haired goldendoodle at the Ballard-Durand funeral home while she was mourning her father.

"That dog looked into my eyes and I was done. She seemed to know just what I needed. A funeral is a funeral; it's not a great thing. But that dog gave the service a family atmosphere and made it more of a celebration," she said.

Lulu is owned by funeral home owner Matthew Fiorillo and is one of the trained dogs being offered by American funeral homes to comfort funeral attendees and mourners. Dogs can lighten the awkward and tense atmosphere at a wake or funeral service. Most times they seem to know exactly who needs extra attention and comforting and would often sit beside them. 

When asked why Matthew decided to employ Lulu in his funeral home, "My purpose was to take a tense, uncomfortable situation and ease the tension a little bit... Whenever a dog joins a group of mourners, the atmosphere changes. In a funeral home, people are typically on edge, uncomfortable. But everyone lights up, everyone has to greet the dog," he said.  

Mark Krause is the owner and president of Krause Funeral Home and Cremation Service in Milwaukee. Krause was also the proud owner of Oliver, a Portuguese water dog. In 2001 the Krause family got Oliver as a family pet. But Mark's wife had Oliver trained to be a therapy dog and made the usual therapy dog visits to schools, nursing homes, hospitals and eventually came to work with them in the funeral home. After years of service, Oliver died in 2011 and his funeral was attended by 150 people and many of their pets.

The National Funeral Directors Association has taken notice of the growing number of funeral homes employing the services of trained therapy dogs. Funeral home owners noticed that these dogs are very comforting and they give the mourners something else to think about and work on easing the grieving process.    

If you are still skeptical with the skills of dogs like Lulu and Oliver, therapy dogs undergo training for almost a year and owners like Fiorillo spend a total of about $5,000 on their beloved pet to become qualified for the heavy task of comforting humans in need.

Certified therapy dogs wear a blue and white vest with the words  "Therapy Dog" on one side and "Pet me, I'm friendly" on the other.

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