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Loudon Co. service dog comforts victims involved in Florida high school shooting

A service dog from Loudon County is in Parkland, Florida to comfort victims of the Florida high school shooting.

Jewel, the comfort dog from Loudon County, is in Parkland, Florida to comfort victims of the Florida high school shooting.

Jewel helps those in need for comfort or a distraction. She's visited victims of tragedy multiple times. She visited victims in Houston, Texas after Hurricane Harvey. She went to Chattanooga to console families and students of Woodmore Elementary School after a deadly bus crash.

This isn't Jewel's first time visiting Florida, either. She did her best to lift the spirits of the Orlando shooting victims and their families after a shooting in a nightclub in 2016.

This time around, she's helping supporting those in Parkland as they deal with a difficult tragedy that's affected the entire community. There were more than a dozen people in need of help Sunday afternoon, and Jewel was able to do just that.

Her handlers say it's been wonderful to see Jewel helping where she can.

"We try not to ask any invasive questions," Judy Schoenherr, Jewel's handler, said. "We just let them pet the dog, and that helps them relieve their stresses, and then sometimes they'll start to open up about what they're feeling."

Jewel plans to stay in Parkland for the rest of this coming week because the need in that area is so great.

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