PARKERSBURG, W.Va. (WTAP) – Parkersburg High School’s therapy dog Barney, stopped by Latrobe Street Mission to bring smiles into the building. Barney’s job as a therapy dog is to understand trauma and thoughts someone may be experiencing and cheer them up by using the knowledge he was trained to do. Barney visits a lot of places in Wood County and PHS is where he is hosted.
“Therapy dogs they go around and bring smiles to peoples faces. Actually we walked in today and there were some adults and I brought him in and as soon as they saw him they went over and they were smiling and we are like how can you not smile when you see a dog, you got to so that was one of the things.” said Travis Smith, Psych Coordinator PHS.
Even with school being out, Barney still keeps busy. Jon Six and his team visit Latrobe Street Mission almost every weekend and this time they decided to bring in a furry friend.
“School is out other than summer school and I am sure Travis is wanting to keep him busy. So, this week we have opened up a cooling station here at Latrobe Street Mission and I thought he would like to come in and mingle with the people and as soon as he came in the door everyone was smiling. That is just how a therapy dog works.” said Jon Six, President, Jon Six Food Ministries.
Oftentimes, it can be hard to find reasons to smile, but who can turn down a smile when a cute puppy walks through the door?
“So often people don’t have a reason to smile anymore during this heat wave it is really hard on a lot of us and a lot of our people are struggling to find housing and I thought why not bring in a little bit of joy for an evening.” said Six.
Jon Six and his team sponsor Barney, paying his vet bills and whatever else he needs. Not to mention, he is so spoiled with love!
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