{"id":463139,"date":"2026-09-14T05:52:58","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T05:52:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/463139\/"},"modified":"2026-09-14T05:52:58","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T05:52:58","slug":"valley-therapy-dogs-comfort-first-responders-honor-lives-lost-in-9-11-remembrance-events","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/463139\/","title":{"rendered":"Valley therapy dogs comfort first responders, honor lives lost in 9\/11 remembrance events"},"content":{"rendered":"

FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 As communities continue to honor the lives lost on Sept. 11 and the first responders who answered the call, a group of therapy dogs in the Central Valley is offering comfort to those who need it most.<\/p>\n

The Fresno First Responder Therapy Dog organization brings trained dogs to first responders and other workers facing high-stress, traumatic situations. <\/p>\n

The visits are designed to provide a moment of relief through simple interaction like petting, hugging and spending time with the dogs.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Fresno First Responder Therapy Dog organization brings trained dogs to first responders and other workers facing high-stress, traumatic situations (PHOTO COURTESY OF: NANCY GILMORE).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe go into fire stations, we go into fire base camps, dispatch centers, \u201d Nancy Gilmore, a handler for First Responder Therapy Dogs, said. <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The visits are designed to provide a moment of relief through simple interaction like petting, hugging and spending time with the dogs (PHOTO COURTESY OF: ELIZABETH TERRY).<\/p>\n

Elizabeth Terry, also with the organization, said the dogs can make a difference during difficult shifts, including for hospital staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the nurses were having a hard day and just being able to hug the dog just makes a world of difference,\u201d Terry said.<\/p>\n

Two of the dogs highlighted through the group are Molly and Noodle.<\/p>\n

Molly has been working as a therapy dog for a couple of years, while Noodle is new to the role, having received his vest last week.<\/p>\n

Gilmore said the impact is often immediate when the dogs arrive.<\/p>\n

\u201cImmediately you see kind of this relief come over them because the stress level, I mean it\u2019s a proven fact that the stress level goes down when you start petting a dog and they have such high stress environment in their jobs,\u201d Gilmore said.<\/p>\n

\"Studies<\/p>\n

Studies show that interacting with animals has been shown to decrease levels of cortisol, which is a stress-related hormone (NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF HEALTH).<\/p>\n

With the 25th anniversary of 9\/11, the group went to local events to connect with first responders and share information about its mission.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe met a lot of first responders down there got the word out about first responder therapy dogs and yeah it was a wonderful experience,\u201d Gilmore said.<\/p>\n

Terry is Noodle’s handler and said he loves to cuddle.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is 80 pounds of I will crawl in your lap and just lick your face,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"Terry<\/p>\n

Terry is Noodle’s handler and said he loves to cuddle (PHOTO: PHOTOJOURNALIST CHASE GAUTHIER).<\/p>\n

Gilmore is Molly’s handler and said Molly is eager to get to work.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe absolutely loves her job now. She gets her vest on and she\u2019s ready to roll,\u201d Gilmore said.<\/p>\n

\"Gilmore<\/p>\n

Gilmore is Molly’s handler and said Molly is eager to get to work (PHOTO: PHOTOJOURNALIST CHASE GAUTHIER).<\/p>\n

The organization\u2019s visits are free. <\/p>\n

To learn more, click HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 As communities continue to honor the lives lost on Sept. 11 and the first…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":463140,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-463139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=463139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463139\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}