Moss Service Funeral Home has welcomed a new employee to its staff. Milo, a one year old Bernese Mountain Dog and Poodle mix, will be available for snuggles and, hopefully, provide a little comfort to those going through a difficult time.

Milo’s owner Dawn Holmes, first became aware of the need for support animals shortly after her oldest son was born. Due to health issues her son spent much of the early part of his life at Children’s Hospital of Birmingham.

Hand in Paw, an animal-assisted therapy non-profit located in Birmingham, offered her son a type of care that human caregivers were simply unable to provide.

“There were times that I used that as my bargaining chip. I’d end up telling him that if he just finished his dinner or took his medicine that we could go see the dogs and that was all he needed to hear. When they were in the room his whole demeanor would change,” Holmes said.

Holmes made it a personal mission to one day provide that comfort to others in need. Holmes adopted Milo, eventually reaching out to Off Leash K9, located on a 40-acre farm in Athens.

Staying true to their namesake OLK9 specializes in off-leash training through the course of evaluations, a two week “doggie boot-camp,” and personalized training sessions with the owner. According to OLK9, the process creates a strong bond between the dog and owner without the restrictions of a leash.

Having met the behavioral criteria for Therapy dogs, which the American Kennel Club describe as confident, quiet and calm, Milo honed the skills he would need for his future position at Moss over the course of eight weeks under the supervision of Holmes and Head Trainer and OLK9 owner Ciara Stevens.

Still considered to be in his puppy stage, Milo is now undergoing on the job training, considered to be a fully certified Therapy Dog at 18 months.

“It really is unbelievable how much these animals help people,” Holmes said. “Just the other day there was a family who were understandably grief stricken and because of Milo’s training, he seeks out those who are hurting. He just went over to them and laid down and the family just started petting and laying on him and it was like it shifted the atmosphere in the room. I really think what he does is soak up just a little bit of the pain that people are feeling in those moments and that helps them to cope with things that seem unbearable.”