Funeral Home Comfort Dogs

Kings Funerals is proud to introduce their funeral home comfort dog, Womble, bringing much needed comfort to the grieving families that Kings Funerals supports in regional Victoria.

Comfort dogs are increasingly employed by funeral homes in the USA,

to console bereaved families suffering through the loss of a loved one, while comfort dogs have also been put to great use at aged care facilities and hospitals internationally.

Inspired by the unique service comfort dogs provide, the Kings Funerals family spent two years searching for their perfect comfort dog, while researching best practices from around the world. They eventually found Womble in 2019, with the assistance of a local charity.

“At Kings Funerals we understand the comfort a trained companion pet can WOMBLE, KINGS FUNERALS

provide to people experiencing grief and loss. People love Womble, he’s got a really gentle, sweet, calm nature. If he senses that people would welcome it, he comes close to them, he might put his nose on their leg or just sit close for pats and cuddles,” says Beth King, General Manager of Kings Funerals.

Once Womble’s work vest is on, he knows what to do. Attuned to his environment, he has the ability to read people’s emotional state and approach those looking for comfort. As a valuable member of the Kings team, Womble is there for grieving families and helps to provide the highest levels of empathy and compassion during the funeral process.

Roxanne Neylon recently experienced Womble’s comfort dog service for her father’s funeral at Kings’ Geelong venue. “Funerals can sometimes feel cold, but it broke the ice, having a dog there. We had a few small children, and if they were upset, they would go and pat and play with the dog. It builds on that empathy when you have an animal there, who understands how you’re feeling on a different level. I felt that the service he provided was priceless,” says Roxanne.

Like Womble, two year old Cavoodle Baily has become a fixture at Frank J Siebert Funeral Directors in Adelaide. Bailey came into the Siebert family just as the full impact of the COVID pandemic was starting to affect South Australian families.

Although not intended to be a Comfort Dog, grieving families quickly became aware that a dog was on-site and asked to see him. Bailey makes what could be a confronting experience a positive one, particularly when young children are attending a viewing.

The added benefit of Bailey ‘working’ in the family business has been for the staff. Dealing with the stress of their own fear around COVID, having to deal with families face to face in the uncertainty of a pandemic, and often having to deal with grieving families’ added stress of funeral restrictions, Bailey’s sweet nature and ability to know just what attention the staff members needed – be it a lick, a cuddle or just sitting by their side – reduced the stress levels amongst the Frank J Siebert staff significantly.

The Sieberts could never have guessed that buying a family pet would make such a big difference to their staff and grieving families as well as their own family. As too at Kings Funerals, Womble is not only a great service to grieving clients and children, but has been a positive influence on the Kings team, providing comfort and a distraction on difficult days.