Specially Trained Comfort Dogs Help Families, First Responders At Florida Condo Collapse

SURFSIDE, FL (CBS) -- A team of canine comfort dogs is now on the scene of the condo collapse in Surfside, Florida to help families and first responders.

The deployment of dogs arrived Tuesday from New Jersey. They are part of a non-profit called Crisis Response Canines. Since their arrival, they have been moving between the family reunification center and the search command post, comforting the people they meet along the way.

"Our mission if you will is to make sure we do the best we can to provide emotional support to families, loved ones, friends, certainly we interact with people throughout the community, and many times over we are working with first responders," said John Hunt with Crisis Response Canines.

These dogs have a higher level of training than other comfort dogs. They learn the skills needed to help at a national crisis - like what happened in Surfside.

Hunt said the dogs are actually better in situations like this than people.

"We come and say to a person going through a terrible tragedy, 'how are you doing?' Dogs don't do that. They just put you at ease," he said.

"Dogs don't judge," said Nancy Mittleman. She is the handler for one of the dogs, Tarik. "They don't ask questions."

There are seven dogs on location in Surfside. Their volunteer handlers pay all of the costs themselves and the organization uses donations to help them out.