SEPTEMBER 19, 2016 – Featured in the Miami Herald

"Lulu, say a prayer,'' Matthew Fiorillo tells his 2 1/2-year-old goldendoodle. Hearing the command, Lulu, a therapy dog who comforts mourners at Ballard-Durand Funeral & Cremation Services in Westchester County, New York, puts her paws up onto the kneeler and tilts her head down.

"She's an added source of comfort,'' says Fiorillo, who owns the business. "She has a calming presence. She's a social dog who loves people and has great instincts. She'll curl up into a ball and lay down next to an older person, or jump around with kids. She especially helps the children, since not all of them understand death.''

The idea of having a therapy dog in his funeral practice came to Fiorillo in 2013 after a storm hit New York and he found himself stuck, like many others, in the Miami airport, unable to get home.