Remembering and Honoring the Dogs of September 11th
September 11th, 2001 was a day full of tragedy, chaos and devastation. With nearly 10,000 rescue workers searching day and night through the rubble for survivors, we often forget about the four-legged unsung heroes of that day: the search and rescue dogs.
Before 9/11, most people in the United States had never heard of disaster search dogs. Search and rescue dogs specialize in disaster response skills, where they are trained to search and detect the scent of living humans. Their mission at Ground Zero was to find survivors buried in the rubble. About 300 dog and handler search teams responded to Ground Zero after the World Trade Center fell, but only about 100 were prepared for the size of the disaster. Many of the search and rescue teams were wilderness search and rescue dogs, experts at finding people in the woods and had trouble coping with the enormous mound of twisted metal, glass and smoldering rubble along with the urban noises. Despite the momentous task at hand, the dog and handler teams continued to help however they could for days.
Searching for signs of life amongst the huge piles of debris was mentally and physically taxing on the dogs. As they worked alongside their handlers, the dogs of 9/11 would get discouraged and lose their drive to search when they found less living bodies and more of the dead. Aware of the importance of morale in these dogs and to keep their motivation high, handlers would stage a “mock find” so the dog could feel successful.
While the dogs shifts would be 12 hours a day, some worked up to 18 hours a day for 1 ½ to 2 weeks. While searching for survivors, most dogs would end up slicing their paw pads on glass and metal while searching through debris piles or squeezing into confined spaces. Many of the search and rescue dogs would end up collapsing from exhaustion or inhalation of smoke and chemicals. Veterinarians were stationed around the clock to provide IV’s and medical aid to all the dogs. At the end of each day, the dogs were given sanitizing baths along with ear, eye and mouth treatments to clean them up from the chemicals and smoke from Ground Zero. They would also have their raw paw pads gently moisturized and tended to.
While hundreds of dogs showed up with their handlers to dedicate time and effort to the Ground Zero disaster, a few became iconic throughout the clean up effort. Let’s take a look at some of the heroic and honorable dogs of September 11th:
Bretagne
Bretagne (pronounced Britt-nee), a golden retriever, is one of the most known rescue dogs from 9/11. She remained the only living search and rescue dog from Ground Zero until June 6, 2016, when she was laid to rest just shy of 17 years old. Her and her handler Denise Corliss, a volunteer firefighter with the Cy-Fair Fire Department, worked their first mission together at Ground Zero for 10 days in 12 hour shifts, where their mission went from rescue to recovery. Bretagne was 2 years old at the time of the attacks but was trained for search and rescue work at just 8 weeks old. She also aided in rescue missions during Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Ivan. When Bretagne retired from her search and rescue work at 9 years old, she continued to work as a goodwill ambassador for her local fire department and as a reading assistance dog at a local elementary school.
Riley
A golden retriever trained to locate survivors of the attacks, Riley became an icon of hope in one of the most famous K9 photos from 9/11. The picture of Riley shows him in a basket being sent over a 60-foot-deep canyon to search the rubble of the North Tower. Riley was part of FEMA’s Pennsylvania Task Force 1 and continued to work tirelessly through the days and nights to locate living people. Riley helped to recover several bodies of firefighters and sadly passed away with his family by his side on February 26th, 2010.
Coby & Guinness
Both Labrador retrievers Coby and Guinness worked as a team to search through the rubble of the World Trade Center for 11 days in 12 hour shifts during the nights, with a reward being a nap or a chew toy. Both dogs had been used to working debris piles during their training but never to the magnitude of the World Trade Center. Despite covering a larger ground than trained, Coby and Guinness found the remains of dozens of people in the rubble.
Appollo
Appollo the German Shepherd and his master Police Officer Peter Davis arrived at Ground Zero a mere 15 minutes after the collapse of the towers, making Appollo the first search and rescue dog on the scene. At one point during his work, Apollo was almost killed by fire and falling debris, but managed to survive thanks to being drenched in water beforehand. He immediately returned to his search and rescue mission working 18 hour days to find survivors until his body became too weak to continue and was forced to stop out of exhaustion.
Thunder & Ricky
Thunder was a golden retriever owned by Kent Olson who traveled from Lakewood, Washington. It was their first time they had been sent so far away or had helped with a mission of this magnitude; they often searched Washington for victims and survivors of avalanches and drownings. Ricky was a rat terrier, and the smallest dog working search and rescue at Ground Zero, who was owned by Janet Linker, a Seattle Firefighter. Ricky stood at only 17 inches tall and weighed 280 ounces.
The two dogs worked closely together for 10 days, as their handlers worked their abilities in tandem. Ricky would squeeze himself into tight spaces that Thunder could not fit and Thunder would verify Ricky’s finds. When Ricky would find a body, he would signal by standing very still and looking at his handler intently with all the fur on his body standing up; Thunder would then confirm the find by lying down as his signal to his partner. Rescuers would then know exactly where to dig for the body. Both dogs’ indication of a “live find” was to have been a bark, but unfortunately they never had the chance to make that signal.
Trakr
Trakr was a German Shepherd living in Nova Scotia, Canada and part of the Halifax Regional Police with his handler James Symington. When Symington witnessed the collapse of the World Trade Center, he immediately drove 15 hours from Nova Scotia to Manhattan where he and Trakr got to work on the morning of September 12th to help locate survivors. At 6 am on September 12th, Trakr found signs of life amongst the rubble; Genelle Guzman, one of the last 20 survivors who had been in the South Tower when it collapsed. Guzman had been trapped for 26 hours prior to Trakr finding her. Trakr continued to work day and night until he collapsed from smoke and chemical inhalation on September 14th. After being treated, he was able to return home with Symington, however, the two were suspended from the Halifax Police force for participating in 9/11 relief efforts without permission.
Symington quit the force and moved to LA where Trakr won a competition as the world’s most ‘clone-worthy’ dog. Today, there are Trakr genes living in 5 puppy clones: Trustt, Solace, Valor, Prodigy and Déjà Vu.
Sage
Sage, a Border Collie, became a FEMA search and rescue dog at only 18 months old and was called to the Pentagon as part of the New Mexico Task Force 1. This was her first real mission and amid the rubble, she sniffed out the body of one of the terrorists who had flown American Flight 77 into the building. Sage and her handler Diane Whetsel continued their careers in search and rescue by rescuing animals stranded from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita before being deployed to Iraq in 2007.
Sage was honored with the 2009 Search and Rescue Award for Canine Excellence before passing away in 2012 at the age of 13.
Jake
At just 10 months old, Jake was rescued as a stray in Utah by handler Mary Flood, a member of the Utah Task Force 1 search and rescue team trained to respond to disasters. She nursed Jake back to health after finding him with a broken leg, a dislocated hip and a number of other health problems. Jake showed that he was a natural when Flood started training him for search and rescue, so the pair flew to New York to be a member of the relief team for 9/11. Jake worked for 17 days in dangerous conditions with toxic air, sharp debris and other health hazards and was only done his job when he and Mary were sure there were no survivors left to find.
Jake went on to provide search and rescue services for hurricanes Katrina and Rita, worked as a therapy dog at Utah nursing homes and at a camp for burn victims as well as taught other dogs how to become search and rescue certified.
Roselle, Guide Dog
One of the unsung heroes of 9/11 was Roselle, a guide dog, who led her blind owner, Michael Hingson, from the 78th story of the North Tower after the hijacked jetliner crashed into the tower 18 floors above them. Roselle guided Hingson a staggering 1463 steps out of the building and to the safety of a subway station. Once they emerged from the subway station after the towers fell, Roselle then led Hingson some 40 blocks to a friend’s apartment and safety.
Salty, Guide Dog
During the attacks on September 11th, 2001, Salty and his blind owner Omar Rivera were on the 71st floor when one of the hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center 22 floors above them. Rivera felt the building shake and realized his dog was worried, so he put Salty’s harness on and attempted their escape down the nearest flight of stairs. Rivera tried to save Salty by letting him go and telling him to leave him, but Salty returned a couple minutes later to his owner’s side and led him down 70 floors to safety. It took them an hour to descend the stairs and find a safe area, but Salty never left his owner’s side.
Sirius, Explosives Detection Dog
Sirius, a yellow labrador, was the only animal to die on 9/11.
Sirius was a member of the Police K-9 Unit as a bomb detection dog with NY/NJ Port Authority Police Department. His partner was Police Officer David Lim and they were assigned to the World Trade Center. On the morning of September 11th, Sirius and Lim were in the basement of the World Trade Center’s Tower Two when Lim heard the sound of an explosion. Lim left Sirius in his kennel, thinking he would be more effective freehanded, and rushed off to help with the rescue effort. Officer Lim never made it back to Sirius, as he became trapped in the falling debris of Tower One and was not pulled out until more than 5 hours later. Sirius, however, perished in the tragedy. On January 22, 2002, Sirius’ body was recovered and he received full Police Honors when his body was carried out.
Tikva
Tikva was a Keeshound therapy dog owned by Cindy Ehlers who provided emotional relief to exhausted and discouraged rescue workers at Ground Zero. She was also tasked with servicing the pier nearest the 9/11 attack where she would ride the ferry to comfort grieving family members traveling to see the spot where they had lost their loved ones. Tikva would nudge the grieving and bury her face in their hands to help ease the burden of their grief.
After witnessing the incredible work these dogs put forth, many people began donating to programs that trained search and rescue dogs while some first responders were inspired to find their own training dog or research programs focused on search and rescue dogs. This event also provoked general members of the public to pursue search-and-rescue certification for their own dog.
While we still strive to mourn the losses of our country that day, the value of the search and rescue dogs was forever solidified because of the way these four-legged heroes stepped up in the face of incredible tragedy.
Sources:
https://www.dogingtonpost.com/remembering-the-hero-dogs-of-911/
https://www.today.com/pets/salty-relative-wrangler-s-led-blind-owner-safety-71st-floor-t43471