From rescue dogs finding survivors, to people being saved in the burning building by guide dogs, as well as finding items of jewellery that could be reunited with victims’ families, thousands had their lives changed by a man’s best friend.
Today we remember their legacy and how many went on to be deployed to other disaster zones, as reported by the Dogington Post.Apollo Apollo rushed to the scene of the attacks, along with his handler, Peter Davis and was the first search and rescue dog to arrive at the site. The German shepherd nearly lost his life to flames and falling debris, but he managed to survive after falling into a pool of water, and continued working.
Trakr Trakr, a German Shepherd police dog, found the last survivor of the 9/11 attacks who had been trapped under the rubble for 27 hours. Genelle Guzman-McMillan, an assistant with the Port Authority of New York, was on the 13th floor of the South Tower when it fell. Along with handler James Symington, Trakr, found Genelle on the morning of September 12.Make a Tug Toy From Old Clothes. Does your dog love to play tug? Got some extra t-shirts lying around? Make your own toy by braiding one of your old t-shirts into a tug toy rather than throwing them out.
Thunder
Thunder, who was usually deployed in the Washington area to look for victims and survivors of avalanches and possible drownings, was sent to search the rubble of the 9/11 attacks for victims.
Bretagne was the last surviving search dog who worked on ground zero.
The golden retriever worked at the scene for 10 days along with her handler Denise Corliss, helping to find victims and carry out rescue operations. She was also deployed in response to Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita, Hurricane Ivan and many other disasters. A life-size bronze statue of Bretagne, was unveiled in a Houston suburb that’s still feeling the effects of Hurricane Harvey.Use a Roll of Packing Tape to Pick Up Loose Pet Fur. Do your clothes pick up dog hair like crazy? Don’t have a lint roller on hand? One of my favorite life hacks for dog owners is using packing tape to pick off all that dog hair that gets all over your clothes.
Both dogs found the remains of dozens of people and covered an area which went beyond the scope of anything they had been trained for.
Sage
Sage searched the rubble of the Pentagon, where she found the body of one of the hijackers. It was not to be her only high profile assignment, and she was deployed to Iraq in 2007 to search for U.S. soldiers captured or killed by insurgents.
Jake was a stray dog who was rescued at only 10 months old.
He was helped back to health by his handler, Mary Flood, and was flown from Utah to New York to help in search and rescue efforts. After being fed at a fancy New York restaurant to prepare for the gruelling task ahead, Jake worked for 17 days to look for victims.He went on to teach other dogs to follow in his steps by helping to train younger rescue dogs on how to track scents.
If you know of any hero dogs on 9/11? We’d love to hear your stories
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