People around the world are remembering the countless lives affected by 9/11: the people we lost, the first responders who saved lives, and the people who worked at Ground Zero in the aftermath.
And people are also remembering all the dogs who played a crucial part in the aftermath of 9/11, who searched the rubble for survivors and helped bring comfort and morale to emergency workers.
While all of these rescue dogs have since passed away, their legacy is remembered over 20 years later.
Search and rescue dogs
Within hours of the destruction of the World Trade Center, hundreds of rescue workers arrived at Ground Zero, including 300 search-and-rescue dogs.
The dogs were crucial in the initial search. The dogs, specially trained for disaster areas like this, were able to sniff for survivors and reach places that humans couldn’t among the still-smoldering debris.
Genelle Guzman-McMillan, a World Trade Center office worker who was caught in the collapse, was rescued by one of these dogs, 27 hours later. “It’s so awesome that the dogs could have this kind of sense, to find people buried under the rubble,” Guzman-McMillan said in the Animal Planet documentary “Hero Dogs of 9/11,” according to Today.
“I felt total renewed life in me. … That was the most joyful moment.”
But Guzman-McMillan turned out to be the very last survivor found in the rubble. Emergency workers soon realized the chance of finding more survivors was slim, and the dogs’ mission became one of recovery rather than rescue.
“We went there expecting to find hundreds of people trapped,” Chris Selfridge, who was at Ground Zero as the handler of a 4-year-old golden retriever named Riley, told the New York Times. “But we didn’t find anybody alive.”
Providing comfort
With no chance of finding survivors, the dogs’ job was to locate cadavers from the rubble. Their handlers feared the dogs would become demoralized with no living humans to rescue, so they would stage “mock finds” to make them feel successful, according to the 9/11 Museum and Memorial.
But the dogs also took on a new responsibility as a comforting sight for a nation in mourning. Showing up on the extensive news coverage of Ground Zero, the dogs’ recovery efforts were seen as a light in the darkness.
And they especially had an impact on the emergency responders who worked alongside them. “The search and rescue dogs didn’t rescue any people from the pile,” Alan Fausel, executive director of American Kennel Club’s Museum of the Dog, told the Times. “But I think they somewhat rescued the people who were searching.”
Trained therapy dogs were also crucial in the aftermath of 9/11. While many dogs were brought in to help grieving families, a few were brought to Ground Zero to help soothe stressed-out workers.
“A firefighter called up V-Mat [Veterinary Medical Assistance Teams] after we left and said, ‘Where are those comfort dogs? They’re the only thing that helps me get through the day,” Cindy Ehlers, who traveled to New York with her therapy dog Tikva, told the American Kennel Club.
Bretagne, the last 9/11 dog
Because it has been 20 years since 9/11, all the dogs involved have since passed away.
Bretagne, a search-and-rescue golden retriever, is believed to have been the final survivor. In addition to searching the rubble at Ground Zero, she also helped look for survivors in other disasters like Hurricane Katrina before retiring at age 9.
She died in 2016, euthanized after suffering from kidney failure.