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9/11 Rescue Dogs, 10 Years Later

By on September 22, 2011 in Animals at Work, Dogs, Helper Animals

The Mail Online has a fantastic retrospective and photo gallery of the 12 surviving search and rescue dogs of the 100 heroic canines that scoured Ground Zero seeking survivors.

bretagne_9-11

Photographer Charlotte Dumas traveled all over the country to find and photograph the remaining rescue dogs for a portrait collection called ‘Retrieved,’ and relates a bittersweet story about speaking with the owner of Bretagne, pictured above:

‘It was moving talking to Denise Corliss, who is the handler and owner of Bretagne, one of the Golden Retrievers.

‘She told me a touching story of one fireman who was there in the rubble, and how taken he was with Bretagne who comforted him as he sat down to catch his breath.

‘Years later at a Remembrance Ceremony, the same fireman recognised Bretagne and her handler and they had a touching reunion.

‘It developed that even though the dogs couldn’t find people still alive, they could provide comfort for the brave firemen and rescue workers of the emergency services.’

The article also includes some photographs from 10 years ago, including this photo of Bretagne and Denise taking a break:

bretagne_denise

The World Trade Center’s Heroic Rescue Dogs is an article from a week after the 9/11 attack that carries the reader back, and includes many amazing photos. One of the most dramatic was this incredible shot (click for larger view):

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PHOTO CREDIT

Such brave heroes.

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June 25: Take your dog to work day!

By on June 24, 2010 in Animals at Work, Dogs

Work Like a Dog

OK, we know we are springing this on you a little bit late, but tomorrow is Take Your Dog to Work Day. Animal shelters and pet-care professionals from around the world are teaming up with employers to better the lives of shelter dogs everywhere. Many businesses will GO FURRY to promote pet adoption by opening their doors to employees’ furry, four-legged friends to celebrate the great companions dogs make.

Before you bring your dog to work, it would probably be a good idea to check with your employer … but if if you can’t bring Fido into your cubicle, you can still celebrate the spirit of the day by making a donation to your nearby pet shelter – or even better, adopting a dog from a shelter so you can have a canine companion join you on the job next year.

Also, see our post from a prior year for some guidelines on doggie work etiquette, work policies about pets, and HR issues: Has your organization gone to the dogs?

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Canine rescue teams: heroes in Haiti

By on January 21, 2010 in Animals at Work, Dogs

Search and rescue (SAR) dogs have played an important role in rescuing earthquake victims in Haiti as you can see by this story about a SAR dog named Hunter who rescued three children from the ruble. That’s just one story among many – these remarkable canines have been dispatched to Haiti from all over the globe, including China, Mexico, Peru, Taiwan, Canada, and several teams here in the U.S.

If you’ve ever wondered about how these dogs are trained to do their important jobs, you can learn more about these hero dogs and their handlers in some recent articles and links that we’ve highlighted below:

The science of sniffer dogs is an excellent article on MSNBC. Not just any dogs make the grade:

The best breeds for this job are working dogs: Labrador retrievers, golden retrievers, border collies, German shepherds and the like. “We will test 100 dogs before one one goes into our program,” Tosch said. “What we’re asking them to do is not natural for a dog. How many dogs on their own would go up a fire ladder to the second story?”

The dogs that make the grade are trained to recognize a specific smell: the scent of a live, not a dead, human. “We all have a common scent that says, ‘Yes, I am a live human being,’” Tosch said. “We also have an individualized scent, but these dogs are trained to look for that common scent.”

Rescue mission: Canadian search dogs

A Fox News report explained that one SAR dog is considered to be the equivalent to 30-40 humans. And CNN noted that a dog can accomplish in 10 minutes what takes humans two to three hours. Dogs’ great sense of smell is one of the reasons why they’re a wonderful rescue tool. This, along with their light weight and nimble step, allows canines to traverse terrain to which humans and machines are ill-suited. It’s a dangerous job, too. Unstable cement shards, unrecognizable debris and sharp rebar make sureness-of-foot imperative.

Finding dogs suited to this work isn’t simple. Most dogs tend to be Labradors, Collies, Retrievers and German Shepherds. All of America’s Search Dog Foundation’s canines are found in local shelters. So, before they’re trained to rescue humans these dogs were rescued themselves.

National Search Dog Foundation (SDF) – this California-headquartered nonprofit offers news on the Haiti mission, along with information about other disasters and searches. Visit the photo gallery or search the FAQs to learn more about these dogs and the firefighters they are partnered with.

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Pets to the rescue!

By on April 1, 2009 in Animals at Work, Helper Animals

The San Francisco Chronicle‘s pet blog features a great article with anecdotes about heroic pets – a parrot, a dog, and a cat who protected and alerted their humans from impending disaster. From protecting toddlers and saving humans from choking to raising the alarm about fires and carbon monoxide, remarkable pets come to the rescue time and time again.

hero dog

We loved these great, heartwarming stories – after reading them, we were hungry for more so tracked down a few other examples:

Readers Digest asked and published their best stories of hero pets.
We TV has a photo gallery of 10 heroic pets.
A flea control site gathered a Top Ten Most Heroic Pets collection of links to news clips and stories about hero pets. This is an older story so a few few links are broken.

Do you have a hero dog? If so, you might win a trip to Los Angeles, but you have to hurry because nominations are due by April 3, 2009. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles (spcaLA) is currently seeking nominations for its 27th Annual spcaLA National Hero Dog Award to celebrate extraordinary heroic acts performed by dogs that save and/or protect people.  The winning dog and its human companion will be flown to Los Angeles for the official ceremony.  Nominations must be from calendar year 2008.

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Has your organization gone to the dogs?

By on May 21, 2008 in Animals at Work

Every year, Pet Sitters International sponsors the annual Take Your Dog to Work Day on the first Friday after Father’s Day. The underlying purpose is to extol the benefits of bringing people and pets together and to remind people that dogs make great companions-so great that maybe all you non-owners might be moved to adopt one.

According to a 2006 survey by the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association, nearly one in five companies already allow pets in the workplace. Pets-at-work proponents cite an increase in employee morale and a decrease in stress.

Mercedes Medical, a medical supply distributor in Sarasota, Fla., thinks that allowing pets at work increases loyalty and may even bolster employee retention because workers might no be able to bring a pet to work at a new job. The company has 35 employees, and about 6 to 10 visiting canines at any given time.

At Replacements Ltd., a 500-employee china and silverware retailer, it was owner Bob Page’s idea to allow dogs at work, and he thinks it is a perk that pays off in productivity and enhanced employee satisfaction. According to the previously cited survey, 46 million Americans said they would work longer hours if they were allowed to bring their pets to work.

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