From the Labrador who led her blind owner out of the World Trade Center to the German Shepherd who arrived at the Twin Towers within minutes of their collapse, these fearless rescue dogs made a true difference on 9/11 and in the aftermath.
September 11, 2001 remains one of the most tragic days in the history of the United States. In the wake of multiple terror attacks that targeted the Pentagon and the World Trade Center, nearly 3,000 people were killed and countless others were injured.
And long after the attacks had ended, the devastation lingered on. The rescue workers who stepped up and answered the call to search for survivors and clean up ground zero are lauded as heroes, and rightfully so, but that title is often used only to describe the rescuers who walked on two legs.
Humans weren’t the only ones to aid in the search and rescue effort, after all. There, sifting through the rubble alongside them, were a great number of dogs tasked with finding and saving as many people as possible.
First, there’s Bretagne, a two-year-old golden retriever whose mission at ground zero was her very first rescue work. Then, there’s Sage, a border collie who found a terrorist’s body amid the wreckage at the Pentagon.
U.S. NavyRiley, one of the dogs deployed at ground zero following the 9/11 terror attacks.
Working also to sift through the rubble of the Twin Towers was a German Shepherd named Trakr – a dog so good at his job that he was later cloned. Another golden retriever, Riley, helped in the search for survivors, and his efforts were later immortalized in Mackenzie Lee’s 2019 book The History of the World in Fifty Dogs. Jake, an American black lab, proved himself to be a hero, not just in the wake of 9/11 but also in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Even dogs who weren’t trained as disaster dogs proved their bravery on the day of the attacks, such as Roselle, a guide dog who led her blind owner, Michael Hingson, to safety after the first plane struck the World Trade Center. And finally, there was Apollo, a German Shepherd who made national headlines as the first canine responder at ground zero.
Apollo would later accept an award on behalf of all search and rescue dogs, with a caption that reads: “For tireless courage in the service of humanity during the search and rescue operations in New York and Washington on and after 11 September 2001. Faithful to words of command and undaunted by the task, the dogs’ work and unstinting devotion to duty stand as a testament to those lost or injured.”
The loyalty and dedication that these dogs showed serve as proof that anyone, when they answer the call of duty, has the right to be called a hero – even if they walk on four legs.
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