Roselle, The Guide Dog That Led Her Blind Owner To Safety On 9/11
American Kennel ClubRoselle guided her owner and several others down more than 1,000 steps and to safety during the 9/11 attacks.
On Sept. 11, 2001, Michael Hingson reported to work at Quantum Corporation on the 78th floor of the World Trade Center as usual. But the morning had hardly started when Hingson, who was blind, heard a boom and felt the building shake. At his feet, his guide dog Roselle roused herself from a nap.
“We gotta get out of here right now!” one of Hingson’s colleagues screamed as he saw flames and smoke outside the building’s window. Though Hingson couldn’t see the fire — nor did he know that an airplane had crashed into the North Tower — he knew it was time to evacuate.
As the local leader of the office, Hingson instructed his terrified colleagues to head for the staircase. Hingson gripped Roselle’s harness, and he and the others started their harrowing journey down 1,460 steps to the ground floor. The air smelled like jet fuel, they encountered burn victims, and Hingson and his co-workers passed firefighters running in the opposite direction.
At one point, when a woman from their office started to panic, Roselle gave her some encouraging kisses. “Roselle was really good at that,” Hingson recalled, according to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum.
Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call/Getty ImagesRoselle giving a kiss to Michael Hingson.
Roselle and Hingson guided the group to the ground floor and out onto the streets. Moments later, they heard a rumble that Hingson described as a “freight train and a waterfall.” The South Tower was collapsing. And as everyone panicked and ran, Hingson relied on Roselle to guide him to safety.
His guide dog led him forward as Hingson started choking on the smoky air. “The dirt and debris was so thick, I could feel it going down my throat and into my lungs,” he recalled. And when Roselle stopped, as guide dogs are trained to do in unsafe situations, Hingson groped forward and felt a railing.
Roselle had led him to a subway station.
They raced down the stairs to where the air was slightly cleaner and emerged just minutes after the North Tower collapsed. “There’s no World Trade Center anymore,” one of Hingson’s colleagues cried. “All I see are pillars of smoke hundreds of feet tall.”
Hingson and his colleagues had escaped that day thanks to the bravery and focus of Roselle. For her service, Roselle later received an award for “canine excellence” from the American Kennel Club.
