A tribute to the Search and Rescue dogs of 9/11

[Doggygirl]

If we could only transplant the hearts of these dogs into the hearts of many people. I have been a bit sickened by the "political slant" on the reminder of this tragic day in our US history. Dogs don't care about politics - they go with their hearts. Here is a pictorial to recognize over 250 dogs who gave their hearts in the aftermath of 9/11. (turn sound on)

http://www.ctlegalguide.com/SlideShow/caninetribute.htm

RIP Git Ander. There are two sides to every story, and I hope yours is being properly represented.

DG

[Piel]

Thanks DG! Abbey says thanks too for drawing attention to her "friends".

[heyang]

I've donated money to the National Search Dog Foundation annually since 9/11.

[SeaniBu]

My friend has raised his dog (adopted on Sept 11 2003) to be a search and rescue dog. They are absolutely amazing in there smelling abilities. Maggie (the dog) has been primarily trained for avalanche. Something that amazes me every time he and I work with her is how agile at top speed down the side of a mountain she is. She can control her "fall" down the side of a rocky mountain slope - 30% grade or more - with such precise abilities. Sometimes one paw will touch every 50 feet as she flys down the mountain with the simple command of search. I have spit in a clothe while she was inside and hid it, come back to the house (at least 100 yards away) and spit in a clothe having her smell it then let her out with the comment "search" and she will come back with it unless it is under a rock (sneaky Sean) then she sits there and barks until you come move the rock. Dogs truly "earn there keep" with humans, and they live to do so. What great animals they are. Dogs rule.

Good to see you post again DG

[Doggygirl]

Piel, please give Abbey a big belly rub from me!

Heyang - good for you donating to help the animals who help us.

Seanibu - thanks for the nice welcome back, and it sounds like you know first hand the tremendous amount of training involved for dogs in "real" jobs. And I bet you also appreciate that *every* dog doesn't have the right nerves and drives for the wide variety of real jobs out there.

In addition to causing a full bucket of admiration tears, watching that tribute made me really think about someday getting more involved in service work with dogs now that we've learned so much more about sport work - while the specialized training differs, just learning the training committment and also how to better "read" dogs is a step in the right direction.

to all dog/handler teams who are busy doing a very wide variety of real service jobs.

DG