Flashback Friday Honors the Hero Dogs of 9/11

September 11, 2001. 9/11. Fourteen years ago the face of our U.S. landscape changed forever when we were attacked on our own soil. Today, 9/11, is dedicated to all those  - canine and human - who fearlessly responded to the call of duty that day, and the days following, at the World Trade Center in New York City, in the Staten Island landfill, at the Pentagon in Washington, DC; and in the Pennsylvanian field. Since this is a canine blog, I'd like to talk about the amazing four-legged heroes...more than 300 of them who answered the call that day and the many days following. Today, all but one of the SAR dogs have crossed the Rainbow Bridge.

We will never forget.

Rescue Dogs of 911 by gojohns

“The most important thing for America to know about that working dogs, is that on a very personal level they serve human beings every single day. They are highly skilled and trained professionals…. We have been repeatedly told that technology can not at this point replicate the unique skills that they have.” ~Linda Blick, MSW, Tails of Hope Foundation, Inc.

The last known remaining living hero dog from 9/11 is a Golden Retriever named "Bretagne," whose first assignment was Ground Zero. Bretagne and her handler, Denise Corliss, were part of  Texas Task Force 1 who came to New York to search for survivors. When BarkPost learned that it was Bretagne's 16th birthday, they planned a very special celebration of a lifetime back in New York City for this very special canine...and here's a video highlighting the very special day, fit for the hero dog of 9/11!

Happy, Happy Birthday Bretagne! And heartfelt thanks and appreciation to you and your handler Denise for all your tireless efforts to help others on 9/11, and for your many years of service. To read the full BarkPost article on Bretagne's special birthday, visit HERE.

To read  The Bark article on Bretagne, visit HERE. 

www.RonBurns.com

Inspired by the 9/11 hero dog "Sirius," a bomb detection dog who was killed when the twin towers collapsed, artist Ron Burns, who is also the Artist-in-Residence for the Human Society of the United States, created a beautiful portrait of Sirius that it is now hanging up inside New York City's 9/11 Memorial Museum. He then went on to paint beautiful portraits of other 9/11 search and rescue (SAR) dogs and therapy dogs that are part of a book called The Dogs of Ron Burns: A Tribute to the Dogs of 9/11 that is, according to the book description, a "tribute to the heroism of the search and rescue dogs who worked on September 11 and during recovery efforts." A beautiful way to memorialize these heroic dogs. You can read the full article by Gary Sharpiro HERE. 

To watch the interview with the artist about his portraits of the 9/11 hero dogs that aired on KUSATV 9News, visit HERE.

The Dog Files is airing "Meet the Hero Dogs of 9/11"...so please be sure to check your area's listings for the Animal Planet's showings of this very special tribute show.

And in 2012, The Dog Files aired Episode 16 "Hero Dogs of 9/11: Legacy"

 "If these dogs only knew what a difference they make. Certainly, there's nothing that can replace the precision of a dog's nose—and absolutely nothing that can replace a dog's heart."  — Bob Sessions, rescue worker, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

We will never forget.

Just yesterday, Thursday morning, the day before today's 14th anniversary of 9/11...a beautiful rainbow appeared across the Manhattan skyline stretching out from the World Trade Center's Freedom Tower and the amazing vision was captured by Ben Sturner of the Leverage Agency (@leverageagency on Twitter):

Amazing NYC Rainbow today. Originating from #worldtradecenter the day before #911 pic.twitter.com/TophkKhqbr

— Ben Sturner (@leverageagency) September 10, 2015

A sign from angels...a sign of hope...a continued healing.

We will never forget.

Flashback Fridays are brought to you by us - the FiveSibes - and our co-host, Love is being owned by a Husky, each Friday. We hope you'll find a photo or video from Memory Lane, post it, and link up to our blog hop each week! If you don't catch it on Friday, you can link up any time during the week! To catch our past Flashbacks, just enter "Flashback Friday" in the search box. We hope you'll come join us!