Off The Leash
By Shaun Coen As we mark the 10th Anniversary of 9/11, ‘the day that changed the world forever’, it’s appropriate to look back on how the role of the search and rescue dog has grown in importance. Never before had the role of the dog in disaster response received such prominent attention and ever since the dog has been a vital, central figure in all disaster response efforts. AKC President and CEO Dennis Sprung presents the NYFD with a DOGNY sculpture.
W
hile the terrorist attacks of 9/11 showed the worst of human behavior, the response and relief efforts showed the best. It was out of the 9/11 attacks that the AKC CAR Canine Support and Relief Fund was born. In an effort to raise funds to help search and rescue dogs, the DOGNY: America’s Tribute To Search and Rescue Dogs project was launched, chaired by AKC President and CEO Dennis Sprung, AKC Chairman Ronald Menaker and fancier Karen LeFrak, and managed by Daphna Straus. This public art project consisted of over 100 German Shepherd sculptures painted by commissioned artists and decorated in various designs and themes, which were placed throughout New York City in remembrance of 9/11, championing the role of the search and rescue dog in the relief efforts. The sculptures were sponsored at an original cost of $10,000 each by companies such as Dog News, AKC member clubs, the Iams Company (which funded upwards of 20 sculptures), Major League Baseball, and by celebrities such as supermodel Heidi Klum (who also designed a dog decorated in butterflies) and fashion designer Vera Wang, in addition to some individual fanciers such as Sam Lawrence and Toni and Martin Sosnoff, to name but a few. Following the public display the sculptures were available for purchase to the sponsors for an additional $3,500. Many others were auctioned at Sotheby’s, which raised an additional $100,000 for SAR organizations nationwide. The Hartz Company also sold DOGNY stuffed animals, the proceeds of which also went towards supporting search and rescue dog teams. All told, the DOGNY project raised some $3.5 million,
50 Dog News
AKC Chairman Ron Menaker announcing DOGNY: America’s Tribute to Search and Rescue Dogs, which was the impetus for the AKC CAR Canine Support and Relief Fund.
DOGNY sculpture “Man’s Best Friend”, sponsored by Dog News
seed money for the AKC CAR Canine Support and Relief Fund, which was established as a permanent charitable fund with the goals of providing resources, support, funds and other assistance to not-for-profit Canine Search and Rescue organizations; notfor-profit veterinary units providing support to the canine rescue teams; and not-for-profit animal shelters and similar not-for-profit organizations providing care for domestic animals orphaned or displaced as a result of natural or civil disasters. Since 2002 the AKC CAR Canine Support and Relief Fund has donated $1.5 million to help displaced animals in times of natural disasters and 360,000 pets have been reunited with their owners through its pet recovery system. Talk about turning a negative into a positive. Thanks to the innovative, progressive thinking of those at the helm of the AKC and the generous, philanthropic nature of many of its constituents, the extended AKC family rallied together in an efficient display of cohesion our government often sorely lacks to benefit their fellow man and the canine companions who so tirelessly serve them. The impact was felt immediately. In a letter to the AKC CAR dated September 26, 2002, Wilma Melville, the Founder and Executive Director
A SAR dog comforts a NYFD Rescue 1 worker at Ground Zero.
of The National Disaster Search Dog Foundation, stated: “As a result of your generous donation, and those of other supporters, we have been able to send 20 canine candidates into training instead of the 4 that had been planned for 2002!” And to its credit, the AKC CAR, headed by CEO Tom Sharpe, continues to fund worthwhile projects that benefit all. The AKC CAR Canine Support and Relief Fund donated $400,000 to nearly 50 organizations in 2010 and in July of this year it announced that it had already granted more than $340,000 to disaster relief and SAR teams nationwide. In 2010, the AKC CAR Canine Support and Relief Fund awarded $70,000 to the University of Pennsylvania, and an additional $110,000 in 2011. The University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine has been monitoring the health of the 9/11 canine heroes during a 10-year study and its findings have been consistent with the ones of the five-year study conducted by the Animal Medical Center: that the dogs didn’t develop any long-term health issues related to the work they performed in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. Such findings are comforting, as we continue to send dogs to disaster sites, most recently to aid in the recovery efforts following several hurricanes.
Approximately 100 FEMA dogs were sent to Ground Zero and each stayed about 10 days. Some 33 NYPD K-9 dogs remained on site for another eight months, searching the rubble and debris for survivors and cadavers. The last of the NYPD dogs passed away in January, just shy of its 13th birthday, and 12 FEMA dogs are still alive, though all are retired. Roy Gross, the Suffolk County SPCA agent in charge of the mobile hospital that cared for the animals during the aftermath of 9/11 at Ground Zero, estimates that 300 dogs in total contributed to the long-term rescue and recovery efforts. “Besides the FEMA and NYPD dogs, you had therapy dogs, brought in to help the rescue searchers, and dozens of volunteers who showed up at the site with their dogs, too,” Gross told the New York Post. The search and rescue dogs often pulled double duty, performing the role of therapy dogs themselves, as weary firefighters and rescue workers would take a much needed time out just to pet a dog, whisper their feelings or have their faces licked. Several books have come to market (in addition to the DOGNY book, a 144-page hardcover keepsake) extolling the virtues of the heroic canines and their handlers that worked at Ground Zero and the Pentagon following the attacks, including “Dog Heroes of September 11th”: A Tribute to America’s Search and Rescue Dogs” by Nona Kilgore Bauer, which has just printed an updated 10th Anniversary edition that includes 100 new pages with an additional 150 new, color photographs. Proceeds of the book, as with the original edition, will go towards furthering the Search Dog Foundation’s efforts to continue training and deploying search and rescue dogs. Also being released to coincide with the 10th Anniversary of the attacks is “Retrieved,” a collection of photographs by Charlotte Dumas, who traveled from Maryland to Texas to track down the remaining surviving FEMA dogs and their handlers. Most of these dogs were Golden Retrievers and Labrador Retrievers, whose muzzles are now grizzled and gray. The Julie Saul Gallery in NYC is offering an exhibit of Ms. Dumas’ photos of the dogs to mark the anniversary of the attacks as well. Since Dumas began her search, three of the dogs have died. Their passing marks the end of an extraordinary era in our history, a time when the intense human-canine bond was never more apparent and appreciated. There hasn’t been a terrorist attack on U.S. soil since 9/11 and thanks to our police K-9s, several attempts have been thwarted. Of course, the work of these dogs remains extremely visible and valuable, as natural disasters continue to take their toll. 9/11 is indeed a day that we will never forget, nor will we ever forget the role that the canine played in the rescue and recovery efforts. Donations in support of Canine Search and Rescue organizations can be made out to AKC CAR Canine Support and Relief Fund and mailed to AKC CAR Canine Support and Relief Fund American Kennel Club 260 Madison Avenue, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10016-2401.