The forgotten heros: dogs.

September 14, 2001 10:18 AM

The forgotten heros: dogs. Rescue dogs need booties for their feet (such as these) to protect them from the rubble and glass as the search for survivors continues. The National Disaster Search Dog Foundation is also asking for donations now.
posted by mathowie (16 comments total)

They also need dog food at the volunteer centers, probably for the pets that were left behind in the residential buildings.
posted by riffola at 10:26 AM on September 14, 2001

There was a touching photo in the NY Times of an exhausted rescue dog taking a break; it really warmed my heart. I'm glad there's a way to help them too; they aren't exactly volunteers, after all, but I do hope they are sensing how important they are to the operations.
posted by girlhacker at 10:50 AM on September 14, 2001

I just called the dog supply catalog I use (drsfostersmith.com -- 800-381-7179) and tried to order some Muttluks to send. The representative I spoke with told me that they're flat out of all varieties of dog boots -- they made a large donation of them, and she said they've received hundreds of calls. However, they're taking donations for first aid kits for the dogs, soothing eye ointments, and other items the SAR dogs may need. Just call them and tell them how much you'd like to spend, and they'll figure out some combination of needed items to meet your total (mine was two first-aid kits and some eye ointment). They've got the address and everything, and they're already making shipments to New York.

These dogs and their trainers really are heroes. People who do SAR dedicate significant parts of their lives to training their animals, as well as traveling to rescue locations and putting themselves at great physical risk. The dogs don't choose to do the work in the same sense that their owners do, but they are courageous and tenacious in their own canine way -- it truly does take a special dog to do search and rescue. Please do what you can to help them as well as the human rescue workers.
posted by atlee at 10:58 AM on September 14, 2001

Just spoke with a volunteer at National Disaster Search Dog Foundation who stated their site was down. I had no problem getting to it, but in case anyone does have problems with the site their number is 888-646-1242.
posted by sillygit at 11:25 AM on September 14, 2001

I've worked with some of these dogs before when I was in the military in Alaska. It's heartbreaking at times. These dogs work amazingly hard. You can see it get to them when they find somebody who didn't make it. After spending about 8 hours going through an avalanche area, we were all exhausted, but a couple of the dogs were still trying to find anybody they could. Once we had accounted for everybody, a couple trainers asked some of us to partly bury ourselves so that the dogs could end their day finding a live body. The dog that found me was ecstatic that it had finally found somebody to save.
posted by nickonomicon at 11:52 AM on September 14, 2001

Nickonomicon, you just almost made me cry again.
posted by arielmeadow at 12:01 PM on September 14, 2001

I'm glad people are remembering the dogs. I am also making a donation.

Without SAR dogs they wouldn't be able to have save a lot of people in past disasters.
posted by misanthropy at 12:04 PM on September 14, 2001

Could someone work with them to get an Amazon Paypage up? It seems to be a great way to do this sort of thing.
posted by owillis at 12:10 PM on September 14, 2001

I think that this is the photo of the rescue dog resting that girlhacker was talking about..it certainly is a touching photo.
posted by chacal at 12:19 PM on September 14, 2001

That aforementioned picture is actually my wallpaper right now. It is bringing me a lot of comfort. Has anyone seen a larger resolution version?
posted by matthew at 1:23 PM on September 14, 2001

I also heard on the news yesterday afternoon that there were rescue cats on the scene. Anybody else heard this? Or seen photos?
posted by megnut at 1:59 PM on September 14, 2001

Rescue cats? Seems a bit out of character for most felines I've known.

Didn't Dave Barry write something about that if you had broken both of your legs 6 days from the nearest road, the cat NOT taking your wallet would be considered heroism for a cat.

I have unpleasant memories and some faded scars of the one and only time I put a leash on our Siamese when I was a child. I didn't pull on the leash or anything. Just clipped it on to her collar and suddenly was wearing a very angry cat sweater. Normally a very nice cat. Always willing to hold down the newspaper you are reading or destroying the vicious wad of paper that is threatening the family. Just not a leash cat.

The only links I can find that aren't dealing with adopting felines are ones like this in which they refer to a "Crisis Action Team" as a CAT.
posted by nickonomicon at 2:20 PM on September 14, 2001

Here is another story of a Wisconsin pet supply company sending 130 pairs of dog shoes for police dogs working at the WTC. Ð truly amazing.
posted by 120degrees at 3:02 PM on September 14, 2001

Muttluks (a Canadian bootie company) donated 750 sets of booties today. :)

Here's another photo of a rescue dog. I had to put it on my server because Yahoo's photo links seem to change...

Caption: A rescue dog is given a drink of water during a rest break from searching through the rubble from the fallen World Trade Center towers in New York September 13, 2001. The World Trade Center towers collapsed September 11 after being attacked with hijacked commercial airliners. REUTERS/Pool/Beth Kaiser
posted by misanthropy at 3:43 PM on September 14, 2001

The North Shore Animal League will also collect and care for your pets if you are in Manhattan and involved in WTC rescue and clean-up efforts.
posted by jessamyn at 4:06 PM on September 14, 2001

Does anyone know where I can find the picture of the German Shepard and officer sleeping in NY?
posted by angyl15 at 10:48 AM on September 21, 2001