VIDEOS: Officers Honor Last 9/11 Search Dog With Moving Tribute Before Being Put Down & Last 9/11 Search and Rescue Dog Bretagne Comes Back to NYC | DOGS BEST DAY!Last Known Sept. 11 Search Dog, Bretagne, Dies At 16 9SEP15 & 7JUN16

 

GOD BLESS all these Search and Rescue dogs and their handlers!!!

Officers Honor Last 9/11 Search Dog With Moving Tribute Before Being Put Down

Jun 7, 2016

Bretagne, the last known 9/11 search and rescue dog, was laid to rest. Firefighters lined up along a Houston area sidewalk to honor the canine as she took her final steps. Bretagne served our nation from trying to find survivors at the World Trade Center buildings to searching for victims during Hurricane Katrina. After Bretagne retired at 10, she became a member of a local Texas fire department. Bretagne was 16-years-old.

Last 9/11 Search and Rescue Dog Bretagne Comes Back to NYC | DOGS BEST DAY!

Sep 9, 2015

Giving deserving pups the best day of their lives, one incredible story at a time. Meet Bretagne: the last known living search and rescue dog who worked at Ground Zero. As members of Texas Task Force 1, Bretagne and her mom/handler Denise Corliss had an intense first deployment They joined nearly 100 other search and rescue dogs to find and save people trapped in the rubble of the World Trade Center after 9/11. They’ve had an unshakable bond ever since. After hearing Bretagne’s story and learning that her 16th birthday was coming up, there was no question in our minds that she deserved a Dog’s Best Day for the ages. To celebrate her birthday and thank her for her incredible service, we were honored to team up with the dog-lovers at 1 Hotels to bring this New York City hero and her mom back to the city for the ultimate Dog’s Best Day.

FROM WORLD OF DOGS

Bretagne was only 2 years old when she arrived at one of the most devastating disaster scenes in American history.

Twenty-five years after 9/11, her story remains one of the most powerful chapters in the history of America’s search dogs.

Bretagne was a Golden Retriever partnered with Denise Corliss of Texas Task Force 1.

After the World Trade Center attacks, the newly certified search team deployed to New York. Bretagne spent about 10 days working through the wreckage at Ground Zero, searching among concrete, twisted steel, ash and debris.

It was her first major deployment.

It would not be her last.

Bretagne later responded to other disasters, including Hurricane Katrina, before retiring from active search work. In retirement, she continued serving her community, including spending time with children as a reading assistance dog.

Then, in 2014, something meaningful happened.

At 15 years old, Bretagne returned to New York with Denise and visited the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. A memorial cobblestone had also been dedicated in their names.

By 2016, Bretagne was believed to be the last known surviving search dog that had worked at Ground Zero.

Age had finally caught up with her.

On June 6, Denise brought the 16-year-old Golden Retriever to a veterinary hospital in Cypress, Texas, for the final time.

Bretagne did not walk inside unnoticed.

Firefighters and search-and-rescue personnel lined her path.

They stood at attention.

And as the elderly dog slowly passed them, they saluted.

There is no need to imagine that Bretagne understood anniversaries or memorials.

What we know is enough.

At 2 years old, she went where she had been trained to go when people desperately needed help.

For 10 days, she worked beside her handler at Ground Zero.

Fifteen years later, the people who understood exactly what that service meant stood quietly and honored her one last time.

Today, on the 25th anniversary of September 11, we remember the people whose lives were lost and the first responders who carried an unimaginable burden.

And among those stories, there is still room to remember one Golden Retriever who answered the call beside them.

Her name was Bretagne.

Bretagne, shown here at age 13, worked as a search dog at ground zero after the Sept. 11 attacks. She died Monday at 16, the last known surviving Sept. 11 search and rescue canine.

Charlotte Dumas/Barcroft Media via Getty Images

Last Known Sept. 11 Search Dog, Bretagne, Dies At 16

June 7, 20168:27 AM ET

Camila Domonoske

Bretagne, a 16-year-old golden retriever and the last known remaining Sept. 11 search dog, was euthanized Monday in Texas.

Searching through the rubble of ground zero was her first-ever deployment, according to a press release by the Texas Engineering Extension Service, or TEEX, provided by KBTX-TV. Bretagne (pronounced Brit-nee) was 2 at the time, a newly certified FEMA Search and Rescue dog.

With handler Denise Corliss, Bretagne looked first for survivors, then for remains. They worked at the site for 10 days.

Bretagne was both a dedicated worker and a source of comfort for the human search and rescue teams, according to Corliss and others who worked with the golden retriever.

Bretagne, shown with handler and owner Denise Corliss and her husband, Randy Corliss, was a finalist at the American Humane Association's 2014 "Hero Dog Awards" in Beverly Hills, Calif.

Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

"She has always taken her job as a search dog seriously, but herself not so much. Always ready for a belly rub, or a treat," an unnamed search and rescue teammate says in the TEEX statement. "In remembering her first deployment at the World Trade Center ... even then, she knew who needed the comfort of a dog, which firefighter needed to hold her close and stroke her fur."

After Sept. 11, Bretagne went on to respond to Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Ivan, among other disasters, TEEX says.

She retired as a disaster search and rescue dog at age 9, but she continued to work as a goodwill ambassador and as a reading assistance dog.

"Each week she would visit a first grade classroom and listen to young readers, providing a non-judgmental ear and soft paw," Houston's Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department wrote in a statement. "She also visited students with special needs, such as autism. Her calm demeanor and warm heart helped the young and old through their own difficult moments."

In recent years, Bretagne had "slowed down considerably because of her age," the Houston Chronicle reports, but "was still a beloved fixture at the firehouse."

As the number of surviving Sept. 11 search dogs dwindled, Bretagne's public profile grew.

Bretagne visited the Sept. 11 memorial at the age of 15. Last year, she celebrated her 16th birthday with another trip to New York, to be lavished with presents, food and affection.

On Monday, she was given a "hero's farewell," as CNN puts it.

Firefighters and search and rescue workers lined both sides of the sidewalk, solemnly saluting as Bretagne was carried out of a vehicle and set on the ground for a final slow walk to the animal hospital.

Then they bid a tearful farewell to her body, carried out draped in an American flag.