From ABC7 New York · · 2m
The dogs who searched ground zero
More than 300 search dogs worked the pile after 9/11, and what they gave the people around them went far beyond scent.
In brief
More than 300 search dogs worked the pile after 9/11, and what they gave the people around them went far beyond scent. The 9/11 search dogs did the impossible work of finding the dead, and they kept their handlers human while doing it. Originally reported by ABC7 New York.
First on the scene
Robert Schnelle of the NYPD K-9 Unit was the first from his unit to arrive after the first plane hit the North Tower on September 11, 2001.
Then the tower came down
Seventeen minutes after the first strike, Schnelle watched the second plane hit the South Tower. Less than an hour later, he and his dog Atlas hid for cover as that tower collapsed around them.
Eight months of 12-hour shifts
Schnelle and Atlas stayed at ground zero until May 30, 2002, when the recovery was declared over and the site closed.
“That was a very traumatic day for a lot of us, because we had been there so long.”
More than 300 dogs
The 9/11 Memorial & Museum counts over 300 dogs in the search, rescue and recovery at ground zero, and calls them the four-legged 9/11 heroes.
Trained to find the living
Veterinarian Cynthia Otto drove up from Pennsylvania on 9/11 to help. She watched dogs trained for live finds start recognizing human remains and stop giving their normal response.
“That was just the most devastating part of the whole process.”
Into spaces people could not go
Over months, the dogs used scent and their size to reach places rescuers could not, helping identify many of the nearly 3,000 people killed at the site.
A dog named Logan
Otto remembers Logan walking past three firefighters resting on a beam. They reached out to pet her, and the blankness left their faces.
“OK, it's gonna be all right. There is some hope here. We're gonna make it through this.”
Comfort was never the job
None of these were therapy dogs. Being a source of steadiness for exhausted workers became part of the role anyway.
“They provided some sort of source of comfort for all of us that were working there.”
The dogs did fine
Otto's two decades of research found minimal health risks for the search dogs, and they outlived the average lifespan of their breed. The last known 9/11 search dog died in 2016.
They carried their handlers too
Research shows first responders who worked ground zero alongside a search dog were less likely to develop PTSD. Atlas died in 2008. Schnelle says he never shut down, he just did his job.
“[He] was like me, he just did it.”
At a glance
The 9/11 search dogs did the impossible work of finding the dead, and they kept their handlers human while doing it.
