Bretagne, the Last Surviving Search and Rescue Dog from 9/11, Is Accorded a Hero’s Salute

This Golden Retriever named Bretagne had lived her life to the fullest as a search and rescue dog assigned to Texas Task Force 1.

She was there with her mom/handler Denise Corliss when the task force was called in that fateful day of the September 11 attacks.

Corliss could hardly believe her eyes upon seeing the magnitude of the destruction. Gone was the famous World Trade Center, and underneath its gargantuan mound of broken glass, metal, and rubble must be thousands of people.

Bretagne fulfilled her duty to the last ounce of her strength. There had been 300 sniffer dogs that were deployed along with their handlers, but the tasks proved too enormous for many of the canines. Their training had been focused on finding missing people in woodlands. Ground Zero was a nightmare for both humans and animals.

Yet, Bretagne and the hundreds of sniffer dogs did their best to find survivors, working tirelessly amid the perilous and smoldering ruins.

Ground Zero was filled with the smell of death, but despite the dogs’ own depression over the inability to locate live persons under the rubble, they persevered along with their human handlers.

Bretagne endured it all, and it was not the last disaster she dealt with so courageously. When Hurricanes Katrina and Rita wrought havoc on the Gulf Coast, Bretagne was there as a devoted member of the search and rescue mission.

Getting older, the Golden Retriever then served as a therapy dog for children who wanted to enhance their reading skills.

As more years passed, Bretagne started to experience pain in her joints. And yet despite the dog’s old age, she was regarded as a hero worthy of the highest respect.

On her last visit to her veterinarian, Bretagne was given a hero’s salute.

She was the last of the brave 9/11 sniffer dogs, but their memories will never fade away.