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Last Surviving 9/11 Ground Zero Search Dog Celebrates Sweet 16th

This story was originally posted Sept. 11, 2015. Bretagne passed away on June 6, nine months after celebrating her 16th birthday.

For nearly two weeks in September 2001, a Golden Retriever search dog named Bretagne, then 2 years old, dug through the rubble of the World Trade Center, searching in vain for survivors.

Fourteen years later, Bretagne (pronounced “Brittany”), who is now the last survivor of the nearly 100 search-and-rescue dogs dispatched to Ground Zero after the 9/11 attacks, celebrated her 16th birthday in style.

“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,” wrote Laura Hartle on BarkPost, which co-sponsored the celebration.

Bretagne and her pet parents, Denise and Randy Corliss, flew from their home in Cypress, Texas, to New York City late last month to enjoy that best day.

They stayed in a luxurious hotel suite courtesy of 1 Hotel Central Park. A two-layer birthday cake decorated with paw prints and biscuits was provided by Bubba Rose Biscuit Company. Bretagne was also awarded a Tiffany & Co. “Bone of the Dog Park” from Hudson River Park.

“Everywhere Bretagne went,” BarkPost notes in a video, “New Yorkers stopped in their tracks to thank her for her service.”

Last year, for the first time since 2001, Bretagne and Denise flew to New York and visited Ground Zero.

“Seeing this kind of took my breath away a bit,” Denise told TODAY.com in September 2014. “It’s so calm and peaceful now, unlike the chaos of before. After 9/11, everybody — all of us — felt such sadness. We all wanted to help. I just felt so honored that we were able to respond.”

The Corliss family has had Bretagne since she was a puppy. After Denise learned that civilians and their dogs can join federal emergency response teams to help out after a disaster, she and Bretagne began taking training classes together. She told TODAY.com she spent 20 to 30 hours a week training with Bretagne.

In 2000, she and Bretagne were accepted into Texas Task Force 1. Less than a year later, their very first deployment was to Ground Zero.

Bretagne worked 12-hour shifts for nearly 14 days. Like so many of the search dogs there, she became depressed when she found only human remains. To boost the dogs’ morale, some workers buried themselves in the rubble so the dogs could discover living people.

The human responders were more distraught than the dogs. At one point Bretagne walked over to a firefighter sitting on the ground. Denise called for her dog to come back, but Bretagne ignored her.

“I was surprised that she wasn’t listening to me — it was like she was flipping me the paw,” Denise told TODAY.com. “She went right to that firefighter and laid down next to him, and put her head on his lap.”

After Ground Zero, Denise and Bretagne worked at several other disaster sites, including New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. Bretagne officially retired at the age of 9, but continued doing volunteer work as a service dog at an elementary school. She helps students with learning disabilities by being their audience as they read aloud to her.

Last year, Bretagne was a finalist for the Americane Humane Association Hero Dog Awards.

“She still has this attitude of putting her paw up and saying, ‘Put me in, coach!’” Denise told TODAY.com. “She absolutely loves it.”

“Bretagne’s Best Day” was documented in a touching video by BarkPost that shows this old girl is still a puppy at heart. Be sure to have plenty of tissues handy.

Happy Sweet 16th, Bretagne!

Photos via Twitter; YouTube

R.I.P. Bretagne, Last Surviving 9/11 Search-and-Rescue Dog

Bretagne (pronounced “Brittany”), a Golden Retriever who worked at Ground Zero in September 2001, trying in vain to find survivors after the attacks on the World Trade Center, died today. She was 16 years old.

She is believed to have been the last survivor of the 100 search-and-rescue dogs deployed there.

“She had lived longer and accomplished more than anybody,” Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department spokesman Capt. David Padovan told the New York Daily News.

As Bretagne made her final trip to the vet, firefighters lined up along the walkway, saluting her.

Her body was draped with a flag as it was transported to Texas A&M University, where a necroposy (an autopsy for animals) will be performed to study the effects of working at Ground Zero.

‘New Yorkers Stopped in Their Tracks to Thank Her for Her Service’

To celebrate her 16th birthday in September 2015, Bretagne was flown with her pet parents from their home in Cypress, Texas, to New York City, where she was treated to a party in her honor hosted by Barkpost.

“Everywhere Bretagne went,” BarkPost noted in a video, “New Yorkers stopped in their tracks to thank her for her service.”

In September 2014, Bretagne and Denise returned to the World Trade Center for the first time in 13 years.

“Seeing this kind of took my breath away a bit,” Denise told TODAY.com at the time. “It’s so calm and peaceful now, unlike the chaos of before. After 9/11, everybody — all of us — felt such sadness. We all wanted to help. I just felt so honored that we were able to respond.”

The Corliss family had welcomed Bretagne as a puppy in 1999. When Denise found out that civilians and their dogs can join federal emergency response teams to help out after a disaster, she and Bretagne began taking training classes together. In 2000, she and Bretagne were accepted into Texas Task Force 1.

Less than a year later, their very first deployment was to Ground Zero.

Bretagne worked 12-hour shifts for nearly two weeks. Along with the other search-and-rescue dogs, she became depressed when she found only human remains. To cheer the dogs, some workers buried themselves in the rubble so the dogs could discover someone alive.

Denise said her most memorable experience occurred as she and Bretagne waited in the staging area.

“Searchers would come by to pet her and to thank her, and would tell us their stories,” she told TODAY.com. “So it became an unexpected role of therapy dog. That’s what, among the other things, sticks out to me the most.”

After Ground Zero, Bretagne worked at several other major disaster sites, including New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. She officially retired when she was 9, but continued to work as a service dog at an elementary school, helping students with learning disabilities by being their audience as they read aloud to her.

“She still has this attitude of putting her paw up and saying, ‘Put me in, coach!’” Denise told TODAY.com. “She absolutely loves it.”

As Bretagne’s health deteriorated, her pet parents created a bucket list for her. One of the items they scratched off was bringing Bretagne to the elementary school so she could say goodbye to the students she had helped.

Rest in peace, beautiful Bretagne. Thank you so much for your service.

Grab a tissue or 10 and watch this touching video by Barkpost that documented “Bretagne’s Best Day” last September.

Photo via Twitter

Last Surviving 9/11 Ground Zero Search Dog Returns to the World Trade Center

Thirteen years ago, a 2-year-old Golden Retriever worked tirelessly alongside nearly 100 other search-and-rescue dogs, digging through the rubble of the World Trade Center towers in hopes of finding survivors.

For the first time since the attacks, Bretagne (French for “Brittany”) and her handler/dog mom, Denise Corliss of Cypress, Texas, returned to Ground Zero this week.

“Seeing this kind of took my breath away a bit,” Corliss, who was interviewed by Tom Brokaw on NBC’s “TODAY” this morning, told TODAY.com yesterday.

“It’s so calm and peaceful now, unlike the chaos of before. After 9/11, everybody — all of us — felt such sadness. We all wanted to help. I just felt so honored that we were able to respond.”

Corliss has had Bretagne since 1999, when the Golden Retriever was just a puppy. After she found out that civilians and their dogs can join federal emergency response teams to help out after a disaster, she and Bretagne began taking training classes together. She told TODAY.com that she spent 20 to 30 hours a week training with Bretagne.

In 2000, she and Bretagne were accepted into Texas Task Force 1. Less than a year later, their very first deployment was to Ground Zero.

The human responders, of course, were as upset as the dogs. At one point Bretagne left Corliss’ side and went to a firefighter who was sitting on the ground. Corliss called for her dog to come back, but Bretagne ignored her.

“I was surprised that she wasn’t listening to me — it was like she was flipping me the paw,” Corliss told TODAY.com. “She went right to that firefighter and laid down next to him, and put her head on his lap.”

When Brokaw asked Corliss about her most memorable experience at Ground Zero, she replied that it didn’t occur while searching through the debris, but as she and Bretagne waited in the staging area.

“Searchers would come by to pet her and to thank her, and would tell us their stories,” Corliss said. “So it became an unexpected role of therapy dog. That’s what, among the other things, sticks out to me the most.”

Veterinarian Cindy Otto, who treated Ground Zero’s search dogs, told TODAY.com they frequently brought smiles to weary firefighters.

“Those dogs brought the power of hope,” she said. “They removed the gloom for just an instant — and that was huge, because it was a pretty dismal place to be.”

Many animal lovers were concerned about the long-term health of the dogs working at Ground Zero. However, Dr. Otto, who in 2007 established the Penn Vet Working Dog Center to train and study search-and-rescue dogs, made a surprising discovery. After years of studying these dogs, she found they actually outlived dogs who didn’t work at Ground Zero. (In addition to Bretagne, there is one other surviving 9/11 search-and-rescue dog: Morgan, a 15-year-old English Springer Spaniel who was deployed to Staten Island after the attacks.)

After Ground Zero, Corliss and Bretagne worked at several other major disaster sites, including New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. Bretagne officially retired when she was 9.

Even though she’s now at the age when most dogs enjoy lots of long naps, she continues to work. She’s a service dog at an elementary school, helping students with learning disabilities by being their audience as they read aloud to her.

“She still has this attitude of putting her paw up and saying, ‘Put me in, coach!’” Corliss told TODAY.com. “She absolutely loves it.”

Bretagne is one of eight finalists for the 2014 American Humane Association Hero Dog Awards, which will be held Sept. 27 in Los Angeles. You can vote for your favorite finalists through Sept. 15 at the American Humane Association website.

Photos via Facebook