A Tribute To The Extraordinary Hero Dogs Of 9/11: Sharing Their Photos & Stories
on
2,997 lives were lost on September 11th, 2001. Sadly, many others have died in the years following 9/11 after developing illnesses or cancers attributed to the toxic dust that enveloped New York City after the attacks on the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers.
Today, 25 years after 9/11, Americans are pausing to remember the victims and honor the heroes who jumped into action that day and in the difficult days that followed. And some of those heroes were dogs…
The 9/11 Memorial & Museum estimates that over 300 dogs helped with search, rescue, and recovery efforts at Ground Zero. These dogs came in from all over the country. Some were police K-9s; others were highly trained search-and-rescue dogs. Therapy dogs also went to work, providing comfort to people in the midst of heartbreak, fear, and uncertainty.
The search-and-rescue dogs often worked 12-hour shifts, climbing over massive piles of debris and dodging smoldering fires while trying to locate survivors.
As their missions turned into recovery efforts, the work became discouraging and took an extra toll on the dogs’ physical and mental health. Their handlers would stage what they called “mock finds,” purposefully hiding in the rubble so the dogs could feel more fulfilled after finding a living person.
One courageous canine is credited with locating the last living person found at Ground Zero. That person was Genelle Guzman-McMillan, who had been buried under the rubble for 27 hours.
“It’s so awesome that the dogs could have this kind of sense, to find people buried under the rubble,” McMillan said in the 2013 Animal Planet documentary, Hero Dogs of 9/11.
In honor of the extraordinary hero dogs of 9/11, we wanted to share a few of their stories here with you.
Bretagne
Golden Retriever Bretagne (pronounced Brittany) and her handler, Denise Corliss, were deployed from Texas to Ground Zero after 9/11. Bretagne, who was only two years old at the time, participated in many search-and-rescue missions. Unfortunately, she and Corliss were unable to locate any survivors.
Bretagne became an unofficial therapy dog of sorts, providing some much-needed comfort to one man in particular. Corliss told TODAY in 2021 that a man approached them and began petting Bretagne, saying that his best friend loved Golden Retrievers. When Corliss asked the man where his friend was, he pointed to the debris and said, “he’s missing, he’s in there somewhere…“
After 9/11, Bretagne continued working as a search dog for seven years. By 2014, she was the last known 9/11 working dog still alive. She passed away in 2016 at the age of 16.
Hear more of Bretagne’s story in the video below.
Roselle
Yellow Labrador Retriever Roselle was not a search-and-rescue dog or police K-9. She was a guide dog who was invaluable to her person, Michael Hingson, who has been blind since birth.
Hingson worked in the north tower of the World Trade Center. As he rushed to escape the tower, Roselle guided him around obstacles and down 1,463 steps.
In a 2026 interview with PEOPLE, Hingson recalls telling Roselle, “Good dog, Roselle. You’re doing a great job.” He added, “I knew she was going to sense the fear in everyone else, so I needed to let her know I was okay.”
Once they escaped from the tower and made their way onto the street, Roselle stopped before turning to guide Hingson into a subway station underground. They remained there until a police officer told them it was safe to come out.
Roselle received the Award for Canine Excellence in 2002. She passed away in 2011 at the age of 14.
Hear more of Roselle’s story in the video below.
Riley
The famous photo of a dog being carried above the rubble at Ground Zero depicts a Golden Retriever named Riley. Newsweek reports that Riley was a member of FEMA’s Pennsylvania Task Force 1.
Riley is credited with helping locate the bodies of several firefighters who were killed after rushing to Ground Zero.
“Riley knew the people he continued to find were dead. He was never a formally trained cadaver dog,” his handler Chris Selfridge told author Mackenzi Lee for her 2019 book The History of the World in Fifty Dogs. “His job was to find the still living. I tried my best to tell Riley he was doing his job.
Much like Bretagne, Riley became an unofficial therapy dog, providing comfort to those who needed it, especially first responders working at the scene.
The American Kennel Club reports that Riley passed away in 2010 at the age of 13.
Riley, Roselle, and Bretagne are three of the many canine heroes from 9/11. You can see more of their stories in the video below.
Today, the hero dogs of 9/11 are remembered through various memorials and displays. The 9/11 Memorial & Museum in New York City has an entire exhibition devoted to the dogs, called K-9 Courage.
The exhibition is located in the Museum’s South Tower Gallery. It features photos of the dogs at work at Ground Zero, alongside portraits taken later in their lives by photographer Charlotte Dumas.
Also, there is a bench in Central Park dedicated to the dogs of 9/11. The plaque reads, “For the Rescue Dogs of 9/11: Loyalty and Duty Beyond Our Comprehension.”
See that bench in the clip below. May we always remember the hero dogs of 9/11…
