Tomorrow We Remember: The Dogs of 9/11

Tomorrow marks September 11.

Twenty-five years.

Before we arrive at that anniversary, I want to spend today remembering some of the four-legged heroes who went where they were needed.

Dogs!

Dogs who searched.

Dogs who worked beside their handlers.

Dogs who brought comfort.

Dogs who kept going into places filled with confusion, destruction, grief and uncertainty because the person beside them asked them to go.

They didn’t understand September 11 the way we understand it.

They understood something dogs have understood for thousands of years:

Stay with your person.

Pay attention.

Do the work in front of you.

Keep going.

The Day Before We Remember

September 10 has always been an interesting date to me.

On September 10, 2001, millions of people went about an ordinary Monday without knowing that the following morning would become one of those dividing lines in history: before and after.

People went to work.

People walked their dogs.

People made appointments.

People complained about traffic.

People said goodnight believing Tuesday would be another Tuesday.

And somewhere, dogs were simply being dogs.

None of them knew that within hours, working dogs and their handlers would be called upon to do extraordinary things.

Tomorrow, we remember the people who died at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and aboard Flight 93. We remember the first responders, military personnel, volunteers, families and countless others whose lives were forever changed.

But today, I want to stop for the dogs.

A Dog Doesn’t Ask Whether the Job Is Important

I’ve had many dogs throughout my life.

Each one has taught me something.

And today I have Freedom.

Freedom wasn’t there on September 11, 2001. Neither was I in New York City working beside the search-and-rescue teams. I was a mere 50 miles east of the towers, traffic stood still. The WORLD mourned, but America became stronger than ever as we stood together to help one another and stand and fight the terror that was brought upon us.

So, I won’t pretend that our story is their story.

It isn’t.

But when I work with Freedom, I can see something that helps me appreciate those partnerships a little differently.

Training a dog isn’t simply telling an animal what to do.

It’s communication.

It’s observation.

It’s trust.

It’s learning to read another living being who doesn’t speak your language—and discovering that the two of you can still understand each other.

That relationship becomes incredibly powerful when a dog has a job to do.

Four Paws Beside Two Feet

I’ve spent years working with dogs, photographing them, training them, walking and running beside them, learning from them and sometimes simply sitting quietly with them.

My dogs have never needed to understand every complicated thing happening in my life.

They just needed to know:

Where are we going?

What are we doing?

Are we doing it together?

Perhaps that is one reason the dogs of September 11 affect me so deeply.

Their contribution wasn’t political.

It wasn’t about headlines.

It wasn’t about recognition.

There was a job in front of them.

There was a human being beside them.

And they worked.

Tomorrow, we’ll remember one of the darkest days in American history.

Today, perhaps we can remember something else too:

Sometimes courage arrives on two feet.

Sometimes it arrives on four paws.

And sometimes the most powerful thing either can do is step forward together.

Tomorrow, we remember.

Today, we remember the dogs who helped lead the way.

Until tomorrow have a happy and healthy tail wagging day,

Don’t forget our dogs this September 11 as they too played a big part in rescue efforts that day!

Pam & Freedom

Doggone Healthy Choices