Searching the World Trade Center site for survivors was a grueling, frustrating exercise. The last person to be discovered alive by the dogs was found at 12:30 p.m. the day after the attacks.
To keep the dogs motivated, K-9 handlers “buried” cleanup workers to stage mock rescues.
In a disaster like 9/11, the dogs go long stretches without any play, and start to lose their motivation, experts say.
“It’s like if you worked for a couple of weeks without a paycheck,” says Debra Tosch, executive director of the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation, who spent 10 days at Ground Zero with her black Labrador retriever, Abby.
“It’s hard to keep up the hard work if you don’t get a reward. They start to shut down. They lose that pep in their step, their tail isn’t going in as happy a wag,” Tosch said.
So Tosch and fellow K-9 handlers staged mock rescues at the pile, with the dogs looking for a buried volunteer with a toy. They stayed out of sight of cameras, so no one thought a real person was saved.
“When they get that toy, it’s like they’ve gotten paid and they’re ready to get back to work,” Tosch said.