Shear Comfort

Today we pay tribute to the roughly 350 search and rescue dogs who worked tireless hours trying to locate survivors amid the twisted pile of steel beams, concrete and ash where the World Trade Center once stood, as well as at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania.

In addition to search and rescue dogs at ground zero, therapy dogs provided comfort to the firefighters, first responders and rescue workers who continued to work endless hours on the pile. Groups of therapy dogs made countless visits not only in New York, Washington, DC, and Pennsylvania but provided comfort across the nation. They were a ray of sunshine, even just for a minute.

Twenty-one years ago today, we remember the heroism of those canines and mourn the nearly 3,000 colleagues, friends and family members whose lives ended too soon.