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Strategies & Market Trends : Ask Vendit Off-Topic Questions -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Carolyn who wrote (1632)	9/23/2001 11:59:38 AM
From: Susan G	Respond to of 8752

Beyond the Call of Duty By Steve Dale [editors note: This column is based on exclusive interviews conducted via cell phone on Thursday with people on-the-scene at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon] In New York City, there were nine urban FEMA response teams have been called in totalling about 35 search and rescue and cadaver dogs — some arrived by military aircraft from as far a Puerto Rico, others drove from neighboring states. In addition, several invited dog teams, as well as dogs from the Port Authority and New York Police Department are participating. In Washington, four teams, totalling about 15 dogs remain at the Pentagon. Sadly, the dogs at either location have been unable to locate a survivor. This leaves the remaining work for dogs trained to find bodies or body parts. “These aren’t the dogs who receive attention on the networks,” says Laura LoPresti, a dog groomer from Monroe Township, MO, on the scene in New York with Osa, who is 3-years old and her father, Mikey, a 10-year old, German shepherd dog. “Closure is so important to those who have loved ones missing,” she says. And in fact, LoPresti and others on her team have located several bodies. But as it turns out, the dogs serve an unintended mission, a kind of animal assisted therapy. LoPrestri says firefighters and police officers have spontaneously walked up to her dogs and hugged them, some have shared secrets only her dogs know. “They may not cry to their fellow firemen or police, somehow they open up to the dogs,” she says. “Just petting a dog provides comfort to those who need it — and where I am now, so many need it.” Bob Sessions, a real estate agent in Dickerson, MD, was in the first FEMA team to arrive at the Pentagon. He’s working with a 5-year old black Labrador named Sky. This is Sky‘s first major incident, but Sessions has been doing search and rescue work for 17 years. At the Murrah Federal Building, Sessions and his then-partner, Thunder, a black Lab who is now 13-years old, and retired had a similar experience. “When we got down to the day care center — and began to find Fisher-Price toys, some couldn’t take it anymore,” he says. “Rescuers asked to play fetch with Thunder. But then they’d sneak off in a corner to just be with Thunder, or maybe to talk with him.” Sessions and Sky entered the building while it was still on fire. “Of course, it was dangerous and it was very hot,” he says on his cell phone, while standing only a few feet from where the airplane plowed into the Pentagon. “We climbed to the second floor to look for survivors. Before entering the search area, I placed Sky on a ‘sit/stay’ and then I proceeded to insure his safety the best I could. In reality our lives depend one another, but that’s what we train for.” Sessions adds, “If these dogs only knew what a difference they make. Certainly, there’s nothing that can replace precision of a dog’s nose — and absolutely nothing that can replace a dog’s heart.” For more on rescue dogs go to Unsung Hero. animal.discovery.com