Other articles with keyword "DOGGIEPING" since 12/29/04
Posted on 07/25/2007 7:00:45 PM PDT by traumer
NEW YORK - A black Labrador who became a national canine hero after burrowing through white-hot, smoking debris in search of survivors at the World Trade Center site died Wednesday after a battle with cancer.
Owner Mary Flood had Jake put to sleep Wednesday after a last stroll through the fields and a dip in the creek near their home in Oakley, Utah. He was in too much pain at the end, shaking with a 105-degree fever as he lay on the lawn.
No one can say whether the dog would have gotten sick if he hadn't been exposed to the smoky air at ground zero, but cancer in dogs Jake's age — he was 12 — is quite common.
Some rescue dog owners who worked at the World Trade Center site claim their animals have died because of their work at ground zero. But scientists who have spent years studying the health of Sept. 11 search-and-rescue have found no sign of major illness in the animals.
The results of an autopsy on Jake's cancer-riddled body will be part of a University of Pennsylvania medical study of Sept. 11 search-and-rescue dogs.
Flood had adopted Jake as a 10-month-old disabled puppy — abandoned on a street with a broken leg and a dislocated hip.
"But against all odds he became a world-class rescue dog," said Flood, a member of Utah Task Force 1, one of eight federal search-and-rescue teams that desperately looked for human remains at ground zero.
Anguished New Yorkers honored the dogs.
On the evening of his team's arrival, Jake walked into a fancy Manhattan restaurant wearing his search-and-rescue vest and was promptly treated to a free steak dinner under a table.
Flood eventually trained Jake to become one of fewer than 200 U.S. government-certified rescue dogs — a muscular animal on 24-hour call to tackle disasters such as building collapses, earthquakes, hurricanes and avalanches.
After Hurricane Katrina, Flood and Jake drove 30 hours from Utah to Mississippi, where they searched through the rubble of flooded homes in search of survivors.
In recent years, Jake helped train younger dogs and their handlers across the country. Jake showed other dogs how to track scents, even in the snow, and how to look up if the scent was in a tree.
He also did therapy work with children at a Utah camp for burn victims and at senior homes and hospitals.
"He was a great morale booster wherever he went," says Flood. "He believed that his cup was always full, never half-full. He was always ready to work, eager to play — and a master at helping himself to any unattended food items."
Cynthia Otto of the University of Pennsylvania's School of Veterinary Medicine, who is researching the health of Sept. 11 dogs, expects Jake and the other animals being analyzed will serve as sentinels on possible long-term consequences stemming from 9/11.
Jake's ashes will be scattered "in places that were important to him," says Flood, like his Utah training grounds, the rivers and hills near home where he swam and roamed.
Oh, gee whiz. Here come the congressional investigations and calls for Bush’s impeachment.
My dog died of cancer shortly after her thirteenth birthday, and she was never within 1000 miles of the WTC.
very sad doggie ping
My Golden (Brinkerhoff or Brink) lived to 12 and my Black Lab (Ebony or Ebie) to 11. That is a very normal time to say good bye to great dog types of their size. Folks with them that are older are very lucky people.
They are the best, while I know others like all the other varieties.
Dogs are great pets, even though my Lab puppy loved to chew my drywall. Who knows, maybe there was salt in there? She was a really great dog.
I have seen a lot of animal news today. Man lands in jail for shooting stray cats. Chinese restaurateur make tortured cat aphrodisiac. Now the slag-digging WTC dog dies.
Must be a slow news day for humans.
APf
We’ve had 2 chocolates. One died at 14 1/2 and the other, thank God, is still going strong at 13. Labs are, IMHO, the greatest, gentlest, loving souls God has placed on this earth. RIP good friend. Job well-done.
There was another really good story about a cat named Oscar who seemed to sense when a nursing home patient was going to die and would cuddle up next to them. The report was in the New England Journal of Medicine and also in the news on Comcast. I’ll look for it.
Labs, like most medium-to-large dogs, have a fairly short life expectancy. The larger the dog, the shorter the lifespan, because the bodies of larger dogs are stressed more. Anything after 10 is really a bonus, and 15 is a very long-lived Lab. After age 9, they are considered "geriatric". And because we've developed vaccinations for most of the common communicable diseases, and antibiotics for the infections, it's almost always cancer or heart disease that gets them in the end. I've lost four cats over the last 30 years, all to cancer, all in their mid-teens. My 2 Labs are still young (6 years and 11 months) but we'll start worrying about lumps and stuff around the time they turn 10, and chances are that's what will kill them when their time comes.
So this is just a sad fact of life with Labs, and Jake probably would have fought his losing battle with cancer even if he never went near the WTC. You just have to enjoy the time you have with them.
She and her big sister are still Barking Death to stuffed toys though. They tore open 3 of them tonight playing tug-o-war. I just sew them up and toss them back into the fray.
Well, I’m trying to think of something to say about Michael Vick right now, but I can’t put it into words.
RIP, Jake. Thank you.
If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.
-Will Rogers
My bestest buddy was 8 when he got cancer and I had to put him to sleep...:o(
Each of our dogs has brought extreme devotion, great joy, and indescribable amazement at their unconditional love.
another hero gone
Oh gosh, ladyjane, I would panic if that dog cuddled up next to me!
susie
My first dog, Sam - a mutt, started off with me before 1st grade and lived till I was a senior in college. That was 15 years before WTC. Still miss her.
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