Last Wednesday, twelve year old Jake, a former rescued dog who was to become a world-class rescue dog, was euthanized. The black Lab puppy was found abandoned on the streets with a broken leg and dislocated hip and was adopted by Mary Flood, a member of a federal search and rescue team the Utah Task Force 1. Flood was able to turn this unwanted abandoned puppy into a world class search and rescue dog, one of less than 200 such government certified rescue dogs. Jake searched the smoldering debris at 911, searching, day after disappointing day, for survivors. After Katrina, he searched flooded homes and polluted waters for survivors. In his older years, he helped train new search and rescue dogs and did therapy work with children who were burn victims, and the elderly.

Jake developed cancer, though no one is sure if it was related to his exposure to toxic dust at the 9/11 scene. He was euthanized after he became feverish and began exhibiting signs of pain, but not before he had one last happy stroll in the fields near his home and a dip in the creek.

According to his owner, Jake’s ashes are to scattered in all that places that were most important to him, like the rivers and hills near his home and the Utah Training grounds where he made such a contribution. To learn more about this story see, Jake.

Jake, July 25, 2007