Search & Rescue

The Search and Rescue sculpture will depict a Border Collie search and rescue dog and his handler, shown in action making “a find”. They represent ALL search and rescue dogs and their handlers in all settings.

Traditionally, a variety of larger breeds and mixed-breed dogs were best suited for this incredible service.

Since 9/11, response teams are now also using smaller dogs, like Belgain Malinois and Border Collies, who are able to reach into tighter spaces and are easier to carry.

The duties of Search and Rescue Dogs

Search and rescue dogs have long been known to find survivors trapped in natural disasters such as avalanches or earthquakes, but their heroic daring and devotion was never more severely tested than when squads of search and rescue dogs were called upon to comb through the rubble of the terrorist attacks on 9/11. Three hundred teams of search and rescue dogs were brought in from all over the United States to aid with the horrific searches. Trained with either air-scenting or tracking skills, they worked desperately to find people alive yet, tragically, were only able to do so in a few cases. Some were able to recover the bodies of lost fire fighters. Like many of the human first responders at the 9/11 sites, numerous search and rescue dogs later suffered, and many died, due to toxic exposure.

Meet Wilma Melville, a Search and Rescue Handler

After being a search and rescue handler, Wilma Melville is now the founder of the renowned National Disaster Search Dog Foundation in Santa Paula, California, which rescues and recruits dogs and trains them as search and rescue dogs for various agencies, delivering them at no cost. She was inspired to start this organization after serving with her search and rescue dog at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building domestic terror bombing, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1995 at which time she realized more search and rescue dogs were greatly needed for our country.