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This Golden Retriever Is The Last Living Ground Zero Search Dog

Kaitlan Collins Contributor
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Bretagne (pronounced “Brittany), a 15-year-old Golden Retriever, was just two years old when her owner Denise Corliss took her to assist at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. Now, she’s the last known surviving rescue dog who searched after the attacks, and she’s returned to New York for first time since as a nominee for the American Humane Association’s Hero Dog Awards.

Grab some tissues.

The Texas-based duo arrived about a week after the attacks, and were brought in to relieve the first group of first responders. Corliss said she hoped to find survivors, not just find remains.

“I really believed we could find somebody, anybody, if we could just get to the right void space,” Corliss said on the “Today” show Thursday.

Corliss and Bretagne found the reality to be much different.

(Photo: Today screen capture)

(Photo: Today screen capture)

From the video:

“Bretagne persevered through nearly two weeks of 12-hour shifts at Ground Zero. On her very first search, she had to balance precariously on a wet metal beam — and she slipped. But she recovered quickly, pulling herself back up onto the beam with her front paws and continuing to sniff intently as if nothing had happened.”

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