Ground Zero rescue dogs show abilities at display

Jason Gulley/Exponent Photographer DOG HERO: Kaiser, a German shepherd and search and rescue dog, waits patiently for his turn to demonstrate his skills to a crowd at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital. Kaiser was one of the many dogs used to search for survivors at the World Trade Center in New York City.

By Ann Dougherty
Staff Writer

Two heroes from Sept. 11 visited campus on Saturday; they had four feet and answered to the names Max and Kaiser.

As part of the School of Veterinary Medicine's open house on Saturday, three search and rescue dogs and their owners gave a presentation about the role the search and rescue dogs played in recovering people from the aftermath of Sept 11. Visitors could meet the dogs and talk one-on-one with the owners.

The presentation included a slide show of pictures that two of the owners, Tony and Annette Zintsmaster of Lebanon, Ind., took while at Ground Zero. They were there from Sept. 12 until Sept. 19, and worked 12-hour shifts every day.

"I didn't visualize the extent of the work and labor that the dogs incurred," said Ben Hoadley, a Purdue alumnus. "Being an animal lover, it's amazing that they were so useful."

Abby Conover, a senior in the Schools of Engineering, was also impressed by the scope of what the dogs had to do.

"The fact that they're climbing up structures, stuff that we wouldn't climb up, and they clearly love it (is amazing)," Conover said.

The two dogs that went, Max and Kaiser, had to climb up mountains of steel in their search.

"The fact that the dogs were able to traverse (the terrain) so well was a testament to their strength," Tony said. In the presentation he stressed how important the training of search and rescue dogs was to their performance under such conditions.

"Once you turn the dog loose he has to be able to do this on his own and you have to have some control over him," Tony said.

This is done in training by getting the dogs used to a variety of environments so they won't be distracted by anything when they're on the job.

Another important thing in a search and rescue dog is that it has the right drives. The two things that should really drive the dog are people and play, said Lillian Hardy of Greencastle, Ind. Hardy trains and owns search and rescue dogs and is the regional director for Midwest Search Dogs. She brought her dog Elvis, who is used in wilderness and water rescue.

The play drive is important because when the dogs are searching for people, to them it's almost a game.

"The dogs have a hard time differentiating between play time and work," Tony said. He said this was good because the dogs will treat the search and rescue just like a training session, and that the dogs did a better job than most of the people when dealing with the tragedy.

"The dogs enjoyed working in the pile because that's when life was the most normal to them," Tony said.

It wasn't quite as easy for the people, however.

"Everybody had a sad moment, a moment when they thought this was a little too much," Tony said. "But you adapted to it and you moved on."

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