The life-saving skills of a black Labrador have earned him a top medal in the British Army. Nine-year-old Treo’s job is to sniff out roadside bombs in Afghanistan for soldiers, and he has proved rather good at it.

In August, 2008, while working as a forward detection dog in Sangin, Treo found a “daisy chain” improvised explosive device (IED) – made of two or more explosives wired together – that had been carefully modified

and concealed by the Taliban at the side of a path. A month later, his actions saved another platoon from guaranteed casualties, again by finding a daisy chain IED.

Now he is being rewarded with the Dickin Medal – the animal equivalent of a Victoria Cross – the highest accolade for a military animal.

Treo retired and is now enjoying life with handler Sergeant Dave Heyhoe back at 104 Military Working Dogs Support Unit, in North Luffenham, Rutland.  Sgt Heyhoe said, “Treo’s work involves searching for arms and explosives out on the ground to the forefront of the troops. It’s very important. We are part and parcel of the search element. We’re not the ultimate answer but we are an aid to search. Another aid would be the metal detector – but Treo is a four-legged variety.”

Sgt Heyhoe says their relationship is now far more than a working partnership.

“Basically, me and the dog have got to understand each other and without that we can’t be effective on the ground. He must know when I want him to go somewhere to search. Everyone will say that he is just a military working dog – yes, he is, but he is also a very good friend of mine. We look after each other.”

Treo is the 63rd animal to receive the Dickin Medal – introduced in 1943 to honor the work of animals in war – and the 27th dog to receive the honor. Since its introduction it has also been presented to 32 World War II messenger pigeons, three horses and one cat.

[Courtesy of FoxNews.com]

A roadway construction crew in England was startled last Thursday when something popped its head out of a rabbit hole — and it wasn’t a bunny. It was a small dog that looked like a Jack Russell terrier mix.

“We couldn’t believe our eyes when we saw the dog pop her head out of the ground,” Said Arthur Evans, site manager.

Construction workers freed the dog and called the local dog warden, Craig Brown. When Brown arrived, he found the poor female pooch emaciated and severely dehydrated. “It appears that the dog, which is around one-year-old, chased a rabbit into a hole and then got stuck,” said Brown.

The dog was rushed to The Croft Veterinary Clinic where her chances of survival looked slim. She weighed only 9.2 pounds, less than half her normal body weight. The attending veterinarian, Michael Dunthorne, estimated that the dog had spent five to six days trapped without food and water. But the small dog fought her way back to health and is now doing well. She has even gained a bit of weight.

“When she first came into the clinic, she was very depressed in appearance,” Said Dunthorne. “But she has come out of her shell and is eating and drinking and seems happy.”

They have named the dog (who was not wearing a collar or identification tags) Hope.

“What I would like to see now is Hope reunited with her owner,” stated Brown. “She isn’t microchipped so I would appeal for her owner to contact the borough council.”

Thus far, no one has come forward to claim Hope. “We’re required to wait seven days, but after that, we’re going to put her up for re-homing if no one claims her,” said Dunthorne. For now, Hope is staying at The Croft Veterinary Clinic where, Dunthorne said, “everyone adores her.”

Bear, an eleven-year old Golden Retriever born on November 1, 1989, was the first dog to arrive on the scene and get straight to work in the midst of the disaster at the World Trade Center during the morning hours of September 11, 2001. A veteran member of the canine search-and-rescue team, Bear and his owner/handler, Captain Scott Shields (Director of Marine Safety for the New York City Urban Parks Service), spent the early days following the tragedy sifting through the tons of debris at Ground Zero. Bear’s instincts for knowing where to search were seldom, if ever, wrong.

With his mild manner and expressive brown eyes, Bear had worked on many search missions and had traveled the globe with his human companion and owner. Not only was he adept at finding missing persons, Bear was also proficient in tracking and retrieving wounded wildlife and trained to man the boat lines of Captain Shields’ marine craft. Bear’s first documented rescue came at the age of eighteen months when, as a puppy, he had leapt off the side of a boat in Westport, Connecticut near Cockenoe Island, to aid a young boy who was struggling in the water. Seizing the child by the wrist, Bear had pulled the boy to shore. Seldom fearful of any dangerous situation, Bear was able to comprehend commands in both Spanish and English, as well as responding to the more traditional hand commands.

Bear and Captain Shields arrived at the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan just 38 minutes after the second plane crashed into the Twin Towers. Once there, the pair worked straight through the night and into the following morning. According to firemen on the scene, Bear was the only search-and-rescue dog known to be working the entire west side of the site for approximately six or seven hours following the tragedy. Through the initial days of rescue efforts, Bear worked an exhausting eighteen hours per day searching for survivors and victims, often being hoisted into sunken pockets of rubble, glass and metal to look for bodies. Although records were kept of Bear’s finds (indeed of all the finds made at the site), it is virtually impossible to make a total estimation of Bear’s work in the area. As Captain Shields has stated, “How do you count the pieces?” Nevertheless, it is believed that Bear probably garnered the most hits of any rescue worker who searched the area…man or dog. Bear is also credited with making the only live finds by a canine, as well discovering the remains of the much-loved New York Fire Department Chief, Peter Canci.

In recognition of his contribution to the World Trade Center rescue effort, Bear was the recipient of many honors. The 2003 Guiness Book of World Records declared this courageous canine to be the “most celebrated dog in the world.” Bear also led New York City’s Columbus Day Parade down Fifth Avenue in the Fall of 2001 and, on November 17, 2001, Bear and Captain Shields were presented with “The Hero’s Award” by the International Cat Society at the Westchester County Cat Show, something which Captain Shields stated, “brought the first smile to my face since the incident, just the irony of the cats giving a dog an award.” Bear received many such honors. His valiant participation at the World Trade Center in September of 2001, however, did not leave him unscathed. The long hours and hard work took its toll. Bear’s back was injured by a jagged piece of metal on the first night but, after being treated at a triage center on the site, he went straight back to work. Later, the area around this wound would become cancerous and his weight would drop from from 110 pounds to 64 pounds. In all, Bear spent over a year in and around the smouldering site which had once been the location of New York City’s World Trade Center…bringing a smile to otherwise grim faces and buoying flagging spirits with a wag of his tail.

Sadly, Bear passed away on September 23, 2002, six weeks short of his thirteenth birthday. He had been suffering for some time with the effects of multiple forms of cancer…at first thought to be an arthritic condition, although Bear’s autopsy later revealed that he did not have arthritis. During the last year of his life, Bear appeared at many fund-raising events in the Greater New York area and received countless accolades for his lifetime of courageous work. After his death, the gentle and gallant Golden Retriever was honored with with a funeral as a New York City Firefighter. His body was transported by an FDNY Aviation Company from the New York Animal Medical Center to the Hartsdale Pet Cemetery Crematorium and his ashes taken home by Captain Shields who keeps them in a plain gold box adorned with a plaque which records Bear’s date of birth, date of death and is inscribed with the words: “Bear Shields, Hero of the World Trade Center.”

September 11th 2001 is a day no one will ever forget. Many people lost their lives that day, but search and rescue dogs worked day and night to find any survivors. Many of those search and rescue dogs lost their lives as well.

According to dogsinthenews.com, it was the largest deployment of search dogs in U.S. history “and possibly the single greatest example of inter-species cooperation in the history of human disasters.”

The final number of search and rescue dogs deployed to the two cities after the terrorist attack is unknown. It’s estimated that around 350-500 dogs helped in the 9/11 search and rescue efforts at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. One report says approximately 100 were deployed by FEMA, and 250 SAR dogs came from around the country, NYPD dogs, security dogs and volunteers who rushed to the scene as soon as possible.

FEMA rescue worker Bob Sessions said “If these dogs only knew what a difference they make. Certainly, there’s nothing that can replace the precision of a dog’s nose—and absolutely nothing that can replace a dog’s heart.”

That day on the scene, Officer Joe Caputo of the NYC Police K-9 Unit said this: “You can train all you want, but this is the mother lode. The dogs can feel it.”

Mike Owens of Southwestern Ohio K-9 Search and Rescue, speaking about his partner Worf, said this: “He kind of withdrew from everything. There was so much death there, it was emotional for the dogs.”

A Westmont man drowned Sunday morning trying to rescue his dog from a lake in an unincorporated area near southwest suburban Palos Park, police said.

Vasily Fedorouk, 59, was walking with his wife and two dogs at Horsetail Lake, near South Willow Springs Road and West McCarthy Road, when he became trapped in the water about 11 a.m., according to Cook County Forest Preserve police spokesman Steve Mayberry.

Fedorouk threw a ball into the water for his dog, but the dog became tangled in the water’s vegetation when it went to retrieve the ball, Mayberry said. Fedorouk went into the water and untangled the dog, but became tangled himself.

Fedorouk, of Westmont, was underwater about five minutes before emergency crews from the Palos Fire Protection District arrived, Mayberry said.

The water where Fedorouk apparently drowned is about 5 to 8 feet deep, Mayberry said.

Nobody else was injured and the dog escaped unharmed, Mayberry said.

Two maintenance workers from Spokane County, Washington saved a young kitten who had been zipped inside two duffel bags for nearly six days, according to Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service (SCRAPS).

After the workers heard a soft meow in the garage door of an apartment complex, they unzipped two duffel bags only to find a tiny kitten covered in urine and feces.

They quickly washed the kitten and called SCRAPS. The maintenance workers-turned-heroes named the the cat “Duff” and plan to adopt him from the protection service.

Donivan Crews, owner of the kitten, was criminally charged with confinement in an unsafe manner. He told SCRAPS he put his cat in the bags six days prior.

“We are thankful to those who rescued this kitten from what would have been a horrific death,” Animal Protection Officer Nicole Montano told SCRAPS.

Owner Sue Drummond was walking her dog, a Maltese-Shitzu mix, on a pier in Australia when the pup was blown over the edge. Drummon looked on helplessly as Bi Bi was tossed into the surging waves.

“I thought he was going to sink and then maybe I wouldn’t be able to find him,” she said.

“But I didn’t really want to hop in the water either because I wasn’t quite sure if I could make it to shore with a struggling dog.”

Luckily for Bi Bi, a man named Raden Soemawinata stripped down to shirt, jocks and socks, and dived in after the dog. Mr. Soemawinata, 20, was on the pier for a family ceremony to scatter his grandmother’s ashes into the bay.

“It was pretty cold and windy, but it wasn’t such a hard decision to jump in, it wasn’t such a great feat,” the humble hero said after the rescue.

“I’m a part-time model, so getting into my jocks isn’t so different to what I do for work.”