NJFFSA16
04-23-2003, 06:01 AM
Indeed...a Special Breed!!!
NEW YORK (AP) - Just after Sept. 11, 2001, the moist nose of a
dog named Jake searched for signs of life at ground zero, his sore
paws scaling heaps of jagged rubble night after night - in vain.
Now the black Labrador from Utah is up for an international
award: Paws to Recognize, honoring working dogs' contributions to
humanity.
Jake is among six nominees for U.S. National Canine Hero Dog -
to be chosen by the general public voting on the Internet. The
winning dog is to be recognized in Washington, D.C., with a cement
paw print at a Hollywood-style canine Walk of Fame.
Jake and his owner, Mary Flood, have helped set the standard in
urban search-and-rescue.
"It's a demanding environment requiring the ability to search
amid chaos, distractions and hazards, day after day," says the
financial investment adviser from Salt Lake City, who takes Jake
with her to the office.
After all, she and the dog are on 24-hour call, year round, to
respond to disasters as members of the Federal Emergency Management
Agency's Utah Task Force 1, one of FEMA's 27 search-and-rescue
units, and as volunteers for Utah's Rocky Mountain Rescue Dogs.
Last fall, Jake was called to help search a Utah town and
surrounding fields for a missing 5-year-old autistic boy. The child
was eventually found safe.
Flood and her dog are certified as a FEMA Canine Search
Specialist team. The canine was tested for obedience, for his
ability to bark repeatedly when a victim's scent is found and for
his agility - like climbing a ladder, then walking across a wobbly
plank 6 feet above ground.
Jake is a four-legged mirror to the humans he's out to save:
He's a survivor, too.
Flood adopted him about six years ago after he was abandoned on
a street, a Lab puppy with a broken leg and a dislocated hip. He's
now a muscular 82-pound animal trained to tackle disasters like
building collapses, earthquakes and floods.
For the first Paws to Recognize, sponsored by Pedigree Food for
Dogs and Wal-Mart, the public is invited to vote on a Web site that
will post the dogs' biographies and images within two weeks.
Puerto Rico and nine foreign countries are choosing their own
outstanding service canines: Argentina, Brazil, Britain, Canada,
China, Germany, Japan, Mexico and South Korea.
The other U.S. nominees are: Roselle, a cream-colored Labrador
from Novato, Calif., who guided her blind master through fiery
debris to safety from the 78th floor of a World Trade Center tower
on Sept. 11; Peekaboo, a Papillon from Tucson, Ariz., who assists a
woman suffering from terminal vascular disease; Zorro, a
mixed-breed dog from Seattle whose healing powers inspired
pets-as-partners medical therapy programs; Crazy Joe, a yellow
Labrador working as a Homeland Security narcotics detector at New
York's John F. Kennedy International Airport; and Remington, a
Capitol Hill explosives-sniffing yellow Labrador who searches the
U.S. House of Representatives and Senate.
All six dogs will be recognized with medals at the Washington
headquarters of The Humane Society of the United State, the animal
advocacy organization, in late August.
Jake was nominated by the National Association for Search And
Rescue, a Chantilly, Va.-based not-for-profit that aims to advance
search-and-rescue methods.
The Sept. 11 effort has turned him into "a more serious dog,"
says Flood.
Still, Flood says, he has "three distinct personalities: 'I am
Jake the search dog - stay out of my way.' Then, 'I am Jake the
public dog' - when he puts on his blue search-dog vest, it means
we're going to talk about what we do. He sticks out his paw, or
even high-fives, and he lets kids pat him."
And then there's the private Jake.
In his wood-frame home overlooking the Great Salt Lake, Flood
jokes, "that's where we boss Mary around, steal food and lie
around on the bed."
---
On the Net:
Paws to Recognize: http://www.pedigree.com
Humane Society: http://www.hsus.org
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
NEW YORK (AP) - Just after Sept. 11, 2001, the moist nose of a
dog named Jake searched for signs of life at ground zero, his sore
paws scaling heaps of jagged rubble night after night - in vain.
Now the black Labrador from Utah is up for an international
award: Paws to Recognize, honoring working dogs' contributions to
humanity.
Jake is among six nominees for U.S. National Canine Hero Dog -
to be chosen by the general public voting on the Internet. The
winning dog is to be recognized in Washington, D.C., with a cement
paw print at a Hollywood-style canine Walk of Fame.
Jake and his owner, Mary Flood, have helped set the standard in
urban search-and-rescue.
"It's a demanding environment requiring the ability to search
amid chaos, distractions and hazards, day after day," says the
financial investment adviser from Salt Lake City, who takes Jake
with her to the office.
After all, she and the dog are on 24-hour call, year round, to
respond to disasters as members of the Federal Emergency Management
Agency's Utah Task Force 1, one of FEMA's 27 search-and-rescue
units, and as volunteers for Utah's Rocky Mountain Rescue Dogs.
Last fall, Jake was called to help search a Utah town and
surrounding fields for a missing 5-year-old autistic boy. The child
was eventually found safe.
Flood and her dog are certified as a FEMA Canine Search
Specialist team. The canine was tested for obedience, for his
ability to bark repeatedly when a victim's scent is found and for
his agility - like climbing a ladder, then walking across a wobbly
plank 6 feet above ground.
Jake is a four-legged mirror to the humans he's out to save:
He's a survivor, too.
Flood adopted him about six years ago after he was abandoned on
a street, a Lab puppy with a broken leg and a dislocated hip. He's
now a muscular 82-pound animal trained to tackle disasters like
building collapses, earthquakes and floods.
For the first Paws to Recognize, sponsored by Pedigree Food for
Dogs and Wal-Mart, the public is invited to vote on a Web site that
will post the dogs' biographies and images within two weeks.
Puerto Rico and nine foreign countries are choosing their own
outstanding service canines: Argentina, Brazil, Britain, Canada,
China, Germany, Japan, Mexico and South Korea.
The other U.S. nominees are: Roselle, a cream-colored Labrador
from Novato, Calif., who guided her blind master through fiery
debris to safety from the 78th floor of a World Trade Center tower
on Sept. 11; Peekaboo, a Papillon from Tucson, Ariz., who assists a
woman suffering from terminal vascular disease; Zorro, a
mixed-breed dog from Seattle whose healing powers inspired
pets-as-partners medical therapy programs; Crazy Joe, a yellow
Labrador working as a Homeland Security narcotics detector at New
York's John F. Kennedy International Airport; and Remington, a
Capitol Hill explosives-sniffing yellow Labrador who searches the
U.S. House of Representatives and Senate.
All six dogs will be recognized with medals at the Washington
headquarters of The Humane Society of the United State, the animal
advocacy organization, in late August.
Jake was nominated by the National Association for Search And
Rescue, a Chantilly, Va.-based not-for-profit that aims to advance
search-and-rescue methods.
The Sept. 11 effort has turned him into "a more serious dog,"
says Flood.
Still, Flood says, he has "three distinct personalities: 'I am
Jake the search dog - stay out of my way.' Then, 'I am Jake the
public dog' - when he puts on his blue search-dog vest, it means
we're going to talk about what we do. He sticks out his paw, or
even high-fives, and he lets kids pat him."
And then there's the private Jake.
In his wood-frame home overlooking the Great Salt Lake, Flood
jokes, "that's where we boss Mary around, steal food and lie
around on the bed."
---
On the Net:
Paws to Recognize: http://www.pedigree.com
Humane Society: http://www.hsus.org
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)