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 Porkchop
is a 1-year-old Australian shepherd dog. He helps out at Ground Zero.
He has never found any humans, but he has found a lot of human remains.
Porkchop and other dogs like him work 12-hour days looking through the tons of rubble at the World Trade Center. Cadaver dogs usually get years of training with their handlers, who are members of fire departments or are emergency medical technicians. Cadaver dogs must learn to do things that are different from their natural instincts. For example, most dogs run with their claws clenched in the earth. Cadaver dogs must learn not to disturb anything in their path, so they cannot clench their paws into the earth. Cadaver dogs use their keen sense of smell to help them find human remains. Their sense of smell is thousands of times more sensitive than humans' sense of smell. Some cadaver dogs bark when they find human remains. Others are trained to lie down. Then the rescue specialists come in and seek out what the dogs have found. These cadaver dogs need lots
of attention to keep them doing the job they are meant to do. There
is a whole team of veterinarians who have volunteered at Ground Zero
to give medical assistance to the dogs. The dogs need to have their
feet cleaned from all of the hazardous material they walk on all day.
They need their ears and noses cleaned; their eyes burn and tear from
the air, just like the humans who are helping out. Many of the dogs
go on an intravenous feedings, like humans do, to keep them fed and
keep them from getting dehydrated.
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