The pair spent nearly two weeks working the pile.
Corliss remembered one time when Bretagne left her side to dutifully tend to a defeated-looking firefighter who was sitting on the ground. She ordered the canine to return to her, but Bretagne wouldn’t listen, Today reported.
“I was surprised that she wasn’t listening to me, but she really wasn’t — it was like she was flipping me the paw,” Corliss said. “She went right to that firefighter and laid down next to him and put her head on his lap.”
Bretagne and Corliss went on to lend their hand after other disasters, like Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Ivan.
“You’d see firefighters sitting there, unanimated, stone-faced, no emotion, and then they’d see a dog and break out into a smile,” Dr. Cindy Otto, a veterinarian who cared for the 300 or so search dogs at Ground Zero, told Today.
These days, the 15-year-old Bretagne is enjoying the retired life, her fur fading from old age. But she keeps active with jaunts in the pool, to help her mobility, and visits to elementary schools, where she helps first graders read.
“She’s doing great,” said Corliss. “I’m just amazed at how healthy she is. We’re very blessed.”
