The dog believed to be the last surviving 9\/11 search-and-rescue dog died on June 6. The beloved golden retriever, Bretagne, was just a pup when she searched for survivors in the rubble of the World Trade Center. She died in Houston, Texas at a veterinary clinic at 16.<\/p>\n
Her handler, Denise Corliss, is a volunteer firefighter in the Houston community known as Cypress-Fairbanks (Cy-Fair), and Bretagne was a regular fixture at the firehouse, serving as an ambassador for the Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department. The Chronicle<\/em> says members of the search-and-rescue dog community and nearly 30 firefighters came to the veterinary clinic on Monday to have a formal ceremony for Bretagne and an American flag was draped over her body.<\/p>\n Before Bretagne retired six years ago, she\u2019d responded to many natural disasters, including Hurricane Katrina, as a certified FEMA Disaster Search Dog. In retirement, she still helped to train new search-and-rescue dogs and frequently visited first grade classrooms and students with special needs, like autism. Last year, New York City held a Sweet 16 party for her, where she was celebrated by fans with cake and a billboard in Times Square.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is with a heavy heart that the CFVFD must say \u2018goodbye\u2019 to our beloved Bretagne,\u201d the fire department wrote in a commemorative post on its Facebook page. \u201cBretagne exemplified how important and how much animals have to offer, given a chance,\u201d Facebook user Susan Dwork Teixera shared. \u201cR.I.P. Bretagne, a true American Hero!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The dog believed to be the last surviving 9\/11 search-and-rescue dog died on June 6. The beloved golden retriever, Bretagne, was just a pup when she searched for survivors in the rubble of the World Trade Center. She died in Houston, Texas at a veterinary clinic at 16. Her handler, Denise Corliss, is a volunteer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":28743,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[201],"tags":[228],"ppma_author":[803],"class_list":["post-20145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dogs","tag-september-11"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n