Robert Schnelle remembers being the first member of the New York Police Department’s K-9 Unit to arrive at the World Trade Center after the first plane struck the North Tower on September 11, 2001.
Seventeen minutes later, Schnelle watched as a second plane hit the South Tower. Less than an hour afterwards, he and his rescue dog, Atlas, took cover as the South Tower collapsed around them.
For the next eight months, Schnelle and Atlas remained at what became known as Ground Zero, working 12-hour search-and-rescue shifts at the site of the deadliest terrorist attack in US history.
“We did that straight through till May 30, [2002], until they shut it down and said that the recovery is now over; the site’s now closed, Ground Zero,” Schnelle told ABC News.
He described the closure as a traumatic moment for many of those who had spent months at the site.
“You never want to just give up,” he said.
More than 300 dogs took part
In the days, weeks and months following the September 11 attacks, more than 300 dogs participated in search, rescue and recovery operations at Ground Zero, according to the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, which refers to them as the “four-legged 9/11 heroes.”
For the dogs and their handlers, however, it quickly became clear that the operation would largely involve recovery rather than rescue.
Dr Cynthia Otto, a veterinarian who travelled from Pennsylvania to New York on September 11 to help care for the dogs, said the animals were trained to locate living people but soon began detecting human remains.
“That was just the most devastating part of the whole process,” Otto told ABC News.
The dogs also provided comfort
The 9/11 rescue dogs played another role that had not been part of their formal training: providing emotional support to exhausted first responders.
Otto, executive director of the Penn Vet Working Dog Center and a University of Pennsylvania professor, spent about a week at Ground Zero caring for rescue dogs during their 12-hour shifts.
She recalled one particular moment involving a dog named Logan.
Three firefighters taking a break on a beam amid the rubble reached out to pet Logan as she passed by.
Otto said she could see a change in the firefighters’ expressions as they interacted with the dog, describing the moment as a source of comfort and hope amid the devastation.
“The dogs provided so much more than just the scent detection,” Otto said. “They provided some sort of source of comfort for all of us who were working there, and it really made a difference.”
Research into the dogs’ health
Otto has spent much of the past two decades studying Logan and the hundreds of other search-and-rescue dogs that worked at Ground Zero.
Her research found that the dogs involved in the recovery operation faced minimal long-term health risks and, in fact, outlived the average lifespan of their respective breeds.
The last known surviving search dog from the September 11 response died in 2016, 15 years after the attacks.
“We feel like the dogs that are doing this kind of work, they’re physically active, they’re mentally engaged, they have this wonderful relationship with their handler,” Otto said.
“We think that’s really actually good for them and good for their health and welfare.”
Helping handlers cope with trauma
The contribution of the 9/11 rescue dogs also extended to the mental health of their handlers.
According to Otto, research indicates that first responders who worked at Ground Zero alongside search-and-rescue dogs were less likely to develop post-traumatic stress disorder than those who responded without a dog.
For Schnelle, Atlas remains a symbol of the dedication shown by the search dogs during one of the darkest moments in American history.
Atlas died in 2008.
“[He] was like me, he just did it,” Schnelle said. “He never shut down … he just did his job.”
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