09/11/2026
Every year on September 11, I post something about the dogs. I always have, and I probably always will. 🇺🇸🐾
Anyone who knows me knows how much I love dogs. I’m constantly amazed by what they understand, what they sense, and how much they’re willing to give us while asking for so little in return.
9/11 was very personal for me. My office was downtown. I knew people who were there, and so many people from the town where I grew up were lost or forever changed. Like everyone, I was shocked and heartbroken.
And one of the things I remember so clearly is watching the dogs.
Hundreds of search and rescue dogs and their handlers worked through the rubble, smoke and devastation at Ground Zero—searching for survivors and, eventually, helping recover those who were lost. And when they weren’t searching, they did something else dogs do so beautifully: they brought comfort to exhausted and grieving first responders.
I remember watching them and just being in awe.
They didn’t understand terrorism or why the world around them had suddenly become such a terrible place. They knew their handlers were asking them to work. They knew people needed them.
And they went.
Today I remember the nearly 3,000 people who never came home and the families who have carried that loss ever since. I remember my friends Tommy and Richard. I remember the first responders and all those who ran toward danger to help others.
And among all of those heroes and all of those lives we remember, I also remember the dogs.
They’re all gone now, but their bravery mattered. Their work mattered. The comfort they gave mattered.
We ask so much of dogs. And somehow, they always seem to give us even more.
I will always remember the dogs. 🇺🇸🐾❤️
Never forget. 9/11/01.
