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NEW YORK CITY — Ok, who here would like to go digging
round in a pile of jagged rebar and broken glass—in your bare feet?
 It's
not exactly a dream job, but it's being done tirelessly, without so much
as a whine or whimper. When New York's finest canine
search-and-rescue teams were called out last week, there was no time to
prepare for the appalling conditions that were to confront them in the
wreckage of the World Trade Center. But thanks to a Toronto-based
company, our noble dog teams will now be protected with the latest in
quality footwear.
Muttluks
Inc. has begun shipping canine booties (waterproof Hydroflex-coated
fabric "socks" with padded soles) to New York in response to
the NY Police Department's urgent request.
An
All-Weather Muttluk
"When the dogs get a hit, they
dig,'' says Chief Lawrence Cleary of the NY Fire Department, implying
that the canines are trained to claw, scratch and tear through anything
separating them from potential survivors in the debris.
Special canine medical units treated as
many as 100 dogs per day in the first few days of searching.
Volunteer veterinarian Lisa Carter, 32, said that most of the injuries
were cuts on their paws from the jagged glass and steel that the dogs
have to climb over.
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"Uno" the German Shepherd is
outfitted with a set of protective booties by American Red Cross
volunteer Pat Gartman.
(Photo: Michael Rieger / FEMA News)
The NYPD's original request had been to
outfit their 30 search-and-rescue dogs. Muttluks and
Wisconsin-based company Drs.
Foster and Smith responded by donating 80 sets of booties, sent
under police escort last Thursday. As more canine teams arrived
from all over the East Coast (and as far west as Vancouver,
BC), the number of participating dogs rose to over 300.
Marianne Bertrand, creator of Muttluks, responded by sending an
additional 750 pairs.
"Those dogs put their lives before
the people they're trying to rescue," says Ms. Bertrand.
"They're no different from police and firemen. They need
protective gear too. ...We're elated to be able to do
something."
Despite the gravity of the situation,
one cannot help but step back and take this into perspective—can this
really be...? The dogs have finally trained us to fetch their slippers?
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