Remembering the hero search-and-rescue dogs of 9/11, 25 years later - ABC News - Breaking News, Latest News and Videos

Skyler: Hey there, dog lovers — welcome to Frosty the Dog, the show that celebrates everything wonderful, wild, and downright joyful about our best friends. I'm Skyler, your host, and I am so glad you're here. This show is named for a very special guy — Frosty, the best boy, the dog who inspired all of this, and the one I carry in my heart every single episode. We're going to be talking about him a lot today, because honestly, when do we not? Before we dive in, a huge thank you to our sponsors — starting with our primary sponsor and namesake, Frosty — the best boy in the whole world. We are also brought to you by Ada, who helps clients integrate A I into their workflows; Ago Consulting — that's "Ahh-Go" — silicon development consulting from A I to SoC; and Zen Semiconductor, an umbrella company with a portfolio of companies across the silicon industry. These folks make the show possible, and we are grateful. Okay — today we've got ancient wolf DNA hiding inside your chihuahua, the search-and-rescue dogs who became heroes on one of the hardest days in American history, and how A I is changing the way we understand and train our dogs. It is a good day to be a dog person. Let's go. Skyler: Alright, let's kick things off with Dog Science and Discovery, because science has been delivering some seriously jaw-dropping news about where our dogs come from — and I mean way, way back. Researchers recently completed one of the largest studies of canine genomes ever done. We're talking thousands of dog genomes, sequenced and analyzed, and what they found will make you look at your dog a little differently. Wolf DNA. Still there. In most dogs. Even now, after thousands of years of domestication, ancient wolf ancestry is woven right into the genetic fabric of our dogs. And I don't mean in a vague, hand-wavy kind of way. I mean researchers can look at specific traits — body size, behavior, how a dog handles cold or heat or tough environments — and see the wolf influence showing up in those genes. That is extraordinary. Dogs and wolves diverged a long, long time ago, and yet that ancient relationship left permanent marks that are still readable today. Now here's the part I love most. You might be thinking, okay, sure, huskies and malamutes, big working dogs — wolf DNA makes sense there. But the researchers found wolf ancestry in essentially all breeds. Including tiny ones. Including — and I am not making this up — chihuahuas. Little Frosty-sized lap dogs carrying the ghost of the wolf inside them. I think about Frosty when I hear that. Our best boy, sweet as he is, descended from something that once ran through ancient forests. There's something almost poetic about that, right? The wolf that became the dog that became our family. What this study is really telling us is that the history of dogs and wolves is not a clean break. It's more like a long, tangled, intertwined story — one species gradually becoming another through thousands of years of living alongside humans, but never fully letting go of where it came from. Scientists say these findings help explain why dogs are so adaptable. Why they can thrive in the Arctic and the desert and your apartment. Why some breeds are naturally calmer and some are naturally more driven and alert. It's not just training — it's ancient genetics doing its quiet, invisible work. I find that so humbling. When Frosty would curl up and look up at me with those big eyes, that was millions of years of evolution, of relationship, of becoming. Dogs didn't just happen to us. They grew toward us, slowly, over an almost unimaginable stretch of time. And their wolf ancestors are still along for the ride. Skyler: Now let's move into our second thread — Dogs and Humans — and I have to take a breath before I start this one, because this story matters so much to me. We are coming up on twenty-five years since September 11th, 2001, and in the midst of all that grief and rubble and chaos, there were dogs. Search-and-rescue dogs who ran toward the danger, who worked alongside their human handlers, who searched the wreckage of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania — and they did not stop. In the days and weeks after the attacks, nearly three hundred search-and-rescue dogs were deployed at Ground Zero alone. These were dogs trained to find survivors, to detect human scent beneath concrete and steel and ash. Their noses — those incredible, almost supernatural dog noses — were doing work no machine could do. They moved through environments that were unstable, that were on fire in places, that were filled with smoke and debris, guided by their handlers and driven by their training and their instincts and their bond with the people beside them. The handlers — and this detail gets me every time — the handlers sometimes had to hide in the rubble and pretend to be survivors so that the dogs could find someone. Because the dogs were trained to find living people, and there were fewer and fewer living people to find. And a dog who searches and searches and finds no one — they can get discouraged. They can feel the weight of it. So the handlers would hide, just so their dogs could succeed. Just so their dogs could feel the joy of the find. Think about that. That's not just training. That's a relationship. That's a human understanding their dog so deeply that they crawl into the rubble to protect that dog's heart. Some of those dogs are still remembered by name. Bretagne — a golden retriever who worked at Ground Zero and who was later the last surviving search-and-rescue dog from 9/11 when she passed in 2016. When she went to the vet for the last time, firefighters lined the street to honor her. Because she had been there. Because she had done the work. Because she mattered. And this connects to something researchers have been finding in a completely separate line of study — a recent analysis of human and dog relationships across cultures and across history found that the bond between humans and dogs is ancient, universal, and strikingly consistent everywhere you look. Different countries, different cultures, different eras — and the bond looks the same. The loyalty. The cooperation. The emotional attunement. It's not a Western thing or a modern thing. It is, researchers say, one of the most enduring partnerships in human history. I believe that. I believe it because of the search-and-rescue dogs at Ground Zero, and I believe it because of Frosty. The best boy. The one who showed me, personally, what this bond feels like — and made me want to make a whole show about it. Skyler: And now, our third thread — Understanding Dogs — which is where things get really interesting, because we are living in a golden age of dog science. We understand more about how dogs think, feel, and communicate than any previous generation of humans. And now, A I is stepping into the picture too. You may have heard that Cesar Millan — the Dog Whisperer, the guy who has spent decades reading dog body language and helping people understand their pets — is now bringing A I into pet training. And honestly? I think Frosty would have had thoughts about this. The idea is that A I can help bridge the gap between what dogs are doing and what their humans are understanding. Because here's the truth: most dog behavioral problems are actually human communication problems. The dog is saying something — through their posture, their tail, their ears, the tension in their body — and the human isn't reading it. A I systems that can analyze dog behavior in real time, flag signs of stress or excitement or discomfort, and help owners understand what they're seeing — that could be genuinely transformative for millions of dogs and the people who love them. And it connects to something even more foundational that scientists are uncovering about dog health. There's a fascinating pilot study out of Nature looking at what happens inside a dog's mouth during periodontal disease — gum disease, which affects a huge number of dogs — and what researchers found is that disease doesn't just add bad bacteria. It causes what they're calling an ecological network collapse in the oral microbiome. The whole community of microorganisms that normally keeps a dog's mouth healthy essentially breaks down. The network falls apart. And when you think about A I tools that could help pet owners catch early signs of gum disease, early signs of behavioral stress, early signs of anything — that's A I serving the bond. That's technology in service of the relationship. Cesar Millan's work has always been about helping humans see what their dogs are already trying to show them. The dog is never the problem in his philosophy — it's the miscommunication. And A I, used well, could help close that gap in a way that was never possible before. You could have a camera that watches your dog while you're at work and flags if they seem anxious. You could have an app that helps you recognize the difference between a playful bark and a stressed one. You could have tools that make you a more attuned, more responsive dog parent — which means a happier, healthier dog. I think about what it would have meant to have those tools when Frosty was young. To really know — not just guess — what he needed. To understand him even more than I already did. That's the dream, isn't it? Not just loving our dogs but truly, deeply understanding them. We're getting closer every single day. Skyler: And that is what I love most about this moment in dog science — we are finally starting to catch up to what dogs have always known about us. They have been reading us, understanding us, choosing us, for thousands and thousands of years. And now we're learning to do the same for them. That feels right. That feels like something Frosty would approve of — tail wagging, head tilted, that look like he already knew all along. Thank you so much for spending this time with me today, dog lovers. This show exists because of one very good boy, and I am grateful every episode that I get to celebrate dogs in his honor. Frosty the Dog is brought to you by Frosty — the best boy — along with Ada, Ago Consulting, and Zen Semiconductor. If you loved today's episode, please subscribe, share it with a fellow dog lover, and leave us a review — it genuinely helps the show reach more people who need a little dog joy in their day. You'll find links to all of today's stories in the show notes. Stay curious, keep loving your dogs, and give them an extra scratch behind the ears from me — and from Frosty. We'll see you next time.