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Rescue Dog Returns To Oklahoma Gunner Collapsed From Exhaustion In New York Posted: 11:06 a.m. CDT September 26, 2001 Updated: 11:13 a.m. CDT September 26, 2001

CHOCTAW, Okla. -- A 90-pound Rottweiler who searched the World Trade Center debris for seven days without finding any survivors has returned to Oklahoma to rest and relax.

John Randall said the week in New York temporarily took away the happy attitude of his rescue dog, Gunner.

"It was only after we landed in Oklahoma City and Gunner gave my wife, Teresa, a big licky kiss that I saw him start to smile again," said Randall, who lives in a rural area between Choctaw and Harrah. "The things we saw in New York were really rough."

Randall, 48, said three rescue dogs working at the site of the collapsed twin towers had to be put down because of heat stroke.

Gunner collapsed after seven days from exhaustion and depression, Randall said.

He and the 7-year-old Rottweiler returned late Monday to Oklahoma City after arriving in New York on Sept. 17. The pair were one of 20 live-scent and cadaver dog teams.

In seven days, Gunner gave Randall 33 alerts -- signals meaning he caught a human scent. Only once did an alert lead to a whole body, Randall said.

"That was when we found six people who had died of carbon monoxide poisoning all huddled together in one of the shopping concourse areas," Randall said.

Randall and Gunner worked the evening shift, a choice Randall made to keep Gunner from overheating. The dog soon became depressed, he said.

"He could sense the sadness among all the people working around him," said Randall, a disabled veteran who recently retired from Tinker Air Force Base.

Randall even had firefighters pose as victims in the rubble so Gunner could find someone alive. But that didn't cheer up the dog, he said.

Veterinarians at ground zero recommended Randall take Gunner home to recover.

Randall and his dog were trained in Miami and Dade County canine rescue units in Florida and through the California Search and Rescue Dog Association. Randall first began search-and-rescue work as an Army Ranger looking for downed pilots in Vietnam.

He and another rescue dog, Baron, searched the site of the blown-out Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building after the April 19, 1995, bombing in Oklahoma City.

Randall had Gunner at his side during a search of Oklahoma neighborhoods damaged by the May 3, 1999, tornadoes.

The World Trade Center site is the worst disaster scene of them all, Randall said.

"It looks like the way they describe hell in the Bible," Randall said. "Except for the rescue workers, there were no signs of anything living -- no birds, not even flies."

-- Anonymous, September 28, 2001

Answers

Good boy, Gunner. Good job.

Wanna treat?

-- Anonymous, September 29, 2001

Saw a special little TV news piece on the dogs. They have to have subcu fluids regularly because of dehydration. You would think the handlers would know better about the signs and get them out of there before they have to be put to sleep. Maybe the signs are different in dogs than cats, I don't know.

-- Anonymous, September 29, 2001