Roselle, Salty and Caroline McCabe-Sandler

For most people outside the USA, the names don’t instantly spring to mind. However, they were two incredible canines and one extraordinary person. The dogs both performed an act that required extraordinary courage and devotion to duty and were a credit to their instructors. What tends to be overlooked when we discuss these amazing acts of selflessness performed by our canines is that they are only able to do these deeds because a highly experienced, dedicated instructor has taught the dog to behave in this manner regardless of the distractions.

9/11

On September 11^th 2001, in New York City, aeroplanes piloted by terrorists hit the Twin Towers. Sadly, reports afterwards indicated that one of the pilots, when he was learning to fly, showed no interest in landing. Now, I don’t know about you, but having got the plane in the air, I would have thought that learning how to land the thing would have been a priority. Not much point in taking off if you don’t know how to get it back on the ground. Unfortunately, the alarm bells didn’t ring loud enough, and the result was what is now known as  9/11.

Now, being hit by an aeroplane travelling at around 500 miles per hour weighing hundreds of tonnes, it is quite amazing that the buildings didn’t immediately collapse. In fact, it could be argued that due to their construction, many more people survived than can reasonably be expected.

Roselle, a yellow Labrador guide dog, was taking a nap when the entire building shook. She was on the 78^th floor in Tower 1 with her owner Michael Hingson. She then reacted immediately, and it is reported that she led Michael and up to 30 other people down 1462 steps (80 floors) to safety, a journey that took over an hour. During the descent, Michael Hingson recognised the choking smell for what it was: aviation fuel. As they exited the building, Tower 2 collapsed, sending debris and dust in all directions.

“In the nick of time” took on a whole new meaning.”

Despite being struck by the detritus, Roselle remained calm and showed no signs of distress, even as people around her panicked.

Having negotiated the descent, Roselle then led her owner to the nearest subway station, where they assisted a fellow distressed passenger and finally arrived home, where Roselle proceeded to play with Michael’s previous guide dog, Lonnie, who was by now retired. It appeared that to Roselle, it was just another day at the office!!

Whilst Roselle was performing her heroics, another guide dog was replicating Roselle’s actions for his owner.

Salty and Caroline McCabe–Sandler

Salty was also a yellow Labrador who was on the 71^st floor of the same building. Like Roselle, Salty showed no alarm at the sudden turn of events and quietly led his owner Omar Rivera down the flights of stairs. When a well-meaning co-worker attempted to take Salty’s lead the dog refused to move until his owner was back on the other end of the lead. Omar and Salty were only 2 to 3 blocks away when the tower collapsed.

For me, the fascinating part of this story is not only the fact that the dogs carried out their duties diligently, but in the case of Salty, we know who his instructor was; she was Caroline McCabe–Sandler. This lady is probably unknown outside the highly specialised world that she inhabits, but to those in the know, she will be forever known as the instructor of Salty, the dog who led his blind owner out of Tower 1 before it collapsed.

But that is only a very small incident in the life of Caroline McCabe-Sandler. Her contribution to improving the quality of the lives of people suffering from impaired vision and special needs with the assistance of specially trained dogs is visionary.

In an extraordinary innovation, Caroline realised as a professional trainer of guide dogs that a percentage of dogs will fail, and they usually end up in pet homes. Quite rightly, she considered this a terrible waste as the canines concerned were highly skilled and failing only because they were more passive and maybe lacking in confidence to make critical decisions independent of their handlers. Unfortunately, all that training was going to waste as these highly skilled canines were adopted to live sedentary lives as family pets. So, these dogs were reclassified and became the companions of individuals suffering from autism, particularly children. The lives of entire families have been transformed as both adults and children became dependent on these dogs that had previously been considered failures.

Service Dogs for autistic children

Following this success, Caroline McCabe Sandler was a co-founder of Bluepath Service Dogs, which now provides trained service dogs, particularly for autistic children. As the children bond with their canine companions, many of the issues that appeared insurmountable have become a thing of the past. Repetitive behaviour stops as the child starts to stroke the dog instead. Instead of running away when they are out and about, children become emotionally attached to their canine carer and won’t leave them. As the bond grows stronger, the child’s behaviour becomes less erratic, and it has been noted that some children even demand to be allowed to “tuck their dog in at bedtime.”

Caroline McCabe Sandler is not a name that instantly springs to mind, but in the future, her ability to foresee what is needed and the imagination to turn it into reality will be an inspiration to those who follow.

The cost of training these dogs runs into tens of thousands, and they are supplied free of charge.

Free, they may be, but to the families they serve, they are priceless.