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Alisaton Star-Trip v Dalclar, CD, WAC, VC, AD, CGC,
USAR
"Harlow"
FEMA Level II Disaster Readiness Evaluation
MASSARDF State Certified Air-Scent Wilderness
BIS Ch. LeMils D Triple Threat x Ch. Lastar's
Pantera
December 7, 1992 - September 11, 2001
In light of the twin terrorist attacks on the World Trade
Center and the Pentagon, the need for urban search and rescue (USAR) trained
disaster dogs is underscored. Sadly, one such USAR dog, Harlow, died with
dignity on the same day as the 9-11 Terrorist Attacks after a long, and
valiant, fight with dilated cardiomyopathy.
In 1997, Harlow passed the FEMA Level II Disaster Readiness Evaluation after
only 13 months of training and became a certified USAR dog with the FEMA
Massachusetts Task Force 1. In May 2000, Harlow passed the Massachusetts SAR
Dog Wilderness Certification Test and became a wilderness certified dog with
the Massachusetts Canine Response Team, Inc. As a state resource, Harlow
responded to several missing person searches before being diagnosed with
cardiomyopathy in October 2000 and retiring from all search and rescue
training. One of Harlow's most notable searches was the Worcester Cold
Storage Warehouse Fire in December 1999 where Harlow, along with search
canines from the Massachusetts and Connecticut State Police, searched for
six firefighters who had lost their lives in the devastating fire which
destroyed the warehouse. Each of the canines rotated into the building
throughout an eight-day period as excavation efforts slowly cleared the
building of burned material. All of the canines performed well and areas of
interest correlated with the locations where the missing firefighters were
ultimately found.
At the time of her retirement, Harlow had been in USAR and wilderness
training for over five years and had been trained in human remains detection
for almost three years. Extremely task-oriented with a fanatical ball-drive,
Harlow was a tremendously reliable search dog who intrinsically loved to
search yet was controllable with the whispered word. Not a mean bone in her
body, she was always eager and excited to work -- all I had to do was reach
for her SAR-collar and she was ready to go. And, the focus and intensity she
brought to her work was never marginal -- she always put in 150% effort into
whatever was asked of her. In fact, I often defined the word "drive" for
others by having them watch Harlow peel-off on a search problem. And, it was
because of her intensity and the unmitigated joy that she always brought to
her work that I never tired of watching her do all those many, many
rocketing runaways, some of which could be hundreds of yards long, or
watching her range far out ahead of me as she worked a scent plume in a
large 40-acre sector. Harlow loved to search and she never quit trying to
work out a search-problem -- and, until the time came that I had to retire
her, Harlow proved over and over again that she could detect fringe scent
from something as small as a tooth, lock onto it and follow it independently
to source. Given all of Harlow's training and experience, Harlow would have
worked the World Trade Center looking for survivors alongside the rest of
FEMA MA TF 1 had she not died that same day. Instead, she gave watch over
all the other SAR dogs that did work the site and I know she helped lead
innocent souls to heaven on that terrible day.
Over the years together, Harlow became the love of my life. She was my best
friend, my flagship and we had a Zen-like, magical relationship that all who
saw us work could see. Her love for me was absolute and there was nothing
that she would not do for me. I only had to "think" something and Harlow
would just "know" what needed to be done. When doing directional work, she
was as easy to direct as a butterfly. Her death, then, ripped my heart out.
Though now gone, Harlow's memory survives still and others who knew her also
miss her focus and her zest for life. Even Harlow's non-doggy fellow FEMA
rescue workers respected her work ethic and one firefighter, after learning
of her death, wrote, "Harlow's death will never be a blip on our radar
screen - we will always miss her. She was one of us."
Harlow, you were a sparkle in my life.........
“Harlow” was owned by Gail McCarthy, Massachusetts.
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