How a rescue dog named Cowboy helped 9/11 first responders

SALT LAKE CITY ( ABC4 ) — This week marks 23 years since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 — a day that is now referred to as the National Day of Service and Remembrance .

For many people, the memory of 9/11 is associated with the images of the twin towers falling — but it is also associated with the image of the nation coming together during a time of heroes.

A few years ago, ABC4’s Craig Wirth spoke with a local first responder named Dave Richards who made a very special friend as they responded to Ground Zero: A rescue dog named Cowboy.

In training sessions in Utah, prior to 9/11, Dave said there was something amazing about Cowboy.

“He doesn’t have gloves and kneepads and a hard hat and steel-toed boots,” Dave said. “He just has what God gave him and he’s out there giving his all in conditions without a respirator, working his little butt off.”

Dave and Cowboy were among the first responders at Ground Zero after being deployed to Hill Air Force Base in Ogden as the towers fell, and Cowboy was among four other Utah canines who were sent to Ground Zero.

Something about Dave and Cowboy became very special — some might even call it magical.

“I think he knew … I think he spoke English,” Dave said of Cowboy. “I could tell him anything.”

The pair walked on top of beams that were still hot from explosions, and over fire from the smoldering debris.

“We hadn’t done anything like that before,” Dave said.

For eight days, the pair searched and searched for a miracle of life in the rubble — but there were no miracles. Dave’s hand was Cowboy’s pillow as they got a few hours of rest every now and then.

In the rough conditions, Cowboy seemed to sense he might have a unique gift that could bring some moments of relief to the responders.

“The firefighters that were all sitting down, exhausted in these rows outside the pile — he would come up to them and he would look at them, and he would pick up something and flick it at them,” Dave said. “They just loved it, so they would, they started finding things to get him to flick. I think he helped bring some sanity to the situation.”

Cowboy would go on to work Hurricane Katrina in 2005 — but cancer eventually set in and Cowboy succumbed. Just as they had spent all the other days, Dave and Cowboy would spend their last day together as one.

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