Dog Names Ending in r

Many canines are expertly designed for search and rescue and, sadly, our history books don't contain enough information about their vital effectiveness in the face of severe conditions and extreme danger.  While one can find a number of stories about canine search and rescue situations in the past several centuries, our first featured famous pop culture dog with a name ending in 'r' gives us some history in our own life time.  Trakr was a German Shepherd who was trained in the Czech Republic prior to joining the Halifax Regional Police in Nova Scotia in 1995, at the age of 14 months. In his 6 year police career, he was credited for hunting down criminals and locating contraband as well as missing people. Prematurely retired by the Department in May of 2001 as a result of policy issues regarding euthanizing Trakr and other retiring police canines, he and his owner and handler, James Symington, sought to live the quiet life as James had to take a medical leave due to some work related injuries.  

On September 11, 2001, as they watched the devastation of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York City, there was no doubt in James' mind where they needed to be.  With Trakr in seeming agreement, off they went, driving with their friend Corporal Joe Hall some 15 hours to Manhattan to help in any way they could.  Arriving at "ground zero", they went right to work.  On September 12, 2001, Trakr is credited with finding a "live hit" (a term used for signs of life) under the rubble around 6 or 7 am.  The firefighters began digging and were able to locate Genelle Guzman under 30 feet of unstable debris.  She was the assistant of the Port Authority of New York and had been trapped for about 26 hours under the debris, having climbed from the 64th floor to the 13th floor before the collapse, the last of the 20 survivors to be found.  Two days later, Trakr collapsed from chemical and smoke inhalation, burns and exhaustion.  He was treated with I.V. fluids and released to return home.  Trakr later developed a degenerative myelopathy which may have been caused by the smoke inhalation at ground zero, losing the use of his hind legs.  He died at the age of 14 years in 2008.  

Our second featured famous pop culture dog is Star, a female mixed Pit Bull. She is also a history-making mutt living in our lifetime.  In 2012, Star was shot by the New York City Police Department.  She was shot while protecting her homeless owner, who was suffering with a seizure at the time.  The episode was caught on camera and the video went viral.  The video lead to some major controversies over police policies in regard to the handling of companion dogs.