Dog Names Meaning Sleepy

Sage is an herb that is used to make medicine that can be used for many things including helping people sleep. However, in this case, Sage was a Border Collie who served her country and community throughout her whole life. She took the FEMA Canine Readiness Evaluation when she was just over one year old and passed with flying colors, being called up to the Pentagon right away. 

When she was two, Sage went with her handler, Diane Whetsel, to work at the Pentagon attack site with the New Mexico Task Force One for recovery efforts from the 9/11 attack, searching for and finding human remains. A few years later, she was in Louisiana and Mississippi helping rescue animals that were stranded in the hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Sage was also involved in the search for Natalee Holloway in Aruba in 2005. 

Two years after that, she was sent to Iraq with a team of other dogs to find soldiers killed or captured in 2007 for the United States Army. She was certified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as one of only 50 other dogs with the highest level of recognition, similar to a Navy Seal of search dogs. She was also awarded the Milagro Award in 2002, the New Mexico Veterinary Association Hall of Fame Award in 2008, and the Award for Canine Excellence (ACE) in 2011 in the Search and Rescue category. 

Her owner, Kathy O’ Dette, has been there for her when she comes home from each of these tours of duty. Although she did not go with Sage to these sites, she knows all about them and worried every time Sage left, but she was extremely proud of her little Border Collie. She continued to help others even after she was out of the service by being part of the University of Pennsylvania’s study of the dogs who worked the 9/11 sites. This is done to help diagnose and treat illnesses associated with canine deployment to toxic areas in the future. 

Although Sage was found to have lung cancer in 2007, she had undergone several surgeries and continued to visit a children’s cancer camp and walked in the Relay for Life events. Her cancer is thought to be from the toxic chemicals at the 9/11 sites and other sites where she worked. She was a true hero, but sadly she passed away in her sleep in August of 2012.