Meet Rocket, a border collie mix who was placed on the euthanasia list when he arrived at a Sacramento shelter back in 2012. Officials deemed him too energetic and obsessive to be suitable for adoption. However, Denise Sanders of the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation knew that energetic and obsessive behaviors were actually perfect qualities for search-and-rescue dogs. So she trained Rocket until he became certified to work in disaster zones and he now assists firefighters in Oakland.
This week, Rocket was flown out to Texas to aid first responders as they look for survivors from the flooding. Sanders tells TheSacramento Bee that Rocket will help "make sure nobody gets left behind"--which he is capable of because of the energetic and obsessive behaviors that he was almost put down for. "It never gets old," she says of seeing dogs like Rocket shift from rescued to rescuer. "And we know there are many more like Rocket out there just waiting to be found."
Source: SF Gate