Search dog, handler lauded for N.Y. work
[Source: Ventura County Star]
[Images Source: LAFD]

By Staci Haight, Staff writer

Bella rested on the floor of Moorpark's Secret Garden restaurant, oblivious to the pomp and circumstance going on around her.

On Tuesday night, the 9-year-old, black-and-white canine sported a patriotic tie of red, white and blue while well-wishers paid tribute to her and her handler, Deresa Teller of Simi Valley.

Bella posed for an occasional photograph but mainly she kept close to Teller and her two children.

Several weeks have passed since the border collie and Teller returned from the ruins of the World Trade Center in New York City and the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.

The pair worked together for 11 days in New York, finding eight bodies. They might get credit for more as the confirmation process continues.

"When life gets too busy, I think of Deresa and the sacrifices she's made to help others," said Laurea Bardavid, who with her husband, Michel, sponsored Thursday's ceremony at their restaurant, which was attended by city, state and local officials.

Teller and Bella are no newcomers to disaster recovery. They paired up in previous missions to find victims of the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 and, more recently, to search for the body of 20-year-old Moorpark resident Megan Barroso.

Their partnership has endured much since Teller adopted Bella as an 8-week-old puppy in April 1992. The canine -- certified in disaster, wilderness and cadaver rescues -- is a cancer survivor, having undergone 18 rounds of radiation treatment for cancer of her right foreleg earlier this year.

Teller, whose first dog, Niska, helped to rescue two runaway children in 1991, said she only looks for the best canines to train as rescue dogs.

"I love to help people and I only want the best dogs out there to help," Teller said.

Teller said that when she and Bella went to Oklahoma City in 1995 she believed she had seen the worst of human disaster. Unfortunately, the chaos in New York overshadowed that experience.

"When I got to Oklahoma City I never had seen anything like it, but that was a pebble in the sand when compared to New York," Teller said. "In Oklahoma City, you saw desks and computers atop the rubble. You saw nothing in New York."

The 54-year-old mother of two said she visited her daughters at their school before she and Bella headed for New York on Sept. 12. For the first time, she was actually scared to go.

"I got to New Jersey on the 12th and we started searching on the 13th," Teller explained. "My dog and another dog got two live alerts that first day but were pulled away because of bad weather."

After that, there were no more live alerts.

Bella's keen abilities that keep her at the forefront of search and rescue missions have been passed on to younger generations, including a son, Tuxedo, and a grandson, Twister. Another grandson, Flash Gordon, is currently awaiting cadaver and avalanche certification.

Shirley Smith, who owns Flash Gordon, said the dog is mission-ready.

"He's wilderness-certified and has already been on seven rescues with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department" Smith said. "We're learning together."

Teller is a member of the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation, a nonprofit organization in Ojai that trains dogs specifically for disaster work and pairs them up with handlers. For more information, call (888) 646-1242.

2001 © The E.W. Scripps Co.

posted by Tracy Justus at 11/1/2001  

Jennifer Ainsworth
Media & Trade Show Manager
Uniden America Corporation
4700 Amon Carter Blvd.
Fort Worth, TX 76155
www.uniden.com

Uniden America Corporation is now developing an APCO 25 digital scanner model, which is slated for distribution in the fourth quarter of 2002. To date, and contrary to industry rumor, Uniden has received no requests from the FCC or any federal, state, or local authority asking the company to delay or halt development of this or any other Uniden product.

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posted by Tracy Justus at 10/30/2001