Gayles team cleaning

09/15/2026

09/12/2026

🥀 REMEMBERING RILEY & BAILEY 🇺🇸🐾
9/11 Search & Recovery Dogs — The Pentagon

Before September 11, Riley and Bailey already had extraordinary stories.

Their handler, Eileen Roemer, was an FBI agent and Navy Reservist who had developed an interest in human-remains recovery through her work with the FBI.

Riley was her first search and recovery dog. He loved the work and excelled at it.

Bailey's beginning couldn't have been more different.

He had been discovered chained to a post at a breeder's kennel — emaciated, covered in fleas and ticks and suffering from rotting teeth. Eileen took him in, recognised something special in him and began his training.

Then came September 11, 2001.

That morning, Eileen had been working at the Pentagon. She left at approximately 7:30am.

At 9:37am, American Airlines Flight 77 struck the building.

The person who had replaced Eileen that morning was among those killed.

Eileen returned — this time with Riley and Bailey.

Alongside 27 other dogs, they began the painstaking search for those who could no longer be rescued.

For Bailey, extraordinarily, the Pentagon was his first operational search.

Eileen alternated the two dogs through gruelling 12-hour shifts. Debris from the impact site was excavated and taken to a screened area, where Riley and Bailey searched it before recovery teams carefully examined anything they indicated.

According to Eileen, the dogs found something on almost every pass.

Again and again.

For 12 long days, until the debris had been searched and the remains recovered, they continued.

There were no survivors left for these dogs to save.

Instead, they performed another sacred duty:

They helped bring people home.

Riley died from cancer on 26 February 2010.

Bailey followed later that same year. 💔

Two Golden Retrievers.
One remarkable handler.
Twelve days at the Pentagon.

And countless families for whom something could finally be returned.

25 years later, we still speak their names.

🐾 RILEY & BAILEY
Search • Recovery • Honour

Your work mattered.
Your lives mattered.
Your names will not be forgotten.

We will remember. 🫡🥀💙

09/08/2026

💔 LAST YEAR, MAX STOOD BESIDE HIS SISTERS. THIS YEAR, MAX A ROAR HAD TO STAND IN HIS PLACE. 💔

We thought we were ready to take this picture.

We were wrong.

Last year, Max stood beside his sisters for their back-to-school picture.

Our boy was there.

His backpack. His little face. His place beside his sisters.

Just another school morning that, at the time, we never could have imagined would become something we would give absolutely anything to have back.

And this year…

💔 MAX A ROAR STOOD WHERE MAX SHOULD HAVE BEEN.

We love Max A Roar. He has become such an important way for us to carry Max with us.

But standing there looking at him beside Max’s sisters broke something inside us.

Because he isn't Max.

He cannot put on his backpack.

He cannot stand impatiently while we try to get one decent picture.

He cannot walk through the school doors.

He cannot come home.

He cannot grow up beside his brother and sisters.

And maybe that is the cruelest part of pictures like these.

They keep changing.
His sisters will get taller.
Their faces will change.

There will be new grades, new teachers, graduations, birthdays and milestones.

And Max…

💔 Max will forever be seven.

Last year we could touch him.
Last year we could hug him.
Last year he was standing right there.

LAST YEAR.

Not ten years ago.
Not some distant memory.
Last year, our little boy was part of this picture.

This year, we had to place something we love in the space where our son should still be standing.

And yes, underneath this heartbreak is anger.

Max needed support at school. He needed meaningful, full access to the education he loved.

Instead, he was on a reduced schedule and coming home with mommy at lunch on December 11, 2025, when tragedy took him from us.

He should have been in school.

He should have come home at the end of the school day.

And he should have been standing beside his sisters in this picture.

💔 HE SHOULD BE HERE.

If you are new to Max’s Story, please take a little time to get to know him. Not only how we lost him, but who Max was the funny, beautiful, dinosaur-loving little boy behind everything we are fighting for.

That fight is Max’s Law: making sure disabled and high-needs children are not pushed out of school or placed on reduced schedules simply because the system does not provide enough staffing or support.

Please sign and share:
https://www.change.org/MaxsLaw2026

And please remember this picture.

Because last year, we took a back-to-school picture of our children.

This year, we took a picture of who was missing. 💔

We would give anything to go back to that ordinary morning we didn't know was precious.

One more backpack.
One more rushed picture.
One more hug.
One more chance to say:

“Come on, Max. Stand beside your sisters.” 🥺💔

And have our little boy actually be there.

09/03/2026

🚨 THIS DOG DID NOT DESERVE THIS. PLEASE SHARE. 🚨

Somewhere, someone may be desperately searching for their dog.

A black, intact male Labrador Retriever cross was found deceased near Highway 401 West close to the Brighton exit.

He had suffered a gunshot wound to the head and multiple broken bones.
We won't post graphic images. We don't need to.

What we do need to say is this:
THIS IS NOT HOW YOU DISPOSE OF A DOG.

This could be someone's companion. Someone's family. A dog who deserved love, compassion and dignity — both in life and in death.
If an animal is suffering and euthanasia is necessary, humane euthanasia is the answer. There are compassionate, responsible options. Abandoning an animal or leaving a deceased animal in this condition is never acceptable.

💔 WE WANT TO FIND HIS FAMILY.
If you have lost a black, intact male Labrador Retriever cross in the Brighton/401 area, or know someone who has, please contact Northumberland Humane Society immediately.
His family deserves answers.
Authorities will be notified so this matter can be properly investigated.
PLEASE SHARE THIS POST.
Your share could reach the person who has been searching for him.
🐾 He had a life. He mattered. He deserved better. 💔 RIP sweet boy🌈🐾