Ana was a golden retriever

Golden Retriever

The Golden Retriever is a medium-sized breed of dog. They were historically developed as gundogs to retrieve shot waterfowl such as ducks and upland game birds during hunting and shooting parties. As such, they were bred to have a soft mouth to retrieve game undamaged and have an instinctive love...

 search and rescue dog

Search and rescue dog

The use of dogs in search and rescue is a valuable component in wilderness tracking, natural disasters, mass casualty events, and in locating missing people. Dedicated handlers and well-trained dogs are required for the use of dogs to be effective in search efforts...

, known for having been the first graduate of the Search Dog Foundation's training program. Ana was one of the first search dogs to be deployed to the site of the World Trade Center

World Trade Center

The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...

.

Ana was born to a backyard breeder

Backyard breeder

Backyard Breeder is a general term, often considered derogatory, used in USA to describe people who breed animals, often without registration. In some cases the animals are inbred narrowly for looks with little regard to health. The term most often is used to describe certain types of breeders of...

, and proved to be too active to work as an assistance dog

Assistance dog

An assistance dog is a dog trained to aid or assist a person with a disability. Many are trained by a specific organization, while others are trained by their handler .-Classification:...

. Bonnie Bergin

Bonnie Bergin

Bonita M. Bergin Ed. D. is President of the Bergin University of Canine Studies. According to the publisher Random House, she is the originator of the "service dog", dogs that are trained to help people with mobility limitations.-Early years:Bergin moved to Sonoma County two years after she was...

, the Executive Director of the Assistance Dog Institute, decided that Ana might be better suited as a search and rescue dog, and suggested her to Wilma Melville, the head of the Search Dog Foundation. Ana was trained at a kennel

Kennel

A kennel is the name given to any structure or shelter for dogs. A kennel is a doghouse, run, or other small structure in which a dog is kept...

 in Gilroy, California

Gilroy, California

Gilroy is the southernmost city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 48,821 at the 2010 census. Gilroy is well-known for its garlic crop and for the annual Gilroy Garlic Festival, featuring various garlicky foods, including garlic ice cream. Gilroy also produces...

, and, upon graduation, she was the first nationally certified Fire Department Disaster Search Canine and the first dog certified by the Search Dog Foundation. http://www.searchdogfoundation.org/zcom/newsletter/ScrapDetail.do?compid=98&newsid=4 http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/1395119.html

Ana was assigned to the Sacramento, California

Sacramento, California

Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...

 Fire Department, where she was paired with fire captain Rick Lee.

Besides the World Trade Center search, Ana and Captain Lee were involved in several other searches, including the sites of collapsed buildings in Sacramento, http://www.searchdogfoundation.org/98/html/1-2_sac.html and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...

. http://www.searchdogfoundation.org/98/html/1-2_katrina.html

She was featured on a report on Animal Planet

Animal Planet

Animal Planet is an American cable tv specialty channel that launched on October 1, 1996. It is distributed by Discovery Communications. A high-definition simulcast of the channel launched on September 1, 2007.-History:...

, and on the National Geographic Channel

National Geographic Channel

National Geographic Channel, also commercially abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo, is a subscription television channel that airs non-fiction television programs produced by the National Geographic Society. Like History and the Discovery Channel, the channel features documentaries with factual...

's Dogs With Jobs. http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/1395119.html

Ana died of cancer in Captain Lee's arms.