There are fewer than 200 FEMA Advanced Certified Search and Rescue dogs in the U.S., and Denise has two of them: Bretagne and Aid'n. Each dog and handler must pass a rigorous national certification and teams must be re-certified every two years.

There are two levels of certification: Basic and Advanced. It takes a year of training to reach Basic and many never reach Advanced. Denise was deployed with her golden Bretagne to NYC for 9-11. Read the NY Golden Retriever Club article "The Goldens of Ground Zero" which features a photo of Denise and Bretagne. More recently, Denise and Aid'N were profiled in the The Sun, a Copperfield newspaper.

The presentation is free and open to the public on Tuesday, February 17, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. at the French Alliance, 427 Lovett Boulevard, 77006. It is being sponsored by The Greater Houston Golden Retriever Club (www.ghgrc.org).

Volunteers of Golden Beginnings Golden Retriever Rescue (www.gbgrr.org) are hosting a reception following the presentation.