JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers THE TEAM AT REST-Simi resident Deresa Teller at home with her beloved search and rescue dogs, from left to right, Charlotte, 3, Bella, 14, and Ranger, 6. On Sept. 11, 2001, Deresa Teller and Bella, her border collie, were on a plane headed for Ground Zero.

Teller, 51, is a fire inspector and paramedic with the Los Angeles City Fire Department. She's been training and working with search dogs since 1985, a job that's taken the dedicated firefighter to some of the worst disaster sites in recent American history.

In those anxious hours after the attacks, Teller and the rest of a 70member task force including three other dogs prepared to leave. However, officials delayed their departure, fearing there might still be an attack in the Los Angeles area.

"They held everybody back for several hours because we didn't know if anything was going to happen locally," Teller said. "We flew out on a military cargo plane later that day and got there about 2 a.m."

The following day Teller, with Bella at her side, met face-to-face with the unthinkable disaster at the World Trade Center. It was nothing like the seasoned rescue worker had ever experienced before, she said.

"It was unbelievable. I felt like I was in a Terminator movie," Teller said. "The magnitude of it was just everywhere. It went on for blocks and blocks."

For the first few days after the towers collapsed, Teller and Bella searched the mountains of concrete and steel for signs of life. It was a dangerous undertaking, with 30-foot drops in between the debris.

"We were actually walking on the steel girders. That's how we got from one place to the other," Teller said. "Bella did very well. It's amazing how dogs just know. They were good about not jumping off the girders."

Teller knew the odds were against them finding any survivors.

"I knew when we got there it was pretty unlikely there was going to be live people," Teller said. "In the rubble we were searching we didn't see any computers or furniture or file cabinets like we saw in the Oklahoma (City) bombing."

Teller gave Bella the command to look for cadavers. When rescuers found a crushed car under the debris, Bella signaled that

a body was inside. The canine's skills eventually helped the rescuers find several bodies, Teller said.

The team worked 12-hour to 16-hour days for 12 straight days. In the down time, Bella liked to play with her dog toy, an activity that helped bring some enjoyment and comfort to some of her fellow rescue workers.

"She had a squeaky toy she liked to be thrown," Teller said. "The people would throw it out a little bit. She would play all day long with that silly toy if she could."

Teller said she is proud of her beloved dog's courage and skills, made even more remarkable because Bella is a cancer survivor. The border collie went

through 14 radiation treatments that kept her away from rescue work for six months.

"Bella was getting up there in age when she went to 9/11," Teller said. "She was 9 years old and she had just recovered from cancer of the leg."

During her career, the feisty border collie helped emergency crews in Oklahoma City find four bodies left in the rubble of the federal building after the 1995 bombing that killed 168 people. In August 2001, Bella found the body of Megan Barroso, a Moorpark college student murdered after an attempted rape and kidnapping.

Now at age 15, Bella is enjoying her retirement, pampered by Teller and her two daughters, Calena, 16, and Jesa, 14, both Santa Susana high school students.

When Bella was close to retirement in 2002, Teller looked to National Search Dog Foundation in Ojai for a new partner.

"Our mission is to produce the most highly trained canine disaster search teams in the nation," Debra Tosch said, executive director of the nonprofit organization.

After completing rigorous training, a dog is paired freeofcharge with a firefighter. Teller had previously donated Bella's grandson, Ranger, to the foundation.

According to Tosch, a dog is teamed with an optimal partner, not necessarily the previous owner.

"The dogs are paired up with firefighters based on personality and family life," Tosch said.

Luckily, Teller and Ranger were a perfect match.

While the smart and curious Ranger has some big paws to fill, Teller gives her new partner high praise.

"Ranger is incredible. I hate to tell his grandmother but he's a better search dog than she was," Teller said. "Overall, Bella was more versatile. She could go from live to cadaver command in midstream, but Ranger is better for disaster search."

Last year, Teller and Ranger helped search for bodies after the La Conchita mudslides.

They also did rescue work in Biloxi, Miss., which was hit hard by Hurricane Katrina. Ranger, a live search dog, worked diligently but found no one alive, a harsh reality that often goes along with the job.

It takes a certain spirit for a handler and dog to do the tough job of search and rescue, Teller said.

"I guess it takes a certain strength in a person. Not everyone can be a policeman or firefighter," Teller said. "I just look at it as helping to bring closure to the families."