“She would get afraid and just start shaking.” “When we moved to New Jersey, she was our early warning system for storms,” Hingson said. She’d been with him since 1999 and he described the Labrador retriever initially as “a busybody.” She sniffed him, seemed infinitely curious but with a gentle demeanor. Roselle was his guide dog when the planes hit the towers, where he worked in computer sales. He’s told the story and yet, he said, it’s always ended up being about the dog. “And whatever I’ve done since then, I have learned from it.” “It still feels like yesterday,” he said.

He said surviving the World Trade Center collapse also gave him a keener survival instinct.

Hingson said he’s paying more heed to the message that’s been a staple of his motivational talks since the attacks: Trust. “Living here has been more affordable,” Michael Hingson said. A rescued cat hides in one of the apartment’s three small rooms. In the living room, two guide dogs roll around playfully and make the area feel even tighter. “This year has been the lowest year,” he said. He did snag a public-speaking gig at Palmdale High School tonight for the 14th anniversary of Sept. Blind since birth, he also advocates on behalf of those who can’t see.īut the last two years have been tough. He left the nonprofit in 2008 to start his own company built around motivational speaking that uses his story to illustrate trust and teamwork. Guide Dogs for the Blind hired him to be their spokesman, and he moved back to California in 2002. Hingson made television appearances, got speaking engagements that sometimes paid $15,000 and wrote a New York Times best-seller, “Thunder Dog.” Larry King wrote the forward. His story - a blind man and a guide dog working their way down 78 floors to escape before the buildings collapsed - went viral before going viral was a thing. 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center. The 65-year-old has been giving speeches since he survived the Sept. If only he and his wife, Karen, could secure a construction loan to build on a plot of land in the high desert. When he emerged minutes later, he cradled the small wooden box and traced the engraved image on its front. Michael Hingson eased out of the rocking chair and disappeared into a small room.

Roselle thunder dog