Retired Tennessee search dogs Ziva and Abby seek a forever home together

Ziva and Abby spent their careers moving into the worst moments Middle Tennessee had to offer. Now the two 13-year-old Dutch shepherds need the one thing they have never had to do separately: find a forever home together after their owner died suddenly in February.

The pair retired from Metro Office of Emergency Management and Nashville Fire Department duty and has been fostered by Dr. Melissa Riley of 36 Ranch Dog Boarding, a close friend of their late owner. Riley is looking for an adopter who can take both dogs at once, a condition she says is nonnegotiable because Ziva and Abby have been together since puppyhood.

That bond carries real weight. The dogs worked search and recovery operations across the region, responding to major incidents going back to 2014. Their service included tornado responses, drownings, and searches for missing children and elderly people. Ziva also helped locate a missing person during a police investigation, while Abby worked as a cadaver dog on some of the region’s highest-profile cases, including the 2020 Nashville bombing and the Weigh Down plane crash.

Riley said she and the dogs’ late owner had worked “shoulder to shoulder” in difficult situations and had agreed to take care of each other’s dogs if anything ever happened. That promise now shapes the search for the right household, one that can handle senior working dogs with a long history, a strong bond, and plenty of drive left in them.

The dogs are said to fit best in a home with children and other dogs, but they still have the instincts of active former working dogs. They like to chase cats and squirrels, which is the sort of detail that matters in a large-dog household deciding whether retirement really means slower living. Abby’s cancerous tumor adds another layer of urgency, making long-term medical care part of the adoption conversation as well.

The case also reflects a broader reality for retired K-9s. Project K-9 Hero says it provides medical, food, rehabilitation, rehoming, and end-of-duty support for retired working dogs, and notes that there are no public funds for many retired police and military dogs. In Nashville, where the Office of Emergency Management handles disaster mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery, and the Fire Department covers fire, medical and rescue response, working dogs have been woven into public safety for decades. The Metro-Nashville Police Department’s canine unit dates to 1972, with explosive detection added in 1975 and narcotics detection in 2004-2005.

For Ziva and Abby, the next chapter is no longer about the next callout. It is about staying together, after a lifetime of serving side by side.