A Legend of Croatian Firefighting Has Passed Away
Rain, the dog that paved the way for K-9 teams in Croatia, passed away at the age of 17. Her handler, firefighter Zoran Laslavić from Opatija, said an emotional goodbye.
Rain, the dog that paved the way for K-9 teams in Croatia, passed away at the age of 17. Her handler, firefighter Zoran Laslavić from Opatija, said an emotional goodbye.
Croatian firefighting has lost its pioneer. Rain, the first firefighting search and rescue dog in Croatia, passed away at the age of 17. The news of her death was announced on August 6, 2026, leaving behind a legacy that forever changed the country's search and rescue system.
Her handler, firefighter Zoran Laslavić from Opatija, with whom she spent 16 and a half years, said goodbye to his longtime partner with an emotional message on social media.
Laslavić did not hide the pain that the farewell brought him. "The hardest moment has come, the one I always feared. After 16 and a half years of a life filled with pride, work, and an unbreakable friendship, I have to say goodbye to you," he wrote on social media.
He recalled their journey together, which began in 2010 when Rain entered his life and became the first firefighting search and rescue dog in Croatia. "Together, we walked a path that no one had trodden before us. Because of you and our beginning, today Croatia has firefighting search and rescue teams with dogs, you created this new era and laid the foundations of the rescue system with K-9 teams as we know it today. You trained and mentored dozens of teams," he emphasized.
The two of them went through countless exercises, trainings, and real rescue operations across Croatia and Europe. In his message, Laslavić stressed that they never gave up. "We traveled all over Europe, went through countless exercises, events, and operations. We slept together, froze together, worked through the nights... But we never, ever gave up, and we completed every task, every command to the end. You were much more than a working dog; you were my pride, my shadow, my support, and my family," he said.
The Firefighting Community of the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County also said goodbye to Rain, paying tribute to her indelible contribution. "Dear Rain, thank you for every step, every searched track, and for the foundation you laid for all the generations to come. You have become a part of firefighting history, and your stories and experiences will be told forever. Rest in peace, Legend," they said from the Community.
Rain will be remembered as the pioneer of Croatian firefighting K-9 units, a four-legged helper who, with her handler, opened the way for a system that now operates in many search and rescue operations across Croatia.
