HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- Search and rescue dogs worked in the World Trade Center's rubble after the Sept. 11 attacks. They've found missing hikers and lost children. Now they have the backing of the state of Connecticut.

Starting in October, volunteer handlers who train and work with the dogs may be eligible for a small tax break, if municipalities approve, and they'll be protected against assault. The legislation also threatens up to 10 years in prison or a fine up to $10,000, or both, for anyone convicted of killing search and rescue or police dogs.

Amy Stegall, who lobbied lawmakers to pass the bill, said handlers can spend as much as $20,000 in food and traveling costs, veterinarian bills and other expenses over several years.

``These people work hundreds of hours a year,'' she said. ``They do a job no one is able or capable of doing. These are ordinary people doing extraordinary work.''

Marian Beland, former president and now a board member of Connecticut Canine Search and Rescue, called the bill ``landmark legislation for the search and rescue community.''

Connecticut Canine Search and Rescue dogs conduct about 15 searches a year.

Two of its dogs were dispatched to lower Manhattan to help search for victims of the World Trade Center attacks. In July 1999, the group also helped search Martha's Vineyard for the bodies of John F. Kennedy Jr. and his wife and sister-in-law.

The dogs also searched for a Southbury man missing from a retirement home and were called to help search for a woman in Manchester who was found in a wooded area during a snowstorm last winter.

Four dogs are certified by Connecticut Canine Search and Rescue, and eight dogs now are being trained. Dogs can typically win certification in 18 months. With certification a dog handler or owner knows that the animal is capable of performing to standards set by a national search and rescue group.

William Nott, a New London police sergeant who evaluates dogs trained by Connecticut Search and Rescue, said the search and rescue dogs supplement about 100 police dogs used by state and municipal police.

Police dogs search for drugs and protect police handlers, among other tasks, Beland said. Search dogs more typically are used to cover broad areas on land and water, searching for the missing or the dead.

Nott, who has worked with police dogs for 20 years, called it the ``most rewarding work I can do.''

``You take a green dog and handler, a 14-week school, you watch how they bond, how they work together,'' he said. ``It's rewarding to see your work product come to fruition.''

State Sen. Anthony Guglielmo, R-Stafford Springs, said volunteer trainers were able to persuade him to back the legislation when they told him that most towns benefiting from search and rescue dogs can't reimburse volunteers for lodging and food when they're on the road during training.

``That was the end of that,'' he said. ``Basically, we doggedly pursued it.''