The Hero Behind the Book “Hero Dogs”

Wilma Melville stood and stared at the wreckage of the Oklahoma City bombing and could not believe her eyes. The devastation was horrific. She let go of Murphy’s leash and instructed him to begin sniffing through the rubble in search of signs of life. The eventual conclusion would be that there were none.

She realized with significant regret that she had been summoned too late. If only we had been brought in sooner, she thought. She also acknowledged something else that was painfully obvious: There are far too few search-and-rescue dogs available today for situations like this. She realized that, going forward, there would be more and more need for search-and-rescue dogs.  

Wilma left that scene with an ache in her heart and a promise in her mind: “I will find a way to train 168 dogs to be search and rescue dogs,” she said, “one for every man, woman and child who died in the Oklahoma City bombing.”

One of the many lessons from the book Hero Dogs is never underestimate a woman, but especially, never underestimate this woman. Wilma Melville, a retired physical education teacher, went home to southern California and started a nonprofit: Search Dog Foundation.

The fete she proceeded to accomplish from that day forward would forever change the way dogs would be trained in search and rescue and how much they would achieve. Eventually, Wilma’s dogs would be sent by Homeland Security to Ground Zero, Hurricane Katrina sites, areas in Haiti struck by the earthquake, and dozens more places large and small where rescuers would use dogs to try to find people buried alive before it was too late.

Paul Lobo, who co-wrote the book with Wilma, captures her experiences skillfully, as if they were happening in real time. You will visualize all too clearly the colors, the smells and scenes that Wilma’s dogs and handlers experienced.  

If you like dogs, read this book. Even if you are a person like me who has no interest in dogs whatsoever, you still will be mesmerized by this book. When I closed the back cover of this book, I was so drawn in by the value of Wilma’s work that I couldn’t even get up from desk until I made a donation to SearchDogFoundation.org. That’s how much this book – and the value of Wilma’s work – moved me. And it will move you too.

Find the book here at Amazon.

If you like a good book that keeps you on your toes and surprises you at every turn, please check out my novel, In Fashion's Web on Amazon. It's got 10 5-star reviews!