Ojai Valley News Blog

Wilma Melville with former search dog, Jem, and one of her current BFFs, Newton, the dachshund, at play. Melville will have at least one dog in the lead convertible at this year’s Ojai Independence Day parade, scheduled for Saturday, July 3.

NDSDF founder selected to lead 2010 Independence Day parade

By Nancy Gross
The 10 members of the Independence Day Committee unanimously chose Wilma Melville, of the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation, to be this year’s grand marshal for Ojai’s Fourth of July parade. Melville and her organization are sources of hometown pride, and national and international heroism.

Committee member Nancy Hill said the parade has taken place since 1921, the year her uncle was the grand marshal, both in Ojai and Oak View. “This particular committee formed 45 years ago. We are the people who do the work and actually put on the parade,” Hill said.

“Last year we had our veterans come in,” Hill said, adding that the 40 veterans marked a proud, historic moment for the parade. The committee tried to find an act to follow that one. They came up with the idea of honoring Melville and the unusual heroes her foundation trains. “We’re hoping to get some of those dogs in the parade. Those dogs are so special,” Hill said.

Melville said, “It’s certainly an honor. No doubt about it. I’m pleased to carry out the tradition.”

Melville plans to have at least one dog with her. “I’m going to bring Abby, a dog that went on numerous deployments. The largest was the World Trade Center. She was also at the Glendale train wreck and the La Conchita mud slide. She’s the hero, not me.”

And yet Melville’s vision, along with the contributions of those who have partnered with her, have made it so that there are more than 100 advanced certified disaster search dog and handler teams in the United States, when in 1995 there were only 15.

“I just wanted to learn how to train a dog,” Melville said when asked about her early experiences with her black Labrador, Murphy. It was something that interested the retired physical education teacher, having a highly trained dog. She found Pluis Davern at Sundowners Training Kennel in Gilroy.

Davern taught Melville and Murphy the skills that make a fine canine search team. “Murphy and I attained advanced disaster search dog certification with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Murphy has written about what caused her to found NDSDF: “In April of 1995, Murphy and I were deployed to the terrorist bombed Federal Building in Oklahoma City. Murphy and the other search dogs covered large areas of rubble, barking loudly to indicate where victims were buried, thereby saving precious time for firefighters. This disaster made it clear that there were too few certified search dog-handler teams. Out of this heartbreaking experience came a determination to find a better way to create highly skilled canine search teams.

“My experience with trainer Pluis Davern taught me the three ingredients that are paramount: the right dog, matched with the right handler and professional training for both. This three-pronged combination not only addresses those pitfalls, but also accounts for our 85 percent success rate. The foundation chooses the dog, raises the funds to have the dog professionally trained, and then works with the handler and dog as a team until they reach certification and beyond. Another part of the success is that we use firefighters, who are first to a disaster, as the handlers.”

The dogs that are trained are rescued dogs, which make NDSDF a humane and humanitarian organization. They choose dogs with drive, focus and athleticism, and provide ongoing training for the dog’s 10-year working life, and lifetime care when the dog must be retired from their search team.

NDSDF reported at least eight rescues in Haiti, following the 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit on Jan. 12. Melville said, “I am glad the initial phase is over. It’s such a hard phase. Our handlers have learned a great deal. They will share that with us.”

Because the news from Haiti surprised many people with rescues occurring many days after the disaster struck, Melville added, “Earthquakes are like that. People can live through them. That’s why, in California, we prepare for them.

“We are heavily into planning a national training center. We’ll have props that simulate this disaster. That is how each disaster is. You have to learn from it.”

Visit searchdogfoundation.org.