Hero Dogs: How a Pack of Rescues, Rejects and Strays Became America’s Greatest Disaster-Search Partners by Wilma Melville
Reviewed By: Rebecca Cox, Business Manager
Genre: Non-Fiction
Suggested Age: Adults
What is This Book About? Wilma Melville volunteered as a canine search-and-rescue handler with her Black Lab Murphy after the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. At that time there were only 15 certified search and rescue dogs in the United States. Wilma knew that these dogs were vital in the event of future major disasters and made a vow to help 168 dogs – one for every Oklahoma City victim. Wilma established the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation and began finding her dogs through rescue organizations, specifically targeting dogs that were considered unadoptable due to their heavy prey drive and boundless energy. Through patience, discipline and love applied during rigorous training, these dogs proved to have the skills and stamina needed to excel as SAR dogs and the first trio of dogs trained – Ana, Dusty, and Harley – were all on the ground as first responders searching the ruins of the World Trade Center following 9/11.
My Review: This book is a must-read for any dog lover. Following Wilma’s story of finding these previously unadoptable dogs and turning them into elite search and rescue canines is nothing short of amazing. I laughed at the antics of these rescue dogs (especially Ana!) as they worked through their obedience training and cried with the rescuers on the scene of 9/11 as they dealt with the conditions and the horror. As somebody who spends their free time rescuing and training dogs, I felt inspired to work with my own dogs more and I loved how they laid out their training for these search and rescue dogs. This book is well-paced and ends up being a quick read, if for no other reason then that you are so enthralled with the stories of Wilma, Ana, Dusty and Harley!
Three Words that Describe this Book: Beautiful, Heart-wrenching, Inspiring
Give this a try if you like… Thunder Dog by Michael Hingson, Dog Heroes of September 11th by Nona Kilgore Bauer and Werewolf: The True Story of and Extraordinary Police Dog by David Alton Hedges
Rating: 5/5
