History, Search Dogs, Heroism & Heart

Members of both Montecito Bank & Trust’s MClub and the venerable Santa Barbara Club joined together for a memorable journey to Santa Paula’s Heritage Valley. After a scenic drive, we made our way to the Museum of Ventura County’s Agriculture Museum, where we explored Ventura County’s rich farming heritage and toured their impressive photography exhibit called In Focus: Mexican Indigenous Voices of Ventura County, featuring over 40 breathtaking portraits by documentary photographer Diego Huerta. The exhibit highlights the region’s Indigenous communities and their cultural contributions.

After a delicious catered box lunch from DJ’s Catering, we heard from Wilma Melville, founder of the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation (NDSDF), interviewed by Elena Brokaw, the dynamic CEO of the Museum of Ventura County and NDSDF board member. Wilma recounted responding to the Oklahoma City bombing with her search dog, Murphy, shedding tears as she shared the tragedy of 168 lives lost, and her commitment to start a training center to train 168 handlers and dogs in their honor, a number now surpassing 250.

When Wilma’s team was deployed to the 9/11 site of the collapsed Twin Towers in New York, the photographers covering the tragic aftermath captured images of the search dogs and handlers. National news stations rolled NDSDF on the news ticker resulting in donations from all over the country. The images of those dogs gave all of us watching helplessly from home a bit of hope.

In the afternoon, we toured Search Dog’s 125-acre National Training Center with CEO Rhett Mauck, where we watched the heroic dogs search for a survivor on rubble piles simulating a building collapse. We learned about the traits and characteristics of what makes a search dog – basically a high “toy drive” with the kind of energy that you might not appreciate in a pet. These dogs are sourced and rescued from animal shelters across the nation and are trained to become rescuers of disaster survivors. It was a demonstration of skill, courage, and teamwork. I always loved the one of the organization’s tag lines: “From Rescued to Rescuer!”

We left the tour uplifted by the beautiful Heritage Valley with a better understanding of the extraordinary bonds between humans and their four-legged lifesavers.

Enthusiasts included: SB Club President Ellen Robinson, Simon Priest, Christine Holland, Karen Poythress, Paula Bruice, Carla Amussen, Ricardo Zamarron, Nathan Bero, Orman Gaspar, Adrienne Villa, and Bill Bowles.  

For more information, visit venturamuseum.org and searchdogfoundation.org