Wilma Melville

A fantastic book for the curious like myself, who wondered how rescue dogs were trsined, and for anyone who loves the misfits in the animal world. Wilma, in her mid sixties was hunkering down for a calm retirement with her husband when she decided inactivity was not in her nature. She had one trained rescue dog, Cody who she worked at the Oklahoma bombing site. The descriptions were of course heartbreaking but she became aware that there was a big shortage of trained rescue dogs. Instead of retiring she decided to so something about this deficit, and decided to train and acquire these dogs.

Enter Ana, Harley and Dusty, three golden retrievers who already had a past. Rejected for various reasons by owners, Wilma takes them on. I fell in love with these pups and their stories. Then three firemen who were trained to become their handlers. This was only the beginning, and eventually many more were trained, and some of her graduates would be called into zero at ground zero.

A book filled with humor, cues and miscues, accomplishments, started by a gutsy, loving woman who decided to not retire, but to get involved. The colored photos are a plus, nice to see the pups and people one is reading about.… (altro)