Remaining hot on the trail

Search-and-rescue team visits Whispering Forest Elementary

By Andrea Daniel

St. Tammany News

Sitting cross-legged, waiting to be found, a third-grader let out a laugh of surprise when a small black nose appeared under the tent.

Laughter and applause erupted from the other students watching to see if Willa really could locate which of the three tents the student was under.

Matthew McDermott of the K9 Search Austin brought Willa, his 7-year-old black part Australian shepherd, part flat-coated retriever, to Whispering Forest last week to demonstrate to students how Willa trains and how children can keep safe when they are lost.

Willa seemed to be smiling the whole time as students stared intently at her, all wishing to extend their arms and give her a pat on the head. Willa sat completely still, obedient to her handler, McDermott.

Days after Hurricane Katrina, McDermott and Willa arrived in Slidell with several search-and-rescue teams searching the area for missing people. The teams spent five days in Slidell, during which time McDermott said his team managed to locate one person.

Almost two years later, McDermott and Willa returned to Slidell where his sister-in-law, Cheryl Pearse, a third-grade teacher at WFE, lives. While in Slidell, McDermott made a special visit to WFE. Pearse's daughter, Jaci, was McDermott's helper for the presentation.

Willa did tricks with her tug-of-war rope toy as McDermott explained to the students Willa's strengths lie in her ability to smell and see better than humans.

McDermott also told the students how to keep calm if they every got lost.

"Don't lose your brain," he said.

The brain is the most important tool to use in a scary situation, McDermott said, for example, being lost in the woods.

McDermott offered a few tips for students if they ever got lost:

  • Hug a tree. It's easier to find someone if they stay in one place. So find a tree and stay next to it.

  • Tear a hole in a large trash bag and put it over your body to keep warm and dry.

  • Talk to strangers. The difference, McDermott said, between good and bad strangers is that the good strangers are going to know your name. People are going to be calling your name looking for you. Make sure to answer them.

  • Carry a whistle. The sound of a whistle will carry further than your voice.

    Willa has been doing search and rescue for four years with McDermott, who said he became interested in search and rescue after the tragedies of Sept. 11, 2001.

    McDermott is a volunteer search-and-rescue handler for the San Antonio Police Department and is the lead handler for K9 Search Austin.

    McDermott's day job is as a computer consultant. Willa comes to work with him and has her own little bed under his desk.

    "My boss is extremely understanding," McDermott said.

    McDermott called his boss at 9 a.m. the Monday after the hurricane to say he wouldn't be coming in the rest of the week because he was on his way to Slidell.

    "Two hours later, he called back," McDermott said. "He had got the board to put another week vacation in for me."

    McDermott's team left with $1,000 out-of-pocket money, a tank of gas plus extra gas and enough food for humans and dogs for seven days.

    Pictures from McDermott's visit in Slidell after Katrina are www.K9search.org.

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