Mellie Martin trains hounds

Glenn Wheeler is a longtime friend of mine. As a fellow outdoor journalist, our friendship developed over the years through our association with outdoor writer conferences. In addition to being a journalist, Wheeler is also Sheriff of Newton County Arkansas and from time to time, his duties involve trying to locate a missing person. This is where Mellie Martin enters the picture.
Martin, who along with husband Jay, own and operate Dubach Heat and Air but her sideline involves raising and training hounds, not just any hounds. Her focus is on bloodhounds. A few weeks ago, Martin learned of a missing person in Newton County Arkansas and offered to bring her hounds there to assist. Here’s where I entered the picture. Martin conveyed a message from my friend Sheriff Wheeler that piqued my interest enough to try and learn about raising and training bloodhounds.
“As a member of the Delta Elite K9 Search and Rescue team, I have been involved in raising and training bloodhounds for the past eight years,” Martin said. “My interest in bloodhounds was the result of an incident where a special needs child left home and met with a tragic accident. I thought that if the child could have been found and rescued before the accident happened, the result would not have ended in tragedy.”
The more she learned about bloodhounds and what they can do, the more intrigued she became so she began raising and training bloodhounds some eight years ago. What she has learned about these remarkable dogs is fascinating.

“Bloodhounds have about 270 million scent receptors in their noses compared to about 5 million we humans have. These dogs can be trained to find a specific person even after they have been gone two or three days,” she said.
“Each person’s scent is individualized in the same way that no two people have the same fingerprint. Before a search begins, an article, such as a cap or pillow case that no one else has used is presented to the dog and it is homed in only on that one person.”
Martin says she is called on average about two times a month to bring her dogs to where a missing person has been reported. Not only do they search for run-aways but also criminals who may be on the run.
“We don’t compete with law enforcement agencies that utilize dogs; we work with them. Our area of responsibility involves serving all of Louisiana north of Alexandria over to East Texas and just south of Little Rock, AR as well as portions of Mississippi. We wait for law enforcement agencies to contact us before offering the services of our dogs,” Martin said.
Martin’s work with her dogs is on a strictly volunteer basis where no fee is charged. I am reminded of the similarity of what she does with her dogs and the organization deer hunters utilize to find wounded deer.
“My most rewarding event took place in south Arkansas when an elderly and sickly gentleman had been missing for 36 hours and family assumed he had probably passed away somewhere. My dogs were able to locate him, alive but dehydrated, and when we came back with him riding with us on a side-by-side, I joined with the family shedding happy tears. Just seeing that dog I have trained find someone in such a situation is so rewarding,” she said.

To learn more about what has been done and can be done with bloodhounds, go on-line to Delta Elite K9 Search and Rescue Team.