'Murphy' is on the job
Photo by Amy Valadez Cody Moore, joined by Murphy at the Coeur d'Alene fire station, holds a copy of his book "Murphy Gets A Job."
COEUR d'ALENE - Murphy was 8 weeks old when he came to be with Cody Moore.
"He was absolutely crazy as a puppy," Moore said. "He was born without an off switch."
Fast-forward 10 years.
Murphy is calm, courageous and a leader of the Idaho Disaster Dogs team, which responds to emergency incidents such as building collapses or other disasters.
Murphy and Moore have been a search-and-rescue team for the past decade.
Moore, a Coeur d'Alene firefighter and paramedic, outlines the road that took Murphy from that wired puppy to the cool-under-fire yellow Labrador in his first book "Murphy Gets A Job," with illustrations by Tamara Markov.
It offers an up-close look at how the two trained together, shared a home, developed a bond and grew to look out for one another.
"He's a great dog," Moore said.
Along the way, they rushed to help people whenever and wherever they were needed. Idaho Disaster Dogs has deployed teams to assist with local, state, tribal and federal responses.
Murphy is a certified member of Idaho Task Force 1 and Federal Emergency Management Agency Washington Task Force 1.
"Murphy is also known to talk a lot when he gets excited," according to the animal's Idaho Disaster Dogs biography. "He does not bark, but he loves to whimper with excitement."
Murphy, at 10 years old, is coming up on retirement.
"He's pretty mellow now," Moore said.
More than 400 copies of "Murphy Gets A Job" have been sold. It is available for $15.99 for paperback and $23.99 for hardback and can be purchased at www.idahodisasterdogs.com.