Fortunes are changing rapidly for the National Search Dog Foundation in Santa Paula.

Two years ago, the longtime Ventura County farming family of Frank McGrath Jr. gave the group the largest donation in its history — $1.5 million. It was used to purchase 37 acres at 6870 Wheeler Canyon Road near Santa Paula.

"The Search Dog Foundation is a wonderful group of people, and with luck and a little hard work, the magic will continue," family member Sean McGrath said in an interview a few days ago.

After the donation, McGrath located more property for the search dog foundation, which recently sold its initial 37 acres and purchased Wheeler Ranch, a sprawling 125 acres at 6800 Wheeler Canyon Road.

That is about a quarter-mile from the previous property, which officials say wasn't big enough and lacked the optimal flatlands that handlers and dogs needed to train.

"Wheeler Ranch, though, has 50 flat acres with another 75 acres of hills and surrounding landscape, and it not only accomplishes our goal, but gives us room to grow," said Debra Tosch of Ventura, the foundation's executive director.

The organization has hired an architect to help it plan how to use the Wheeler Ranch facility including several buildings that came with the purchase.

"The architect has our mission in mind and knows what we need and will come back with a report about how to accomplish that," Tosch said.

The property was purchased using a down payment provided by selling the smaller parcel.

"But we're still raising funds with a goal of $15 million that will pay off the note to the property as well as provide an endowment to sustain us," Tosch said. The group held a public celebration at the site May 17.

According to the foundation, there are 179 dog-handler teams in the United States, and the foundation has trained 85 of them.

The cost of training a dog and handler to obtain Federal Emergency Management Agency certification is about $10,000, according to the foundation, which is a nonprofit organization.

As a 501(c)3 group, it receives donations from private parties, other foundations and individuals and has relied on that form of funding since its founding.

Until the facility is ready, the foundation has dogs and handlers in various places around the state before they are deployable as part of a task force for FEMA.

"Right now, our handlers largely train their dogs in recycling facilities around the state because it's the one place we can find large piles of debris," Tosch said.

With training and kennel facilities as far apart as Gilroy and Lancaster, many of the handlers — who are mostly firefighters and police officers along with a few civilians — spend a great deal of time on the road.

"Wheeler Ranch will change that," Tosch said.

"We'll have everything right here in Ventura County, and this will be our headquarters, training and kenneling facility."

The foundation was created in 1996 after its founder, Wilma Melville, and her search dog, Murphy, participated in the search-and-recovery efforts at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. Timothy McVeigh bombed the building April 19, 1995.

After going to Oklahoma, Melville said she made a commitment "to train many, many more people to do this job."