Threats to the president and the upper echelons of federal government are many and varied.

With the dangers of explosives in vehicles or hotel rooms, the president, along with all those in the Capitol, have to place their lives in the hands of top security forces.Or perhaps it would be better to say “paws” of top security.The responsibility to train and maintain dogs with such important positions is trusted to people like military working dog handler Sara Yaeger.“I work with detection dogs, as well as patrol dogs. They can either be certified to sense drugs or bombs,” Yaeger said.Yaeger, who grew up in Lehighton, is a pivotal part in the training and handling of military dogs at the Joint Base Andrews in Prince George’s County, Maryland.These dogs are specially selected and initially trained at the Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. Once they are prepared for the job, they head to Andrews, where they become part of the team that protects the people and politicians in the Washington, D.C., area.“Andrews is the largest operating kennel in the United States, because we support the national capital region,” Yaeger said.Yaeger’s normal day at the base involves running the dogs through training regimens, such as obstacle courses or problem solving stations — think “hide and seek,” but with real bombs — in order to keep them proficient.If the dogs find a bomb or complete a course, they get a toy Kong ball as a prize.But within a moment’s notice, Yaeger and her dog Digi could be summoned to protect government officials just about anywhere — including Egypt, Peru and Spain. Just recently, she was stationed in Chicago for President Barack’s Obama’s farewell speech.“We were doing detection,” Yaeger said. “We support the Secret Service in the different types of missions they go on. In Chicago, we worked with the vice president, and swept his hotel room.”During the campaign season, she was tasked to sweep for explosives at a few of the Democratic stops. One was rather close to home.“I was in Scranton for one of Clinton’s campaign rallies at Wilkes University,” Yaeger said. “And I was also in Cleveland for one of President Obama’s rallies for Clinton.”Yaeger may not be attending the inauguration today, but since Air Force One is housed at Andrews, it promises to be quite the busy day for her team.Proud to prove the skills of Digi — along with the rest of her fellow handlers and their military working dogs — Yaeger will play an incredibly important role in the safety and security of countless lives.“You have to stay very vigilant,” Yaeger said. “There’s going to be increased traffic, increased high-level visitors. I’m very excited for it, it’s always great to be a part of history.”While the esteem of working to protect members of the top office in the country is certainly prestigious, Yaeger said the best part of the job is doing what she loves.“I get to work and play with dogs all day, keeping everybody safe, seeing how far we can advance as a team, and developing the capabilities of the dogs,” she said.