On Wednesday, visitors to the Schuylkill County courthouse delighted in a sweet, sleek German shorthair pointer sitting quietly with sheriff’s deputies in the vestibule.

The dog, Sara, is the county Sheriff’s Office’s first tracking and bomb sniffing K-9.

“Sara is our first canine unit, so for lack of a better term, it’s a pilot program,” said Sheriff Shawn Butler.

“We’re very excited, not only to have her in the agency, but just the smile she puts on everybody’s face, walking through the halls,” he said. “Oh, my goodness, she’s so popular.

“Everybody wants to stop and see her, and we understand she’s a working dog, but she’s not a bite or patrol dog, so she’s not aggressive in any way, shape or form.”

Deputy Evan Lecher is Sara’s handler, Butler said.

Lecher will be taking her to training sessions at Rocket Canine, Lehigh County.

“He’s young, he’s gung-ho, and he has the energy to match the animal,” Butler said. “That’s what we needed, someone to keep up with her. So he’s very excited to do it. I think he’s a very, very squared-away individual. He’s committed to the program, he knows what’s involved, and it’s extensive. When you’re taking something on 24 hours a day, that’s a commitment. I’m happy that we had someone willing to step up and take it.”

The 14-month old pup is not only new to the county, she’s new to the United States.

“She’s from Poland,” Butler said.

Sara’s journey to the states began after a state trooper noticed the county didn’t have a bomb-sniffing dog.

“Last year here in Schuylkill County, we had three large incidents that involved a threat of explosives of some sort, one being here at the courthouse, and two of them were at High Ridge Industrial Park.

“I happened to be working for another agency at the time on another one, and the time that it took for us to get dogs there, one was in excess of two hours,” he said. “So I spoke with the same state police corporal that was on all the same three calls, and he said, ‘You guys don’t have anything up here?’

“No, we don’t have anything like that,” Butler replied.

The South Central Task Force, which is the region the county Emergency Management Agency falls under, offered a grant.

Butler applied for the grant with the help of county EMA Deputy Director of Operations Kevin Soberick.

“He was a K-9 handler in his prior career, and he helped us a lot with it,” Butler said. “We were fortunate. They gave us a grant for it.”

Sara herself cost about $10,000. The total amount of the grant has yet to be determined because her training will take between eight and 12 weeks, depending on well she does, Butler said. Her handler’s cost is also included.

Her training involves bomb sniffing and tracking, so in addition to detecting explosives, Sara will also work finding lost people.