SUGARCREEK (Tusco TV) - Garaway school officials are adding a canine element to their efforts to improve building security.

Superintendent Jim Millet says the board of education has agreed to participate in a school safety dog program that uses specially-trained canines to sniff out weapons and engage hostile intruders. 

"The thing that interested us about getting a school dog from them is that the dog has a detection component, so the dog with its set ability can identify ammunition, can identify weapons coming into a school and actually be more effective at that than metal detectors, so that was something that was very exciting," he says.

Millet says the dog will be handled by district safety official Jason Wallick, accompanying him for daily security checks at Garaway's five school buildings. He says school dogs aren’t trained to be aggressive so there’s no danger to staff and students. 

"The students can approach it, so it’s a little different than a police dog. They can approach it. They can pet it. They can interact with it, so it has that therapeutic component to it, too," he says.

Millet says they’re using grant money to cover the $15,000 participation cost with the safety dog expected to start early next semester. 

TUSCO TV