Jul 28, 2021 3 min read

Washington County has a new sheriff’s deputy, one with four legs and a powerful nose.

Sammi is a 2-year-old Belgian Malinois and started working as police dog this past weekend. Sheriff’s Deputy Kristie Salzman, Sammi’s handler, said she is trained in explosive detection and tracking.

Sammi is replacing the department’s other K-9, Obie, who will be retired in November.

“The whole thought process was, because of what we do to acquire a second dog, have her ready so there was never a break in service,” Salzman said.

For the time being, Obie and Sammi will split their duties until Obie’s retirement party Nov. 6. Afterward, Obie will continue to live with Salzman.

She said there are definite personality differences between Sammi and Obie, a black Labrador retriever.

“Everyone laughs and jokes and tells me he’s the rock star of the department. He really is,” Salzman said, describing Obie as playful and relaxed. Sammi, on the other hand, is more serious – a trait of the breed. “She’s high maintenance compared to Obie, just because it’s constant work, work, work with her.”

Obie is not the only retirement the sheriff’s department will see this year, as Sheriff Samuel Romano is also planning to retire at the end of year.

Salzman said Romano gave her the go-ahead to purchase a new K-9, and she decided to name the dog after him.

“He’s the one that initially gave me the green light to even begin this program back when we started with Obie … It was just fitting for her to be named after him,” Salzman said.

The dog and required training for both her and her handler cost more than $11,000, according to Salzman. All of the money for the department’s K-9 unit comes from fundraising and private donations.

“The community has been wonderful. It’s been endless with their support. Quite honestly without them, I don’t know if we’d have been able to get the second dog. They’ve made it happen. I’m just fortunate enough to go to work with my best buddy every day,” Salzman said.

In addition to their regular policing duties, the K-9s also help with the sheriff department’s D.A.R.E. program. Deputy Elizabeth Davidson runs the program, which stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education.

“We usually have Kristie come in about halfway through a program, and the kids kind of get a little brain break,” Davidson said, adding that the kids get to see how the dogs detect explosives.

Salzman said Sammi will have some work ahead of her to live up the high standards set by Obie in the community.

“The good part is, there are no hard feelings between the two dogs. They actually both live at home with me, and they get along great,” Salzman said. “There might be animosity with some of our people with the dog change, but the dogs themselves, they’re OK.”