Officer Mike Schaffer and his K-9 partner Nando are inseparable.  

The St. Marys Police dog is special in many ways, but he is also the only dog in the country that has the ability to sniff out bath salts.

“Somewhere we would’ve heard about it and we haven’t yet. So as far as we can tell he’s the only one in the country,” said Schaffer.

The bath salts training was critical for Elk County.

“Why we don’t know, but people up here were taking a liking to it,” Schaffer said. 

In fact he said there was rarely a shift that went by where they didn’t come across someone who was influenced by the synthetic drug.

Nando is now three-years-old. His training also allows him to track down other drugs like marijuana, cocaine, and heroin.

When he’s not on the job Nando stays with Schaffer and his family.

“I have four daughters at home and about a month ago I was doing something and I said come on son,” laughed Schaffer.

Schaffer says he spends more time with Nando than any of his family, so there is a very close bond which he says helps make the city of St. Marys a safer place.