Dover, Tenn.–Stewart County Sheriff Frankie Gray welcomed the newest member of the sheriff’s office Monday. Stormy is a two-year-old female Belgian Malinois and is the second K9 added to the department since Sheriff Gray was elected in November.
Stormy and the first K9, Harry, are certified in drug detection and are in training for tracking, apprehension and article searching.
Deputy Shane Keatts is the handler of Stormy and Deputy Robbie MacDonald is Harry’s trainer.
Sheriff Gray said, “We now have two exceptional dogs to work with patrol and help attack our drug problems. The new dog puts us ahead of plans to have two dogs within a year and this will allow a dog for each patrol shift.”
The sheriff thanked County Mayor Robin Brandon for his continued support and noted that research into the training allowed them to purchase both dogs for less than half the initial estimate for one dog.
“We actually have saved the Sheriff’s Office and taxpayers about $22,000 from what we thought it would cost us and we’re very happy about this,” Gray said. The sheriff’s office also has applied for and is working on grants for equipment and vests for the dogs.
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