The Butler County Sheriff K-9 Bullet is pointing the way to finding illegal drugs.

The German short-haired pointer undergoes perpetual training as a drug-detecting dog.

His partner and handler, Sgt. Harry Callithen, explains Bullet can be used with people who are subject to searches, such as inmates in the county prison and people serving probation.

The training for those searches entails the use of fabric saturated with the odor of drugs.

The scented material is planted in the pockets of deputies who sit in chairs while Callithen and Bullet circle them.

Callithen guides Bullet around each person several times so the canine can smell the air surrounding the shirts, pants and footwear.

“He follows the air currents in the room,” Callithen said.

When Bullet has traced a familiar scent, he stops.

“Once he recognizes an odor, he points and sits down,” Callithen said. “He stares at it as a trained response.”

Before fabric is used in training, it’s sealed in a jar with a sample of a drug until the smell permeates the material.

Callithen said the particular fumes emanating from the fabric illustrate the necessity of dogs in detecting drugs.

While marijuana and heroin carry a stench, cocaine has an innocuous scent.

Callithen said Bullet has 50 times the number of scent receptors that a human does.

Before being bought by the county, Bullet underwent initial training at Shallow Creek Kennels in Sharpsville to learn the whiffs of illegal drugs, including methamphetamines.

To provide motivation, drugs are planted in dog toys.

“He’s looking for the toy,” Callithen said.

As a follow-up to that training, Callithen rewards Bullet with a toy every time he isolates a drug odor on a deputy.

“I just continue what they established,” Callithen said.

Sheriff Mike Slupe supports frequent training for the K-9 unit.

“It’s always encouraged when he (Callithen) has some downtime from his regular duties to train with Bullet,” Slupe said.

Since starting work in September 2012, Bullet has done dozens of drug searches.

Along with the prison and the county adult probation office in the city tier garage, Bullet has searched hallways in most of the county’s high schools.

The Butler County Drug Task Force periodically calls for Bullet’s services, including searches used to establish probable cause for search warrants.

In one case, task force officers suspected a person of storing drugs on someone else’s property. With the property owner’s permission, Bullet sniffed the outside of a garage. After the dog indicated a drug scent was originating from the room, police were able to get a search warrant.

Sometimes, a search does not produce results despite a K-9 dog seeming to detect a drug.

However, Callithen points out the scent remains long after the drugs are gone.

“That doesn’t mean something wasn’t there,” he said.

While inside the government center or courthouse, Callithen can ask to search a visitor’s belongings if Bullet detects an odor.

Although that visitor can refuse a search beyond the X-ray machine and metal detector, deputies have the authority to deny a person entry due to safety concerns.

“We have the right to refuse entry,” Callithen said.

Along with drug detection, Bullet is used to search for missing people.

In March, Callithen and Bullet found a 14-year-old Penn Township boy after he wandered into the woods in 20-degree weather.

Callithen has his partner smell the person’s hat or pillow to obtain a distinctive scent.

Bullet also is trained to smell ground disturbance. Callithen said the dog detects one broken blade of grass.

“That smell of fresh cut grass is still there,” he said.

Other musks in that category include overturned moss and leaves.

Bullet also can trace smells left on concrete by people’s shoes.

“You leave rubber residue,” Callithen said.

But there is a time factor. Callithen said ground disturbance odors dissipate, making any trail more than two hours old difficult to follow.

He said the kennel trained Bullet on such smells by leaving items such as food along a trail before ending it with a toy.

Slupe is pleased with the canine’s performance.

“Bullet’s contribution to the community in the tracking of missing people and drug searches is another asset of county law enforcement and agencies,” he said.