AKRON, Ohio — Avery the dog is known around Akron as Summit County's favorite employee. 

He is the facility dog at the Summit County Prosecutor's Office, and he plays a major role in helping victims. 

Avery has been with the office for eight years and during his time he has helped around 250 victims, most of whom were children. 

“We deal with murder cases, rape cases and usually it’s child rape cases and he sits with the children [on the stand]," Melanie Hart, Avery's handler, explained. "He will sit at the feet with them when they testify. A lot of times they will pet him.” 

Avery helps the kids feel at ease in the Prosecutor's Office and in the courtroom.

He was the first facility dog at a prosecutor's office in the state of Ohio. 

Sherri Bevan Walsh, who is the elected prosecutor for Summit County, went to a nationwide district attorneys conference eight years ago and learned about the benefits of facility dogs. 

After that, Tania Nemer, the Summit County community outreach prosecutor, said they worked on getting a facility dog for their own office. 

Being the first of his kind, the Summit County Prosecutor's office did receive pushback when it came to bringing Avery into the courtroom. 

“In the beginning, when we had Avery there were objections from the defense bar about having a tool or a resource to enable individuals to testify, but that has gone up to the court of appeals and we of course briefed that and won those cases," Nemer explained. "Now you don’t really get any objections to having Avery there, he really just sits there and is there to be there for the child.” 

Avery's handler said he loves every minute of his job and the kids love to see Avery as well. 

“He is always just happy to see everybody," Hart said. "It is never too much on him and he has seen a lot of victims in one day.”