New Police Dog Puppies

Avon and Somerset police have been showing off their latest recruits, the first police dog puppies to be bred within the force family.

The force need to find 7 or 8 new puppies every year. In the past they've had to import them from over sea’s or take in dogs that local family's can't cope with anymore.
It's hoped the new scheme will save money and cut the 12 week training program in half, getting the dogs out on the beat with their handlers sooner.
Frazer Davey is the lead inspector at Avon and Somerset's mounted and Dog section based at Bower Ashton in Bristol, he told Heart, 'We mated one of our working dogs with a dog from another police force and very successfully in January we ended up with 10 new puppies. One of them had to go back to the original police force as part of the deal. They are now 15 weeks old, we're supporting them and hopefully in a years time they'll be ready for full training and be operating on the streets of Avon and Somerset.'