TAILS were wagging as West Midlands Police Dogs showcased their skills at Crufts.
The dogs, along with their handlers and trainers, gave audiences at the NEC a taste into what life is like on the front line and the training they do to get there.
As well as the dramatic demonstration some of the forces dogs were on petting duty across the four days some getting well-earned fuss from eventgoers.
The demonstration routine included cute and cuddly pups recently born into the force’s acclaimed breed scheme to the lively older puppies progressing through the in-house training programme and fully operational dogs that appear anything but cute and cuddly to criminals.
West Midlands Police Chief Constable, Craig Guildford, even helped show what the force’s dogs are made of when he took part in the demonstration.
West Midlands Police Dog breed scheme manager, Dave Raymond, said: “It’s fantastic to take part in Crufts each year and our dogs are always very popular with the crowds.
“Once again, we were able to show off the sniffing skills of our search specialist spaniels to locate hidden items in the arena. As well as that our very own Chief Constable Craig Guildford took centre stage in one of the demonstrations.” criminals.
West Midlands Police says it runs the largest, most successful police dog breed scheme in the UK – launched in 1994 – with 85 per cent of dogs going through the training programme becoming operational.
The force has over 50 breeding female dogs, with a range of breeds including German Shepherds, Malinois, Dutch Herder, Springer Spaniels, Cocker Spaniels and Labradors.
