Meet Northumbria Police's newest police puppies

The mix of Dutch Herders and Belgian Malinois are only eight weeks old at the moment, but next month the pups will go with their handlers and begin initial familiarisation training.

Although they are a mixture of two breeds, they all come from the same litter, with the force's own dogs helping to produce the next generation ready for the frontline of policing, under the guidance of the teams leading officers.

A spokesperson for the force said: “We could all use a little bit of joy at the moment, so what better time to introduce our paw-fect new puppies set to join the force?

“These pups practically have Northumbria Police in their DNA as their father is the force’s very own PD Tag, owned by Pc Paul Cooper, who is responsible for relicensing and training our police dogs.

“After 18 months of living with their handlers and getting familiar with their surroundings, they will start the general-purpose police dog course.

“Then upon successful completion of the course, the pups will be fully-fledged general-purpose Police Dogs, who are trained to work in a variety of conditions and scenarios.

“Their depth of skills include searching for missing persons, tracking suspects from crime scenes and recovering recently-discarded evidence.”

Northumbria Police’s dog section can be followed on Twitter via @npdogsection, with their work also covered through the force’s Instagram account www.instagram.com/northumbriapol/