New police dog joins the ranks in Wiltshire
German Shepherd Stan's has arrived with handler PC Leanne Kavanagh
A new police dog has joined the Wiltshire force, after completing his initial 13 week training.
PD Stan, and his handler PC Leanne Kavanagh has been licenced to work, meaning they've proved themselves as 'safe and controlled'.
PC Kavanagh said:
“Stan came from Devon and Cornwall Puppy Scheme. He had been living with a puppy walker, a lovely family. He’s been out of the beach, and to festivals, he’s been very well socialised. Stan is very driven to work, he’s a really nice balanced dog.
“When we go out in the morning and I lift the lid of the dog van, he knows he’s going to work. He’s crying to get in, because he loves it. It’s all games to him, it’s all fun.
”I feel like I've won the dog lottery with him."
PD Stan's role in Wiltshire will be as a general purpose dog.
He'll go out to missing person enquiries, searching for property discarded by offenders, and helping to keep public order at events.
Leanne and Stan have been presented with their licence certificate by Paul Glennon, the Canine Development Officer for Devon and Cornwall Police. He said:
“We brought him in, with his two brothers at eight weeks old, to our puppy programme. They were immediately allocated to families who raised them, came to see me every two weeks for training and when they get to the age they are now, around 18 months old, they’re ready to be allocated to police dog handlers.
“I like them to go to a force where they go directly to a handler and they’re supervised. I know Wiltshire look after their dogs.
“I’ve been up already sort of mid-point to see how he was doing and I was really pleased with that and today the icing on the cake was seeing him completing all those tasks that he has done."