Witness the cuteness!

Put your paws up for Cleveland Police's two new recruits, Maggie and Skye who are the newest and youngest additions to the Force. At just 12 weeks old, the two English Springer Spaniels will soon begin their training to become Specialist Search Dogs.

Dog Trainer Constable Darren Gobie and Police Constable Chris Lambert are the lucky handlers of the pups. PC Lambert teamed up with a year 4 class at Myton Park School in Ingleby Barwick and allowed them to choose Skye’s name.

Chris and Skye will regularly visit the school over the next 18 months to allow them to follow her training process.

Speaking of the collaboration with the school, PC Lambert said: “I thought it would be a great idea to tie in with a school in the local community. Recruiting new dogs is a huge deal and it’s an exciting and educational opportunity for the pupils to meet a police dog, choose her name collectively as a team and to better understand the training process for police dogs, and police roles in general. The children were delighted to participate in this and I am sure they will all build a lovely bond with Skye over the coming months.”

PC Lambert, along with partner agencies will also be using the visits to the school to deliver lessons on internet safety and safety around animals.

The officers and the dogs will need to work very closely as team throughout the training process to build a special bond together. Training is both mentally and physically challenging for both the dogs and handlers, as every programme must be passed to qualify.

Specialist dogs are used to detect a range of things with their highly developed sense of smell such as money, explosives, drugs and firearms. They are also trained to work in public places including licenses premises to search for people in possession of narcotics.