Cheshire Police welcomed its latest crime-fighting recruits when German Shepherd puppies Spike and Willis arrived for duty.
The pair, aged eight and nine weeks old respectively, will be trained as general purpose police dogs.
But they were as playful as they were charming when they visited their future base for the first time.
Sgt Louise Deung, head of the Police Dog Training Unit, said both puppies were selected for a life of Cheshire crime-fighting after completing a number of tests.
“These are done for a number of reasons; to see if the puppies are afraid of loud noises, if they can learn to fetch and retrieve items quickly or if they are comfortable at heights and so on.
“We can then very quickly see which puppies are best suited to becoming police dogs.”
Spike and Willis′ selection did not come as a surprise.
Dog handler PC Jones said: “Willis′ dad is a police dog with Humberside Police, while Spike′s currently serves with Greater Manchester.”
Both puppies will live with qualified instructors for 12 months, before being given to a police dog handler.
The dogs will help search for criminals and missing people, providing reassurance at public events, track people using scents from the scenes of crime, chasing fleeing criminals.
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