Learn more about the dogs

Since officers and the dogs work so closely together they're matched up when the dogs are very young, sometimes when they are puppies. If a police officer decides to become a dog handler they've got to complete a one-week familiarisation course at the police dog training school, where they can get to know a bit more about the work they do. They then decide whether being a dog handler is the job for them.

The officer will then go on to complete a 10-week general purpose dog-training course, where the handler will be introduced to their dog for the first time. The course is really intense, both physically and mentally challenging, but at the end of the 10 weeks the dog and the handler know each other pretty well and form an extremely strong bond. You need to be a quick learner to be a dog handler; you've got to learn how the dog thinks and what drives his behaviour fairly fast.

Once the initial training has been completed both the dog and the handler are assessed again and then given the go-ahead to become fully operational. That's not the end though; they continue to train and are assessed every year.

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