NOW IN their fifth week of training, Gwent Police’s new recruits Cody, Wish and Mel are well on their way to becoming front line support.

Cody is a 20-months-old Belgian Shepherd, Wish is a 19-months-old Check Shepherd, and finally Mel is the youngest at just 16-months-old and she’s a German Shepherd.

The dogs have been in training for eight weeks. Instructor Paul Booth said:

’These dogs have been a pleasure to train, we’ve had no problems. Down here, we work as a team to make sure these dogs are trained to a high standard. Cody, Wish and Mel have been fast learners; I’m excited for their future with us at Gwent Police.’

The Dog Support Unit (DSU) at Gwent Police works to offer unique support to their colleagues, using trained dogs to respond to emergency calls where their skills can be used to help make Gwent safer.

The intensive training put canines through their paces, as they are trained in a number of specialisms including general purpose duties as well as detecting drugs, cash, firearms and explosives. General purpose police dogs are also often involved with searches for missing people.

It won’t be long now until Cody, Wish and Mel are hitting the streets of Gwent as fully licensed operational police dogs.

Follow our the dog section teams on Twitter where you can keep up to date on the new recruits @GPdogsection