New pups on the block: Three new police dogs hit the beat

Northamptonshire Police has welcomed its latest recruits – three new police dogs ready to play their part in fighting crime and protecting people.

PDs Pedro, Hugo and Titan have successfully completed their 13-week training courses to become general purpose police dogs.

The trio are now fully licensed to do everything from tracking down offenders and searching for stolen property to helping find missing people.

Joining them for their passing out ceremony earlier today, Thursday, May 23, was experienced PD Pyper, who has just relicensed with a new handler.

Sergeant Chris Monday, of the Force’s Dog Section, said: “It’s great to see these three new PDs pass all their assessments with their handlers and join PD Pyper and our other dogs out there on patrol, helping to catch criminals, gather evidence, recover property, and keep people safe.

“Our police dogs are fantastic colleagues – as well as being an operational asset to the Force they really are part of our policing family and I wish PDs Pedro, Hugo, Titan and Pyper long, successful and happy careers within our team.”

Meet the dogs

We asked the dogs’ handlers for a sneak peek into their personalities – here’s what we found out.

Police Dog Hugo

German Shepherd PD Hugo is 17 months old. His best skill is his nose work and in particular his tracking. I’m looking forward to harnessing these skills to track down criminals and find missing people across the county.

Hugo has an exuberant personality and brings this enthusiasm to every task which makes him a delight to work with. He has a great on/off switch too so has fitted nicely into our family. Hugo is a very different dog to my last police dog and I'm looking forward to the challenges ahead as he hits the streets.

Police Dog Titan

PD Titan is 19 months old and is another German Shepherd. He really likes to work, has a high drive to succeed and is happiest when he’s doing his job. He’ll do anything for his ball, or a bowl of food. Titan is a big playful dog with lots of energy, but at the end of the day he also likes to snuggle himself down in bed and enjoy a fuss.

PD Titan loves all the tasks he’s been trained for but especially enjoys the criminal and prisoner work – mainly as he loves barking at people, he’s very chatty. He gets excited when he knows he’s going to work and will start ‘singing’ in the back of the van. I’m really looking forward to working with him.

Police Dog Pedro

Two-year-old German Shepherd PD Pedro has a real drive to succeed and really enjoys his work, especially the criminal work and searching. He aims to please in all he does and will be a great asset to the Force catching offenders. I’m excited for the future as he learns and develops his skills further.

Police Dog Pyper

PD Pyper is a three-and-a-half-year-old German Shepherd who has been working for the Force since 2021. We’ve been working together for around six weeks after her previous handler moved into a new role, and we’ve already had our first prisoner together, which was an arrest for burglary.

Pyper is a smaller but very tenacious dog, she packs a good punch for her size. She loves her work and is always very keen. We’re starting to build a good bond and she loves trying to lick me when I’m giving her a brush. She’s settled in well with my retired PD Gru and our family dog, they’ve worked out a pecking order! She loves chilling out on the trampoline at home and will curl up happily there for ages. Pyper also loves her ball, playing, raw treats and going for walks.