A New Beginning

For the last six weeks we've been following the progress of Strathclyde Police's latest litter of puppies via a webcam set up in the kennels at Pollok Park.

This week's an emotional one for the pups' many fans - not to mention the staff at the kennels- as the pups are split up and moved out to individual handlers.

However, there's some great news too. The pups are all staying within Strathclyde Police and have all passed their aptitude tests. This means they can begin training as potential police dogs.

Six handlers have each been assigned a pup to look after. At the end of last week the handlers and their families came into the classroom at the Dog Branch to learn about what the puppies need and to get many handy tips on how to settle the pup into its new life.

All the handlers are already experienced with dogs, as they have at least one police dog at the moment, but it is also very important that their families are fully committed to care for each pup and the next stage of its journey towards becoming a police dog when fully grown.

Not Quite Goodbye...

Inspector Stuart Thomson says,

"We will miss having the puppies here but it is good we will see them coming in and out of the branch. They will still be looked after here when the handler is at work as they are far too wee to go into the operational police vans that rush from call to call!"

For the rest of us there's still one more chance to look at the Pup-perazzi gallery. You can also check out the section below for an introduction to our very own canine cadet.

Canine Cadet

We know that many visitors to the site have enjoyed following the progress of the pups and would like to know what happens next. For that reason we've chosen one special pup from the litter to follow for the next year. Our first ‘canine cadet' diary starts next week on our kids' site at www.spstation.co.uk

From time to time, we'll also have an update on this site. To give you a taster, visit the Pup-perazzi gallery where you can see a photo of our chosen canine cadet Abbey with her handler, PC Anna Lawrie.