A new police dog has joined the Force this week and he sure has big shoes to fill.
German Shepherd Champ has joined Sgt Chris Palframan after his beloved dog Ary retired recently at the age of eight.
Champ is two years old and despite lockdown, he has now completed his training with Sgt Palframan and recently gained his licence meaning he is fully qualified to help fight crime here in Wiltshire.
Sgt Palframan said: “I continued with Champ’s training on my own whilst in lockdown and then he had a period of intense training when we resumed training about a month ago and now he is licensed and ready to go.”
Sgt Palframan said Champ sure is following in big footsteps following the retirement of Ary but is confident he will be a successful police dog.
“Ary he is definitely starting to enjoy his retirement living at home with me and my family,” he said. “He was a real character – he could be very serious but was also very good around people. From being able to work a football match one day, to doing a school visit the next, he really was everything you’d look for in a good police dog.
“Ary was one in a million and Champ has big shoes to fill but he is definitely up to the task.”
In order to qualify as a general purpose police dog, the dogs are tested on a variety of areas including obedience, agility, tracking, searching and crowd control. During his career, Champ can expect to be called upon to assist at a variety of incidents from burglaries to disorders, big public events to searching for missing people.
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