Hello!

Well this month has been pretty quiet for me, but all my friends up at the unit have been really, really busy!

You might have seen in the newspapers and on the telly about Guinness, he’s one of the more experienced dogs up at the unit and he’s been doing this job for a while now. One of the areas we dogs are trained in is ‘tracking’; this is where we will follow a scent from someone who is running away to help us lead our handlers to them. Some people had been reported stealing some heating oil in Spaldwick, Guinness and his handler were soon on the scene and managed to track two of the men for five miles, FIVE MILES! That’s a long way (especially for his poor handler too!). But they caught two men in the end, so a good result. The dog unit is always really busy, and they go out to about 20 incidents a day. It keeps them all busy, but that’s how they like it.

Dad and one of my brothers George went away for a couple of days earlier in the month, to put George through his explosives sniffer dog refresher course. That doesn’t mean he’s an exploding dog, it means he sniffs out explosives. George did really well and passed with flying colours. During this time me and my other brother Yeoman went to stay at the dog unit, I had fun although I think Yeoman was a bit grumpy…. He wouldn’t let anyone near him! He can get a bit down in the dumps though if mum and dad aren’t around to give him attention.

While we were staying there a really fun photographer called Phil came up to take pictures some of the other dogs, so I managed to get his attention and strut my stuff for him too. The lady he was with, Michelle, suggested he come into my kennel area… well I think he then regretted that as I got really over excited and couldn’t stop jumping on him! He was just so much fun to play with, and I do love having my photo taken. I over heard Michelle telling him to send her the dry cleaning bill... I think he may have got a little bit muddy! He did contact Dad afterwards to show him all the pictures and he did say how much he enjoyed himself.

When Dad got back we went out to one of my favourite fields with really tall grass and bushes to play catch. I’m still too young to start any proper training, but Dad says things like this are good at helping me in the early stages of trying to find criminals. He throws my ball really far into the bushes, and I find it every time. Dad says I’m very good! I’ve also been taken up some metal stairs and I’ve been running around on some slippery floors, to get me used to all sorts of different environments. Running on slippery floors as you can imagine was the most fun bit!

My right ear still bends over a bit so you can still tell I’m quite young, even though I am nearly as tall as my big brother Yeoman. One incident Yeoman went to recently he was really successful and found a man who was hiding after assaulting his wife. The man lashed out at Yeoman so he bit him; if he had just stayed still then he would have only barked at him.

Don’t forget if you would like any tips or hints from Dad, you want to say hello, or you’ve got any questions about me or anyone else up at the dog unit you can submit them via the ‘Question time’ section on the left.

I hope you all have a wonderful rest of the month and enjoy the bank holiday, see you in June,

Lots of love