A beloved police dog and her handler from Wiltshire have become an award-winning pair after representing Wiltshire Police in the regional police dog trials.
Betty, a six-year-old German Shepherd, is a general-purpose police dog whose day-to-day duties include tracking offenders, attending public order incidents and helping to locate vulnerable missing people.
But in her downtime, Betty the dog spends her hours training with handler PC Cindy Hargreave to become the nation’s ‘top dog’.
The South West and Wales Regional Police Dog Trials 2024, which took place on Saturday, February 24 and Sunday, February 25, put dogs through their paces to be judged by experts from across the country.
It was Betty who did Wiltshire proud, bringing home the trophy for the winner of the phase two search category.
The German Sheppard was found to be the best at searching a building for two people, one of those on scent along as the person was completely hidden from view, and then protecting her handler from an attacker in the building.
"I am so proud of the way Betty performed,” said Betty’s handler PC Cindy Hargreave.
“Trials demand a very high standard from both competitors and their dogs, it’s a lot of pressure and you are competing against different Police Forces.
"Her tracking on day two was amazing given that the scent had been laid an hour and a half before we were allowed to track in torrential rain, and the rain didn’t stop!
"Betty is a challenging dog, the best ones are, no dog is perfect and we need to learn how to train that individual dog; what works for one dog doesn’t work for all,” PC Hargreave added.
“She is tenacious and driven and loves to work. We both have very strong characters, it's what makes us such a good team."
The regional trials are made up of three phases which include crowd control, tracking and property, searching, obedience and agility.
Betty isn’t the first champion in the family, as her sister Ash is also a previous national champion.
“We are extremely proud of what PC Hargreave and PD Betty have achieved,” said Sergeant Jon Harwood, of the Wiltshire Dog Unit.
“Trials see the best of the best competing against one another so to have won one of the categories is a testament to the hard work this dog team have put in.“
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