THE newest four-legged recruits for North Wales and Cheshire Police are set for a busy few weeks as their training to become fully-fledged police dogs begins.

Logan – a 10-week-old Dutch Herder – and Keo - a 13-week-old Labrador – have begun their training and are on their way to being certified police dogs based with their personal handlers from the North Wales and Cheshire Alliance Dog Section.

Officers explained how the dogs are used for vital roles across the two counties to detect a variety of items in police investigations including weapons, drugs and bodily fluids depending on their specialism.

The excitable black Labrador Keo is due to start her training with handler PC Helen Evans of North Wales Police to help with crime scene investigation (CSI) work and will be one of the first pups in the unit to be trained in detecting seminal and blood traces.

As Keo and Logan dashed about the fields of the Alliance Policing Unit, based on Deeside Industrial Park, PC Richie Land of Cheshire Police spoke about the life of a police dog handler and how it is a 'lifestyle' rather than a 'career'.

He said: "People who join the dog unit will tell you it is a lifestyle change, not just a career. The dogs become part of your day-to-day life as they live with you at home and come with you to work.

"It is quite good getting them at this young age because what you put into them from the start is what you will get out of them for the rest of their life"

He added that all of the dogs at the unit are allocated to their handler and will remain with that officer for the duration of their working life as a police dog. The canines typically live at home with officers and, when these dogs retire, they tend to remain with their handler as a pet.

PC Land said that he had only picked Logan up and brought him home on July 2 so the pup is still getting used to his new surroundings before his training as a general purposes dog begins formally.

He said that both breeds are known for their high drive and determination in the field of policing but also their good natures with instincts to protect their handler if the need ever arises.

Both dogs will be put through their paces with training to handle their new work environments, such as slippy floors, traffic and loud environment. They are set to be gently exposed to everything they are going to possibly be exposed to in the line of duty.

You can keep up with the progress of the trainee police dogs on social media with posts made on the Cheshire and North Wales Alliance Police Dog Unit's Facebook and Twitter accounts.