Meet Archer: The puppy set to become West Yorkshire Police’s newest top dog
West Yorkshire Police has welcomed a new recruit into its ranks - and he’s already turning heads to be the pawfect new patroller.
Lively puppy Archer has joined the force’s Dog Section and is beginning an important journey that could one day see him protecting communities across the county.
He arrived from Scotland in October when he was eight weeks old and has been allocated to PC Duncan Matthews who will spend the next year training and socialising him.
And once he’s been put through his paces in his training course next Autumn he will become a fully-fledged police dog.
PC Matthews is hoping he’ll follow in the paw prints of his current dog PD Luther who, at eight and a half years old, will be set to retire next year.
He said: “Archer will train to be a general purpose dog, which involves tracking suspects from burglaries, searching buildings, dealing with public order, policing major events, and we also use them to search for missing people and stolen property.
“Eventually, if they have the right qualifications, they can be firearms support dogs as well.
“Archer’s personality is certainly starting to come through now.
“He’s confident, inquisitive, happy to go exploring and happy to interact with other dogs and other people. He’s got the drive there because of the nature of his breed, so it’s now about harnessing that and controlling it.”