A crime-fighting canine who became too much to handle for his owners has been recognised for his achievements with the police.

Dorset Police Dog Jeff is celebrating after being recognised for his efforts by the UK’s largest dog welfare charity, the Dogs Trust (www.dogstrust.org.uk).
The Animal Welfare Scheme Awards, organised by the charity, celebrate the work and success of service dogs working within the UK’s emergency services.
What makes Jeff’s success even more incredible is that he started his career in a rehoming centre after, as a pet, he became too much for his owners to handle. Staff at the rehoming centre realised his potential as a police dog, and he went on to join the team at Dorset Police.
The Dogs Trust has rehomed around 70 dogs in the last few years with police forces across the UK where they go on to work as successful service dogs.

Keeping people safe
Police Dog Jeff was awarded The Community Superstar Award for his work keeping the public safe across the UK.
PD Jeff’s handler, PC Sue Hillier, said: “Thank you to Dogs Trust for recognising the work that our dogs do.
“In Dorset, we prefer to rehome rather than buy our police dogs, and Jeff is a great example of a dog that has done great things since being rehomed as a police dog.
“In the two short years since he qualified, he has been to Cornwall, Scotland, Birmingham, and just a week after receiving this award, he was supporting us with our work in London ahead of the funeral of Her Majesty The Queen.”

Potential for greatness
Jeff arrived at Margaret Green Animal Rescue after he become too much for his owners to handle.
Staff identified his potential and he was selected for an explosive detection course which he passed with flying colours.
Since joining the team at Dorset Police, he and handler PC Sue Hillier have been deployed across the UK for large events.
This included the pre-search and seal operation for the G7 summit in Cornwall and the gathering itself, where he was responsible for searching The Eden Project prior to the arrival of the Royal family.
He also searched President Biden’s hotel, the hanger where they kept Marine One, and also the private toilets before President Biden went to use the facilities.
More recently, he completed a deployment to Birmingham where he was searching for explosives ahead of the start of the Commonwealth Games.
Louise Crawford, animal welfare scheme coordinator at the Dogs Trust, said: “It’s fantastic to be able to celebrate and recognise the success of service dogs working across the UK.
“It’s even more amazing that they all came from humble beginnings, spending time in rehoming centres before being identified as potential police dogs.
“We’ve been working with police forces across the UK for 20 years to ensure the welfare of police dogs is of the very highest standards, and to identify possible service dogs amongst the thousands of dogs we rehome every year.
“We never fail to be blown away by the stories of heroism and bravery shown by these crime fighters.
“Congratulations to Jeff and his handler Sue for their amazing achievements and thank you to all the police dogs and their handlers working across the UK.”