Don't mess with this lot - their bite really is as bad as their bark!

The Beds and Herts Police Joint Dog Unit is called out to around 6,000 incidents a month across the county. The dogs' duties can range from crowd control to drug busts and firearms support.

Mainly made up of German shepherds, the 45-strong unit plays a vital role in detecting and preventing crime in Beds, as their noses are around 500 times more sensitive than human noses.

This allows them to follow the trails of criminals up to four hours after they have left a location or find drugs hidden in secluded locations.

Insp Steve Mann said: "The nose is phenomenal.

"If you went down the high street you could smell a takeaway as you walked past, well the dog could smell it from five miles away.

"Our general purpose dogs are German shepherds and are used out everyday on patrol, for conducting searches and often in looking for missing people.

"The German Shepherd is the Ford Mondeo estate of the dog world, it does everything, it's an all-rounder and can do it all to a good standard."

The dogs are no cuddly pets though and despite living with their police handlers they are segregated from the family and treated as working dogs.

At a single command the dogs are trained to chase down a police suspect, biting the right arm to stop any escape.

Mr Mann added: "The use of force is quite high and you do get some quite serious injuries from the bites, so you are very careful when you release them.

"They will only let go when commanded by the handler."

The dog unit also has a number of specialist dogs, such as Ted the drug springer spaniel, whose super-sensitive nose is trained to search for the smallest quantities of drugs, firearms or cash.

Once the drugs are found Ted freezes and will stare unflinching at the stash until his handler comes and throws him his favourite tennis ball.
Mr Mann added: "The dog is trained to freeze because we don't want the dog eating the drugs for obvious reasons.

"He will stay there for up to ten minutes, and the only reason he does all of this is for the ball, he lives for that ball.

"All we do is make the ball smell like the drugs and he'll chase it."

Beds Police dogs have been involved in countless drug busts, uncovered £50,000 in cash in a single raid and were instrumental in controlling the crowds at the disturbances during the British troops homecoming march in Luton earlier this year.

PC Clive Warncken, one of the dog unit's handlers, said: "People will argue with an armed police officer, but put a dog in front of them and they seem to disperse.

"And the dogs love it, they get such a good life."

The dogs get such good treatment, Ted is currently completing hydrotherapy after having an operation on his knee.

A German Shepherd's fitness is assessed at age seven, while the specialist dogs are assessed aged ten. Many of the dogs then retire to the comfort of their handlers' sofas.

Beds Police star dogs can now also be found on Facebook, where you can follow the progress of Ted's hydrotherapy or see if new trainee puppy Phynn makes the grade.