Yorkshire officer 'heart broken' after death of police dogs Fudge and Toby

PC Hibbert, from West Yorkshire Police, has written a special tribute following the death of his retired police dogs Fudge and Toby.

He said: "It's taken me a while to write this. Today I said goodbye to two of my oldest pals. They were best friends ever since they were introduced to each other.

“From that day they have shared a kennel, run and played with each other and even though Fudge had a tendency to dislike other dogs he took to Toby straight away.

“Toby was 17 and had been struggling for a while, and then just before the new year we received the bombshell that Fudge who was 13 had a tumour behind his eye, so today both went to sleep for the last time.

"My heart is broken but knowing that they were together from the beginning until the end brings a touch of comfort."

West Yorkshire Police recently welcomed some new four-legged recruits in its bid to tackle some of the most challenging crimes across the county.

Trainee police dogs Bruce, Leo, Mali and Zero are currently getting used to their surroundings at the force's Carr Gate Training complex in Wakefield.

The four pups were born on October 21, last year and are all Malinois breed dogs.

The force currently has just under 40 police dogs.

They are a mixture of general purpose dogs who are used in searches for criminals, missing people and public order offences to name a few; and specialist dogs who search for drugs, explosives and firearms.

All police dogs have to go on a licence course which is refreshed regularly.

They are also trained in four key areas: obedience, tracking, property search and building search.