Police dog Mist puts best paw forward in trans-Tasman competition

Constable Elyse Lewis and Mist representing New Zealand in a competition against their Australian counterparts. Photo/ NZ Police Association

Police dog Mist, under the control of Northland handler Constable Elyse Lewis, will be putting her best paw forward as the New Zealand Paw Blacks take on their Australian canine crime-fighting counterparts.

The Te Tai Tokerau combination is one of 15 competing in the four-day event which is being hosted by New Zealand Police and will test patrol dog, narcotics detector and explosives detector teams.

Lewis and Mist earned the right to represent New Zealand when they finished second in the national championships in September.

National patrol dog champion Senior Constable Mark Chapman and Mario from Tauranga are the other police dog team that are competing.

The rest of the Kiwi canine team are narcotics detector dog champion Senior Constable Chris Harris and Floyd from Auckland and explosives detector dog team Senior Constable Hamish Todd and Ezak from Wellington.

Four teams from Victoria Police, three from New South Wales Police and two from both South Australia and the Australian Federal Police are taking part in the event, which is split across three categories.

The action started on Monday and involved obedience, heel work and a formal retrieve. Yesterday's tasks included responding to a family harm incident in which a man with a history of violence assaulted his partner.

He had to be caught and arrested by the handler.

The handlers and the dogs then had to find a young boy who was hiding in fear, and also find a weapon which had been thrown when the offender fled.

These tasks had to be accomplished within 10 minutes and are based on real situations which handlers and their dogs could and do come across in their operational work.

Inspector Todd Southall, National Co-ordinator, said it was the first time in 20 years that New Zealand Police has hosted the event with New Zealand Police defending the patrol dog title they retained in Melbourne two years ago.

"The championships test all teams across a range of skills and scenarios which they face in their operational work," Southall said.

"There is close co-operation between New Zealand Police dog section and our counterparts from across the Tasman, especially in our dog breeding and training development programmes."

The judges are not giving anything away and will only be announcing the final results on Thursday evening.