Police dog Caesar expecting to bounce back to recovery after being stabbed by man

Constable Josh Van Der Kwaak comforts Caesar.

Police dog Caesar is expected to make a full recovery after being stabbed while apprehending a man robbing a Northland home on Saturday.

Police said the 20-month-old dog was stabbed twice in the head - including once in the eye socket - after "a vicious struggle" with the man, who had broken into a Parua Bay home, near Whangārei.

However, results from a CT scan had shown there was no permanent damage around Caesar's eye, although he had suffered two skull fractures and was nursing swelling and bruising.

Caesar's handler, Constable Josh Van Der Kwaak, had also received minor injuries during Saturday's incident but this had not stopped him keeping his loyal pal company during the treatments, police said.

"At this stage it is not known when Caesar will return to the job," he said.

Meanwhile, a man charged with stabbing Caesar will remain behind bars until next year after a brief court appearance this morning.

The 30-year-old man, a forestry worker from Onerahi, was granted interim name suppression by Judge John MacDonald when he appeared in the Whangārei District Court.

He did not enter a plea to the charges and will next appear on January 14.

He faces charges of unlawful interference with a 2009 Kawasaki motorcycle, assaulting a police officer while unlawfully taking a motorbike, failing to stop for police, entering a building in Parua Bay with intent to commit a crime with a red bladed knife, resisting a police officer and intentionally wounded a police dog.

The charges all relate to December 22.

The stabbing took place after police were called to reports of a burglary at a Parua Bay home just before 6.30am.