Meet cute new police puppy Ledge
Police puppy ‘ L’ finally has a name and a new home, joining the former family of police puppy Kazza, who died this month.
Central District police ran a competition on Facebook for schools in Manawatu to name the puppy, who arrived in the area on June 16.
The puppy was born into the ‘L’ litter and was required to have a name beginning with that letter. The winning name was Ledge, short for Legend, chosen by Palmerston North’s St James’ Catholic School.
Ledge will be homed with Whanganui dog handler Constable Shane Chambers, whose last police puppy, Kazza, died this month after becoming unwell.
Kazza was named in tribute to his uncle Gazza, who was shot and killed during an armed incident in Porirua earlier this year.
To name Ledge, schools had to submit prevention artwork. The top schools received a visit from the puppy and put forward name ideas.
They then voted on which name they thought was best.
St James’ teacher Michelle Pothan, whose Year 1 and 2 class selected the name Legend, said the competition and visit was a good way to introduce children to police.
‘‘He came in and nibbled fingers and did his puppy thing, and had a run around the classroom. They loved seeing a policeman and having a puppy at school.
‘‘They loved seeing a policeman and having a puppy at school. ’’
‘‘They all drew little puppies and wrote messages about how to keep safe, and said they liked that he was cute, and was soft and wagged his tail.’’
Children needed to learn that police were there to keep them safe and could be trusted, so the class visit was valuable, she said.
‘‘It’s good that they are making an attempt to get involved before anybody needs them, and animals work well for children.’’
Pupil Sam Bateman had proposed the name Legend, and he was thrilled it was chosen, she said.
Ledge had previously visited Palmerston North’s Takaro School with Kazza earlier this year and was a big hit with pupils.
Takaro School teacher Lizzy Notman, whose class Kazza and Ledge visited, said they had a pic- ture of Kazza on their writing wall.
When they found out Kazza had died, Notman said they discussed it as a class.
‘‘One of the boys, George, said that sometimes when people or animals are just too sick they just go to sleep and don’t wake up.
‘‘He told us ‘it’s okay though, because they aren’t sore anymore’.’’