Army’s new puppy force for good
The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) has named its first litter of puppies.
Explosives detector dog Iris gave birth to six puppies late last year, and all of the pups now have names, the Defence Force said.
‘‘The six puppies are the ‘P’ litter, which means all their names begin with the letter P. Their names are Paris, Poppy, Pluto, Pacer, Pulse and Poi.’’
The puppies were born on November 15. They were the first puppies born from a joint dog breeding programme between the NZDF and police, the agencies said.
The puppies’ mum, Iris, was a specially trained military dog and the Defence Force said it hoped the pups would also become service dogs.
Explosive detector dogs such as Iris are sent into potentially dangerous situations to smell out explosives. Army military working dog team leader Alan Inkpen said they needed more dogs like Iris.
‘‘Explosive detector dogs are a valuable capability for the NZDF and we need more puppies coming through as we increase our expertise in this area and also retire a few of our long-serving dogs,’’ he said.
The six puppies have been living with the Police Dog Unit in Trentham, near Wellington, with their mother.
This month, the NZDF said, they would be moved to live with foster families.
‘‘Each puppy will be fostered for about nine months, during which a number of assessments will take place to look at each pup’s suitability for explosive detection training.’’
By the end of the year, the NZDF said it hoped to know how many of the puppies were suitable for training.