The police are appealing to a pet owner to give a dog over for training

The police dog section in the county urgently needs a new recruit to be trained as a specialist drug sniffer dog.

Police said the successful candidate would be from a working stock background, possibly a Labrador or Springer Spaniel.

It should be 12 to 18 months old and be outgoing and playful and fixated on toys or balls.

A dog which needs a lot of attention or is deemed "a bit of a handful" by its owners would be welcome.

Two dogs were turned away last week because they were considered to be too timid to make effective police sniffer dogs.

PC Jon Lloyd said: "We are finding it hard to recruit new dogs for the section because we have very high standards."

The war on terrorism has highlighted a shortage in police working dogs.

Scotland Yard last year appealed for canine recruits to sniff out explosives and counterfeit money as well as drugs.