Award-winning Scottish police dog retires as force's newest pup recruit revealed

An award-winning police dog has been retired from her service with Police Scotland - as the force revealed the newest pup joining the ranks.

Police Dog Nova - who won an award at the Scottish Regional Police Dog Trials in 2018 - retired earlier this week, after joining the force in 2017 and supporting officers in Glasgow and the west of Scotland.

And as Nova, who was also nominated for an award after saving a man's life in 2022, stepped down, Trainee Police Dog Bella joined the force.

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She will be based in Dundee and trained by Police Dog Willow. A post on the Scottish Police Dog Memorial Facebook page hailed Nova's career.

It read: "Congratulations to #PDNova, who has officially retired on 20/08/24. Nova began her career in 2017. She was based in Glasgow and the West.

"She had many successes over her 7yrs and also took part in the Scottish Regional Police Dog Trials on 2 occasions and competed at the National Trials in 2022.

"In 2018 she won the Endeavour Trophy at the regionals and in 2022 she came 2nd at the regionals. Nova was also nominated for an award for saving a man's life 2022.

"Her handler will miss working with her but is looking forward to giving Nova the best retirement. Thanks for your service #RPDNova
14/8/17-20/8/24."

She was also praised in a post on the Police Scotland Dogs page on X, formerly Twitter. It featured a video of Nova, compiled by her handler.

The accompanying post read: "#PDNova became #RPDNova this week A career of crime fighting and helping the vulnerable has come to an end, off to enjoy retirement with her handler and family, well deserved! (Handler not quite retired yet.)"

And it's a case of one out, one in for Scottish police dogs this week, with Bella joining the force in Dundee, while Nova departs Glasgow and the West.

A post on the Police Scotland Facebook page read: "Trainee police dog Bella will be Dundee's newest recruit. She'll be training as a specialist search dog under the guiding paw of PD Willow."

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