CHESHIRE Police has welcomed a new recruit...and she's melting hearts on social media.

This gorgeous pup is the newest member of the Alliance Dog Section.

A spokesman added: "Thank you to James of Wolfstan Kennels for kindly donating a labrador to the unit to be trained in the future as a specialist search dog.

"We're not sure of her name yet, but follow Cheshire and North Wales Police Dogs on Facebook for all the latest pupdates."

Staff at the Cheshire dog section say often the best search dogs are donated by the general public.

The team has put out appeals in the past looking for labradors/springer spaniels or a cross of the two aged between one and 18 months old.

Police dogs have to be confident around people and confident of new experiences and environments as well as enjoying searching. 

Specialist search dogs are trained to detect firearms and ammunition, cash and drugs.

All of the dogs at the Cheshire unit are allocated to their handler and remain with that handler for the duration of their working life. 

They live at home with them and at the end of their working life most of the dogs retire and remain with their handler as a pet.