SABRE the German Shepherd dog is retiring from the Lancashire Constabulary after eight years of working the beat in the Pennine Division with PC David Wood.

The eight-year-old dog will leave the force in five months when he will be nine years old and PC Wood is now on the lookout for a suitable local dog to fill the job vacancy.

He would like to hear from anyone in the area who has a German Shepherd or Rottweiler, between the ages of nine months and 18 months old, which could be trained as a police dog to be based in Colne.

PC Wood said: "We are not looking for pets. We are looking for dogs which can be a bit of a handful for their owners with a bit of personality to them that we can have a look at and assess to see if they would be suitable as a police dog.

"Sabre and I have been working the streets for quite some time now every day and it will be a sad day when he retires but I m obviously looking forward to the challenge of training another police dog. I will be keeping Sabre as a pet so we won't be split up.

"I need a new dog and we are struggling to find them. Most German Shepherds are being trained for showing and we are struggling to get dogs with the temperament and right working abilities to make police dogs. I need a dog that in October will be between 12 and 18 months old. If five or six dogs come up then obviously we would like to train them all for other areas."

Anyone who has a dog which would be suitable should contact the operations office or dog section at Burnley Police Station on 01282 425001 and leave a message for PC Wood or alternatively contact Sergeant Dean at the dog training school on 01772 618412.