Sniffer dog "Huge" senses retirement after seven stellar years

Like his father he served on the front line. His dedication has never been questioned. But when his pace and vigour lessened a little his boss sensed retirement. Now sniffer dog Hugo is bowing out after seven years tackling crime.

The springer spaniel has had a stellar career with Greater Manchester Police. The eight-year-old has been at the sharp end of policing, finding numerous drugs stashes, dirty money, and firearms.

Nicknamed ‘Huge’ by his handler, due to his larger than average size Hugo was born into the GMP family. His dad Max was also a search dog.

“I got given Hugo when he was a puppy,” his handler said. “During that time, we bonded, and his journey started by searching for tennis balls. He then moved to train stations, buildings with different surfaces just to get him ready for the eight-week course.

“Thankfully the course and his continued training has set him up for everything he’s done in his career. He had huge finds within cars, in buildings, on the Metrolink and at the Airport (Manchester).”

The role of a dog handler can be very rewarding, especially when the dog’s findings prevent a threat of serious harm to other people.

Just one highlight of Hugo's work came after a high-speed police chase. His handler said: “We were involved in a car pursuit with the Tactical Vehicle Intercept Unit. The [other] car crashed in Moss Side. The driver had a split second and got out the car.

"He threw something which we all at the time thought was drugs. So, instead of getting Bren [the handler’s German Shepherd] out to search for it, I got Hugo out. We were searching, initially we weren’t getting anything, but he wanted to get into a locked compound. We managed to get into the locked compound, and he indicated, and we