Son of tragic officer to name new police puppies

Superintendent Pat Casserly, Ben Goodlad, Helen Goodlad, Sergeant Rick Green and Inspector Lorna Meredith with two Police Dogs at the opening of the Goodlad Suite.

The nine-week-old puppies, born as part of West Yorkshire Police’s puppy breeding scheme, are to be given to their handlers this week.

They were born in April on the day the force Dog Section was named in honour of PC Mark Goodlad, who died while helping a stranded motorist on the M1 near Wakefield. He had just passed the tests required to join the force Dog Section.

Now PC Goodlad’s son Ben has the uneviable task of coming up with five names for beginning with X - the letter assigned to the litter,

Sergeant Rick Green said: “Each litter is assigned a letter of the alphabet and this one is the X litter. I’m pleased that Ben has agreed to name the puppies and I will be interested to see what names he comes up with for the four boys and one girl.

“These puppies are all destined to become Police Dogs and will being their training programme once they’re with their handlers.”

Sergeant Green added: “The aim of the breeding programme is to produce good quality dogs with the right characteristics to become Police dogs. By producing the pups we are also able to start training them sooner and introduce them to their handlers earlier allowing a greater bond to develop.

“The puppies’ play training begins from the age of just eight weeks old. Without them knowing it they’re being taught to track, locate property and even bite all through games that they are encouraged to play.”