A SUSPECT with a gun is forced to the floor by a large German Shepherd dog that clings tightly to his arm.

Despite gunshots and shouting the dog refuses to let go, firmly gripping the suspect and rendering him incapable of moving.

Then a police officer says "stop", and the strictly trained dog lets go immediately. Officers surround the man and make an arrest.

Nearby a springer spaniel searches through drawers and cupboards for Class A drugs. Suddenly he halts, still, as he makes the find and a police officer moves in to confiscate the drugs.

This incident is just a demonstration, but it graphically illustrates the very different and important work carried out by police dogs in Gwent every day. The section has 29 highly trained dogs, including 14 German shepherds and 11 explosive- or drugs-trained search dogs such as spaniels or Labradors.

Sergeant Richard Bull, supervisor of the dog section, said: "They are invaluable. The beauty of dogs is they get prisoners that we wouldn't get otherwise. They are vital to police work and we use them on a daily basis." An average of one suspect a day has been caught in Gwent since March with the help of police dogs.

The dog section gives 24-hour cover to all the divisions, with at least two dogs on call at any time.

The dogs are brought in from a young age and are put through a rigorous training process at around 12 months.

Sergeant Bull said: "They are essentially family pets with a working element. We let them be pups but introduce them to everything we can, including loud noises, traffic, fireworks, children and old people. We want them to have seen and experienced it all so it won't be a shock when they encounter it.

"The training is based on play and reward. Even the biting side is a play exercise. For search dogs we will send somebody into a room with a reward article. When they find it they bark and get the reward.

"We start with toys and then put drugs or explosives in with the toy gradually, until we take the toy away completely. They think they are doing it as a game.

"The dog's nose is infinitely better than ours. Because of that they can differentiate between a greater range of smells and are trained to recognise different smells. They start to think that smell is their reward. "They are trained to recognise all illegal drugs and can find firearms just by smelling the sulphur on them."

The initial training takes three months, but then dogs go through constant training for years, with three training days a month.

Dogs usually peak at around five years of age, and are in service for anything up to nine years. They live with their handlers at home, in kennels.

Sergeant Bull said dogs are an essential part of the fight against crime. "A recent example was we had a stolen car and the driver had run off. We used the dog to track the man and we found him hiding under a railway bridge.

"If a police officer had found that man the chances are he would have run off.

"When people think of police dogs they think of the attack and the biting. That's a very rare occurrence.

"When criminals are faced with a dog they are usually quite sensible. "Ultimately these dogs don't bite unless they have to."