With their big black eyes, wet noses and soft fur Riga and Rex are as adorable as most eight-week old puppies.

But the two German shepherds will lead a very different lifestyle to your average dog, working hard to provide vital support to police officers in West Yorkshire.

The puppies are from the force’s own breeding programme, started five years ago when the price of good-quality dogs with the right background rocketed to around £2,500 each.

By breeding their own dogs, officers are also able to start training them sooner, at just eight weeks, reducing the amount of time eventually needed to complete basic police training from 13 to six weeks.

According to dog trainer PC Denis Attard, based at the force’s operational support unit in Wakefield, the breeding programme has improved the training process significantly.

He said: “Under normal circumstances, we would have purchased dogs at a minimum age of 12 months and would then have started developing them for the course. The difference with our own puppies is that from day one they are being developed for police dog work.”

During their puppy training, officers will teach Riga and Rex, whose parents have also been police dogs, to track items by rewarding them with food treats.

At about six months, they will be taken to venues including shopping centres and bus stations to get used to being in crowds.

Once fully-trained, they will help officers track and search for offenders and attend public events.

PC Denis added: “The German shepherd has been identified as the most suitable breed because of its all-round capabilities. They are very intelligent, highly-motivated, dependable working animals. Dogs make a big difference to our work.”

At 22 months, Hobo, also a German shepherd, is one of the first graduates of the force’s training programme to have also completed its puppy training scheme.

There is no doubt about his ability to follow commands as he lunges through the air at an officer pretending to be a criminal before returning swiftly to his handler as soon as the order is given.