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Chihuahua becomes Japanese police dog

A long-haired Chihuahua named “Momo” has passed exams to become a police dog in Japan.

The brown-and-white Momo was one of 32 successful candidates out of 70 dogs, passing a search and rescue test by finding a person in five minutes after merely sniffing their cap

“Any breed of dog can be entered to become a police dog in the search and rescue division,” said a police spokesman from the western Japanese prefecture of Nara.

But he admitted that news a Chihuahua had been entered may still come as a surprise to many.

“It’s quite unusual,” he said.

Television footage showed the seven-year-old Momo bounding across grass or sitting proudly, long hair blowing in the breeze.

Momo will be used for rescue operations in case of disasters such as earthquakes, in the hope that she may be able to squeeze her tiny frame into places too narrow for more usual rescue dogs, which tend to be German Shepherds.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .