School pupils who reunited a woman with her lost dog after feeding it their packed lunch have been rewarded this week with a visit to the police dogs!
The six Year 7 pupils from Calderstones High School handed ‘Levi’ into officers based at Allerton police station after finding it eating from a bin on their way to school.
One of them gave the hungry black Setter, which had been missing for two days, his chicken and barbecue sauce sandwich while some of the others went to a nearby pet shop to buy more food with their dinner money.
An off-duty police call handler spotted them and recognised the dog and when she called a friend who was walking her own dog in Calderstones Park, they happened to be with the missing dog’s owner who was frantically searching for it.
After Levi and his owner were happily reunited that same morning , the children called their teacher to explain why they would be late for PE and Allerton neighbourhood inspector, Andy Wignall, then wrote to the headteacher praising the pupils and inviting them to Mather Avenue training academy to watch the police dogs being put through their paces.
Inspector Wignall said: “What these boys and girls did was absolutely lovely and it is heartwarming to see young people from the local area being so caring about an animal. They would not have known how long Levi had been missing but spotted that he was hungry and had a collar on. It was Levi’s lucky day as not only was he found by such a lovely bunch of kids but he also got a chicken and barbecue sauce sandwich, which most of us would probably enjoy ourselves!
“While they were outside the police station an off duty colleague of mine stopped to help them and luckily she recognised the dog. A short phone call later and dog and owner were happily re-united!
“The children showed great initiative in looking after Levi as he could have got himself knocked over by a car if he had continued to wander. They are an absolute credit to their families and their school and are clearly animal-lovers so as a reward, we arranged for them to visit our dog section to meet our own dogs and see how they are trained.”
Their teacher, Miss Edwards said after the police visit: “The pupils and myself thoroughly enjoyed the morning at the police dog training centre. They loved meeting the dog trainer and his dog Arnie as well as trying on all the equipment and putting the police lights on.
“Everyone loved meeting the horses and learning about what they are used us. All the pupils felt really welcome and it was a great experience for them to understand how the police help their local community. Some even mentioned that they would like to be police officers in the future!
“They said that it was an ‘amazing day’, a ‘fantastic opportunity’ and they ‘would never forget it’!”
