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Coco, the 15-month-old Cocker Spaniel, will take up her post at hospitals run by Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust.

The trust's director of nursing and operations, Gary O'Hare, said: "Coco and John have been an excellent addition to our staff teams and have already made a massive difference to the way we deal with the problem of illegal drug misuse."

Sgt Steve Foster, from Northumbria Police's dog training unit, said: "Coco was originally going to be exclusively working outside.

"However, due to the hard work put in by one of the dog training unit's instructors, she adapted to the change to search inside buildings instead.

"And for such a young dog, she carried out searches to an excellent standard during her initial training with us."