Sick kids to name police puppies

SYDNEY - The Dog Unit of Australia's New South Wales Police Force on Wednesday announced that seven new police puppies will be named by sick children before joining the fight on crime.

The puppies, all sable German shepherds, were born in New South Wales in March, with six of them set to serve in Australia, while the seventh will be sent to the New Zealand Police Force as part of a puppy exchange program.

The NSW Minister for Police Troy Grant said in a statement on Wednesday that the puppies are ready for action.

"Just like our men and women in blue, our police pups are some of the best in the world," Grant said.

"The Dog Unit achieves amazing things, and before we know it these cute puppies will be strong, crime fighting top dogs."

Dean Smith, the Commander of the Dog Unit in NSW, said that the puppies will be named by sick kids at Westmead Children's Hospital in Sydney, with one stipulation. All the names have to begin with the letter "X".

"We are working with The Children's Hospital at Westmead to give some of the kids who are chronically ill a chance to help choose their names," Smith said.

"Once the most popular names are chosen, we will assign the names to the pups and take them on a social outing to the hospital so the kids can meet them."

The NSW Dog Unit is the largest of its kind in Australia, and has currently serving dogs from a variety of breeds: German shepherds, Dutch shepherds, English springer spaniels, Belgian Malinois and Labradors.