A POLICE dog handler has won a bravery award after he arrested a man wanted for hitting his canine partner with a baseball bat three days earlier.
Chester, a four-year-old German shepherd, was knocked out and suffered a bad gash in his mouth as well as cuts and bruises in the incident in Athersley last year.
But he was back with PC Garry Bernes within two days and the following evening the pair caught up with the culprit — this time without a bat — and arrested him.
As a result, PC Bernes was nominated for a bravery award at the All About Dogs Show in London last weekend.
Gary, 33, based at Barnsley police station, said it was Chester who deserved the glory.
“I was very surprised to be nominated because what I did was really very little compared to Chester and I have to take my hat off to him.
“Incidents like that don’t happen on a daily basis but they do occur and they can mean some dogs back off in similar situations in the future.
“But Chester has gone the other way and upped his game since it happened.”
