A frightened rescue dog once considered unsuitable for a family home has become a specialist crimefighter, helping police and other agencies uncover drugs, illegal cigarettes and hidden cash across the South West.

Belgian Malinois Rio was taken in by Woodside Animal Welfare Sanctuary at Elfordleigh in the South Hams in 2020, having been passed between several homes during the first few months of her life.

With little exposure to the outside world, Rio was terrified of people and unfamiliar surroundings.

But when retired police dog trainer Shane Curnow was called in to help with her behaviour, he immediately recognised her potential.

Shane began taking Rio home for training before eventually adopting her and developing her skills as a specialist search dog.

“When I first met Rio she was very scared,” Shane said.

“You couldn’t get near her. If you took one step forward, she would take 10 steps back. But I saw something in her.

“She is not the same dog now. Her confidence levels are really high. When she’s in the zone she has her blinkers on, she’s so focussed on her work. Everybody enjoys watching what she does and it’s clear that she enjoys the work.”

Now working through Shane's Plymouth-based business, South West K9 Detectives, Rio helps HMRC, Trading Standards, immigration authorities and police tackle organised crime.

The pair are currently involved in the National Crime Agency-led Operation Machinize, which targets high street businesses suspected of involvement in money laundering, drug dealing, illegal tobacco and vape sales, modern slavery and immigration offences.

Rio has recently been deployed in Cornwall and Plymouth, where her searches have helped uncover significant quantities of illegal goods.

During one operation in Plymouth, she helped locate 35,000 illegal cigarettes hidden in a van, another 1,000 in a car and Class A drugs discarded in a hedge.

At a Plymouth vape shop, suspects had attempted to conceal illegal tobacco by using garlic to mask its scent, but the tactic failed to fool Rio.

Elsewhere, she discovered £30,000 in a hidden safe and half a million illegal cigarettes concealed inside a metal container.

“The criminals are changing their tactics all the time, so we have to change ours,” Shane said.

“We are doing more training around vehicles, as we are seeing an increase in ‘stash’ vehicles.”

Despite her demanding work, which can involve nine-hour shifts, Rio enjoys a relatively ordinary life when off duty.

“She is a normal dog when we get home,” Shane said.

“When we’re not working, she’s resting, we go out for walks and do normal stuff together. We will go and do a bit of training she absolutely loves it.”

Shane explained that Belgian Malinois are highly driven working dogs whose needs can make them unsuitable for conventional family homes.

“My last police dog was a Malinois. A working Malinois is not suitable as a dog in the home. Rio’s drive when I first met her was off the scale; you need to harness that drive and build confidence.

“You can’t expect dogs like Rio to live in a normal pet home and go out for a 30-minute walk each day.

“There was an awful lot of work to do with Rio and it took time.”

Since retiring from the police, Shane has also run scent-work training sessions attended by Woodside staff, helping them develop skills to support other rescue dogs.

Woodside manager Dawn Cornish said Shane had been a long-standing supporter of the sanctuary and had formed an immediate bond with Rio.

“He offered to come up to the sanctuary to assess Rio and do scent work with her to keep her busy. There was a strong bond between them from the start. He took her for a day to work with her, and he clearly saw something special in her.

“We couldn’t have asked for a better outcome for Rio. There seems to be no limit to what she can do!”

Rio's achievements have even prompted suggestions that she should be nominated for the Crufts Hero Dog Awards.