THE latest canine stars of a charity calendar have given it a big paws up.

That's as police dogs from Durham, Cleveland and North Yorkshire Dog Support Unit put their best paws forward in support of the PawsUp charity.

The retired Police Dogs Benevolent Fund supports working dogs once they have retired after years of loyal service.

It was set up in 2013 and has raised thousands of pounds helping the dogs' new owners with costly vet bills that can often mount up once a dog is retired and in its older years.

Durham Constabulary dog handler, PC Ian Squire, is heavily involved with the project and has taken all the photographs featured in the 2018 calendar.

PC Squire said the calendar was great fun to do and had a range of snaps from both general purpose and speciality dogs across the three forces.

He said: "It was a bit more challenging this year as we were trying to include dogs from all three forces but the charity is getting bigger and better every year.

"We have got a worldwide following and it's a lot of work but we get a lot of support from members of the public."

Some highlights include an appearance by Kaiser who is pictured for the month of February as he took part in the funeral of former Police Interceptor, Gav Smith, who passed away that month after battling cancer.

A tribute has also been paid to the 34-year-old dad with the police pup Smithy, who features as Mr July in the calendar and was adopted by Durham Constabulary in September and named after PC Smith.

Only 1,000 copies of the calendar have been produced, with PC Squire hoping they will sell out like they did in 2017.

He said: "We do rehome ot members of the public - usually when a dog is about eight or nine years old - so it was only fair that those getting a dog at that age get some help."

The calendars cost £5 and can be ordered by visiting pawsup.org.uk or in person from the police headquarters in Durham.

For more information follow the charity mascot PawsUp Bob on Facebook or @DurhamPoliceK9 on twitter.