POLICE dog trainers need to sniff out new premises for rookie canine recruits.

Durham Police needs another base for its kennels when its regional police dog training centre, at Harperley Hall, near Crook, closes later this year.

The department will be homeless in July due to redevelopment plans for the former country mansion, just off the A68.

Built in 1785, it became vacant after the Second World War and was sold to the old Durham Police Authority in 1947. It became the national training centre for crime scene investigation in 1990.

Inspector Paul Gee, of the force's training department, said: "We would appeal to any member of the public, particularly the farming community, or people living in the countryside, to consider offering us help.

"We need to find a temporary base very quickly, but we are also very interested in identifying a more permanent site."

The force has attracted an international reputation for the Home Office-approved centre, one of only a dozen in the country.

Its nine-strong workforce includes some of the country's leading experts in dog training techniques, delivering tuition to up to 200 handlers and dogs every year.

Officers from forces in England and Scotland use the Durham centre as their main training base, as well as staff from prison and other penal establishments nationwide.

The instructors also provide tailor-made courses for police dog handlers from the Far East. Insp Gee said: "People bypass other centres to come to Durham because of the very high quality of training we deliver."

It was hoped to include a kennelling facility in a purpose-built public order training complex, planned within a former factory site at Meadowfield, near Durham. But, while that project is pressing ahead, the proposal to include accommodation for more than 40 dogs has fallen through because of the site's close proximity to housing.

Insp Gee said: "We hope farmers or anyone else in the countryside with a suitable piece of land or range of buildings will recognise our appeal as a way of earning extra income.

"We plan to buy, at a cost of around £130,000, a prefabricated range of kennels with a pitched roof that would also have a measure of sound-proofing.

"This could be erected within an existing barn, or could go up as a free-standing unit and would only be used to house the dogs.

"Our training venues are located across County Durham."

Anyone who may be able to help pinpoint a suitable location should contact Durham force headquarters, on (0191) 375 2106, or (0774) 111710.