Senior Sergeant Craig Dinnissen, of Dunedin, said the 21-year-old man driving a red Honda failed to stop in Burns St, sparking a police pursuit.
The driver later turned into Moana Rua Rd, a dead end street leading to a car park near St Kilda beach.
The young man abandoned his vehicle and fled into nearby Kettle Park, but was tracked by a police dog unit and located by Constable Marcus Saunders and his young German Shepherd Vann.
''Those boys are doing awesome work,'' Snr Sgt Dinnissen said of the Dunedin dog section, who have been responsible for several long feats of tracking recently.
The driver was charged with dangerous driving, failure to stop and driving with excess breath alcohol.
Const Saunders graduated as an operational police patrol handler last year.
He joined the police in 2015 and transferred from Invercargill to Dunedin in 2017 to take up a dog handler position in the city.
