Constable Elyse Lewis, a front-line officer for nine years, spent the past nine months training for the role and was really looking forward to starting in Dunedin with dog Mist on Monday.
''It's been a career goal of mine since joining the police ... so it's a huge achievement for me personally.''
The training had been both physically and mentally challenging, Const Lewis said.
She started by ''fostering'' three police puppies when they were 8 weeks old, before being paired with Mist and spending 24 hours a day with the now 16-month-old German shepherd.
''I had to train quite hard to get up to the standard. Strength is a big thing.''
Const Lewis said lifting Mist over walls and keeping up with her when she engaged an offender was physically demanding.
During the nine months, Const Lewis had completed three three-week training courses at the Police Dog Training Centre at Trentham near Wellington, where the graduation was held yesterday.
The pair were taught skills including tracking, engaging an offender and obedience, for scenarios that included an offender escaping from a crime scene, an offender with a weapon and search and rescue.
Const Lewis was most looking forward to getting Mist on the streets, ''stopping crime''.
''She's only young, so I'm looking forward to seeing her advance. We've developed quite a strong bond. I have learned from her and she has learned from me for the past nine months. It's very, very strong between us.''
The Southern district has eight police dog handlers, four being in Dunedin and four in Invercargill.
The other female dog handler is based in Wellington.
