LAST WEEK’S snowstorms may have posed a headache for most travellers, but for Edinburgh PC Dougie Donnelly and his GSD Sam the winter weather proved a reliable witness.

For the layers of freshly fallen snow captured the footsteps of two gangs of youths suspected of involvement in a variety of alleged crimes including attempted car theft.

Sam and Dougie were called to an attempted motor theft in the early hours of the morning and arrived at the scene to find the suspects fled, leaving a trail of footprints over a mile long. In true Sherlock Holmes style, handler and dog followed their lead to the front door of a flat where the suspects were apprehended.

But their capture was not the first success of the night for the duo. At around midnight, Sam and PC Donnelly were alerted after three youths were seen trying to break into garden sheds. They also fled before the police arrived but more snow tracks led them to a nearby car.

As Sam also played a key role in finding a missing local woman alive in local woods last autumn, it looks like the dogged GSD and PC Donnelly really are a dream team!