Scared rescue dog Rio becomes crime-fighting star

A rescue dog who was once so frightened she backed away from anyone who approached her is now helping uncover organised crime.

Belgian Malinois Rio had been passed from home to home as a puppy and with little experience of the outside world when she arrived at Woodside Animal Welfare Sanctuary near Plymouth, Devon, as a nervous and fearful dog.

Retired police dog trainer Shane Curnow was asked to assess her behaviour in 2020 and after years of training, Rio dog is working in the National Crime Agency-led Operation Machinize.

Curnow, who runs a specialist dog handling service, said the transformation of Rio had been amazing.

"When I first met Rio she was very scared, you couldn't get near her," Curnow said.

"If you took one step forward, she would take 10 steps back, but I saw something in her."

As part of Operation Machinize, Rio helps target businesses suspected of involvement in offences including money laundering, illegal tobacco and vape sales, drugs and modern slavery.

She has been deployed in Cornwall, where Curnow - who also works with the Operation Machinize team - said she helped uncover large quantities of illegal goods and a stock room apparently being used as makeshift accommodation.

During a separate operation in Plymouth, he said Rio helped detect 35,000 illegal cigarettes hidden in a van, a further 1,000 cigarettes in a car and Class A drugs discarded in a hedge.

Curnow added criminals have even tried to outsmart her as suspects at a Plymouth vape shop used garlic in an unsuccessful attempt to disguise the scent of illegal tobacco.

"She is not the same dog now," he said. "Her confidence levels are really high.

"When she's in the zone she has her blinkers on, she's so focussed on her work."

He explained Belgian Malinois dogs are highly demanding animals that need constant mental stimulation and are often unsuitable as family pets.

He said many owners underestimated the breed's needs, which could lead to dogs being rehomed or returned to rescue centres.

Looking back at her transformation, he said: "You would not know this was the same dog that I took on."

Woodside manager Dawn Cornish said: "We couldn't have asked for a better outcome for Rio.

"There seems to be no limit to what she can do."

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