THE Granite Belt will soon boast a first of its kind of tourist attraction when Law Dogs opens its doors.

This week the business – which will breed and train law enforcement dogs – was given the go ahead by Council.

The Summit-based Law Dogs owner/manager Matthew Hibberd said he was excited to be able to show what the dogs can do to the public.

In addition to breeding and training, Law Dogs will be opened to the public with displays of puppies learning obedience and how to bite and adult dogs doing protection and detection work.

Mr Hibberd said he had been handling dogs as a part of his work in security for the last four years and would have been lost without his sidekicks.

“There have been lots of situations where I have been happy to have them there but one in particular does stick out,” he said.

“One night there was a guy who wanted to enter a construction site, I asked him to move on.

“He went and got some friends, there were about 10 of them and you could see they were looking for a fight.

“But all you have to do is get the dog to bark and they start to realise if you let him off the lead, it could be anyone of them he goes for, so they backed off.”

He said having a dog on security rounds gave guards more confidence to uphold the law and played an important part in deterring crime.

“You definitely have more confidence than if you were unarmed,” he said.

“And when you come out of those situations together, it creates a bond like no other.”

He said he hoped having Law Dogs open to the public would offer another family friendly option for tourists and locals.

“It is something else on the Granite Belt that is not wining and dining,” he said.

“At the moment we have the maze and the bowling alley so hopefully this will add to that.”

But he said the shows would appeal to more than just families.

“In our research we found a lot of young couples without children would be interested,” he said.

Law Dogs will be open to the public in the next two to three weeks.