Medical aid for the Winnipeg Police Service's furriest members will now be close by thanks to new medical training for paramedics.

Winnipeg Fire and Paramedic Service's Tactical Emergency Medical Support (TEMS) paramedics can now provide pre-hospital care for the police's K-9 Unit.

Winnipeg is one of the first to have this service for their policing animals.

If a police dog is injured, the service will allow trained paramedics to assist animals while they are on their way to a veterinary hospital.

"When you are talking about pain relief with people you can ask them how much it hurts," Ron Keelan, the District Chief of Paramedic Operations at Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service and Tactical EMS Coordinator, says. "A dog can not communicate that. There are different signs that a dog can alert you to the fact they are in severe pain."

Select paramedics are now able to administer pain medications to injured K-9 dogs after training with veterinarians across the city.

Keelan adds that even if the Tactical EMS service is not on site when a K-9 unit dog is injured, they can still respond quickly to aid the animal.

Before the new training, paramedics were only able to provide comfort care to injured dogs.