NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Two new police dogs began working the beat in New Haven on Monday.

Police said the two officers are the first dogs to be put to work in the department's Narcotics Division.

Nia and Orvis, both yellow labs, went through weeks of training with their handlers, police said.

"We had to go through six weeks of training as a handler and 12 weeks of training for the dogs," New Haven detective Ted Forbes said.

He said the dog will really help his unit do its job.

"It's a lot easier," he said. "Things we can't pick up on when we come into a house, we bring the dogs and they can pick up on the odor faster than searching for it."

The department has already seen the hard work and training off, police said.

"This past weekend, one of the dogs hit on some heroin -- about $65,000 worth of heroin -- hidden in a vent," Narcotics Division detective Jodi Ann Novella said. "It reduced the amount of time it would have taken us to search and found something we may have never found."

The dogs were given to the department through a program run by Milkbone and Wal-Mart.

Police said a neighborhood group also raised money to help get the dogs. They said the group sold calendars to raise money for the K-9 program.