Peach the Chihuahua: Japan's newest police dog

奈良県警は19日，民間で飼育されている犬を対象にした嘱託警察犬を決める審査会に出場したロングコートチワワの「桃」（雌，7歳）の合格を発表しました。来年1月から災害救助などの現場で出動するそうです。
　　　　　　　　
Peach the Chihuahua: Japan's newest police dog
(Reuters Life!) - Meet Japan's newest police dog -- all 3 kg (6.6 lb) of her.
In what is a first for Japan and perhaps the world, a long-haired Chihuahua named "Momo" -- "Peach" -- passed exams to become a police dog in the western Japanese prefecture of Nara.
The brown-and-white, perky Momo was one of 32 successful candidates out of 70 dogs, passing a search and rescue test by finding a person in five minutes after merely sniffing their cap.
"Any breed of dog can be entered to become a police dog in the search and rescue division," said a Nara police spokesman.
But he admitted that news a Chihuahua had been entered may still come as a surprise to many.
"It's quite unusual," he said.
Television footage showed the 7-year-old Momo bounding across grass or sitting proudly, long hair blowing in the breeze.
Momo will be used for rescue operations in case of disasters such as earthquakes, in the hope that she may be able to squeeze her tiny frame into places too narrow for more usual rescue dogs, which tend to be German Shepherds.
The public response to the news of Momo's selection took police by surprise, the spokesman said, adding: "The phone's been ringing all afternoon."
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6AI1EE20101119
動詞peachには「《まれ》裏切る」という意味があります（『リーダーズ英和辞典』第2版，研究社）。また，後続のthe Chihuahua（the＋単数形）は「チワワ」という種類全体をひとまとめにして言うもので，改まった書き言葉としてよく用いられる形です（『表現のための実践ロイヤル英文法』旺文社）。以上から，見出しは「チワワを裏切る」，言い換えれば「チワワに対する（警察犬には向いていないのではないかという）イメージ（固定観念）を裏切る」という意味だと考えられます。
同時に，言うまでもないかもしれませんが，peachはチワワの名前「桃」，さらには「すてきな人（もの）」（『リーダーズ英和辞典』第2版，研究社）と掛けてあると思われます。（院生 小山本）