Officer hurt in balcony stand-off

A police dog handler has required stitches to a head wound after being hit be a piece of balcony railing thrown by an agitated man in the Victorian town of Lara.

Police were called to a two-storey house in the town, about 18km northeast of Geelong, on Sunday night where a man claimed to have a firearm and was threatening self-harm.

A senior constable and his newly recruited police dog Izak were tasked to keep the man contained within the perimeters of the house to minimise any threat to attending police.

The man came out onto a balcony and threw a piece of balcony railing at the senior constable, striking him on the head.

With blood covering his face, the senior constable and Izak remained in place while the man continued throwing nearly thirty pieces of railing from the balcony.

Just before midnight, he walked down external steps from the balcony, approaching the police in the front yard.

Police said that as he threw a large paver at the handler and his dog, Izak was unleashed and brought the man down as he was trained to do, enabling officers to quickly take him into custody.

He will be interviewed by police over the incident.

The injured senior constable was taken to Geelong hospital where he required stitches for his head injury.