Snoop Doggy Dog

A blog post for the dog-lovers amongst you.

When we arrived to clear in at Opua, the bio-security team had a four-legged member called Snoop. He's one of only 5 dogs in NZ trained specifically to sniff out fruit and veg; there was a big scare in Whangarei last year when two Queensland Fruit Flies were found in monitoring traps. The results of an infestation of these Australian flies could be disastrous for the New Zealand fruit industry. This year, all yachts arriving from foreign ports are being subjected to very detailed searches, with dogs being used when they are available.

Snoop has matching life jacket and boots for work on board

Ensuring his nose is cold and wet - checking the fridge

An enthusiastic worker

We asked his handler what he does if he finds something and were told he just sits down. When he was checking the port hull Snoop jumped onto Suzie's bunk and promptly sat down as Suzie had put some lavender oil on her pillow to help her sleep! Apart from this false alarm we passed the search with no problems and Dianne was allowed to make a fuss of Snoop once he'd finished, which made up for the fact that we didn't get a dog aboard Maunie when we cleared in.

As the old proverb has it: Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana.