I checked in for my flight to Sydney today just as the Australian Federal Police arrived to put one of their money dogs through its paces! Lennie, the black labrador did a stirling job of locating the money – you could say he dug up pay dirt I guess 🙂
I didn’t realise Australia used dogs to sniff out money as well as drugs, explosives and guns and of course, arson dogs for accelerants. Zeus, the worlds most talented Staffy, is a fiend for tennis balls and can smell them from fifty meters away so I did offer his services to the nice young policemen who were working Lennie. Unfortunately, but I don’t think they saw a future in tennis ball crime…
Now I just need to find a way to work Lennie and his handlers into a story :-;
MaidInAustralia, I bet your kids loved having those little beagle come for an up-close and personal look 🙂
You’re right Cathy, Tiddles just doesn’t cut it as a fierce dog’s name…
So cute. Our kids used to use their school back-packs as carryon luggage to cart around favourite soft toys, colouring books, games etc when we travelled. The dogs would pick them up everytime – handlers said it was because they knew there had been food in there at some time. Amazing, aren’t they?
I recall, when I was in the RNZAF all of our service police dogs had very martial names (Sabre, Spitfire, Lysander, Hurricane, Tempest) minbd you, I suppose RNZAF Police Dog “Tiddles” just would not sound the same!
LOL, Cathy! And yep, I’ll share the money with you 🙂
Next time you see those dogs, could you ask them to sniff some money out for me? 🙂
The RAF?
A crashed messerschmitt? Hmm, who’s idea might that have been???
A three story castle, hmm? All our tropicals have are an actual fake rock wall and a crashed messerschmitt. Mind you, the guppies do enjoy the pump and burn exercise in the current flow – and we must be doing something right as we’ve a baby Platy.
Gold fish are almost free …
I go to work and you lot have a conversation without me! Sandie, Bron is a ‘world’s best practice’ editing guru/crit partner/muse/sister so while she’s good at ditties I don’t doubt one day you’ll see her books on the shelf. She’ll be wise enough to pick a last name further up the alphabet than Young so she won’t be in the bottom right-hand corner of every book store…
And Bron, have you had a few too many coffees this morning? Love the idea of lifestyle coaching the goldfish, but just keep your head above water thanks 😀
Jenn, (world’s best practice book review blogger!) dogs do cost an amazing amount to have around! We joke that our ‘free’ staffie has cost us more than any of the bitzas we’ve brought home from the RSPCA… But I wouldn’t be without one!
Money and dogs. My two favourite things in the whole wide world. In my expereince you actually need money to have dogs. I’m coing back as a vet!
Hi Helene and Sandy
I am currently working in a world without words on a totally new career path – as a lifestyle coach for goldfish in captivity. Its a niche market with some communication challenges but I think I have the time and the dedication to overcome them. My goldfish – I mean Wolfie’s goldfish (strictly speaking, proprietary rights over the little darlings are retained by Wolfie but ownship in an emotional and spiritual sense has long since passed to me) – are providing the training ground. I have already spent many hours studying their body language and am currently improving my ability to assess their happiness, stress levels and overall health by closely examining their pooh (at least as close as I can get from the other side of the glass). I am also constantly upgrading their living environment to improve their ability to make their own lifestyle choices. Yesterday we added a new three-storey castle as the cleaner fish has outgrown his old sleeping quarters (I know that technically the cleaner fish is not a goldfish but he still comes within my pastoral remit). At the same time we also tipped in a bagful of shiny orange pebbles to help the goldfish improve their ability to function in a diversified ecosystem. This morning I am going to work with them on overcoming their fears and hopefully by this afternoon they will have embraced changed (or at least nibbled at it) and had at least one swim each over the top of the orange side of the …aquarium. Got to run as I have their morning peas cooking in the microwave ….
Perhaps we could persuade her to come up with little ditties for us to use 🙂
Lavender would be perfect for a beguiling young man such as Wolfie!
Had to laugh too at the ‘Daisies in his sox 🙂
Sandy, I think we might get some competition from Bron in the writing department… xxx
‘Daisies back in his sox’ – now there’s a quote I may have to use. 🙂 And thanks for the TV inspired giggle, Bron.
Mmm… that would make for an interesting scent for a small boy (as he was then). No, his bag was actually the designated ‘holding’ bag where we stored things as we accumulated them. (Oh hello, I’m back again …. I was momentarily distracted by a promo for France’s main morning television show – sort of like The Today Show or Sunrise. In the promo the very middle-aged presenter is almost unrecognisable in blonde bobbed wig, high heels, fishnets and short skirt. It was only the gap in his front teeth that gave away his identity.) But back on the subject of lavendar-scented jogging shoes – regular doses of sunshine seem to have put the daisies back in his sox …
KC would have been straight up those stairs in flash, Sandy. And since your man is away so much it’s very reassuring they’d sniff out an intruder in the house!
Bron, a friend was tagged by a beagle at the airport and when they couldn’t find anything the handler asked wistfully ‘So you haven’t had any food in your bag at all?’ My friend replied that she may have had a banana several weeks ago, but she wasn’t sure. That was enough for the handler – the dog was congratulated, a treat handed out and onto the next job they went, both looking very proud… I hope it was an ‘L’ plate hound…
Do Wolfie’s running shoes smell so bad you put lavender sachets in them?? 😀
Last time we came through customs at Sydney airport, a beagle with the most beautiful brown eyes took a shine to Wolfie and his bag. Wolf was enchanted – yet another new best friend and a canine one! He was only silghtly disappointed when his new best friend’s best friend (the one in uniform) told him that patting wasn’t allowed …. It certainly made for an interesting end to a 24-hour flight!
Fortunately the customs officials managed to be both very professional and very pleasant at the same time (the beagle was simply adorable). Once Wolf realised what was going on, he kept looking around for the television cameras hoping that a team from that tv reality show would spring out and start filming!
We never did find out what the beagle had been interested in. It could have been Wolfie or perhaps the odour of his running shoes? It could have been the chocolate bars. Or it could have been the lavendar sachets which had lived in Wolfie‘s bag but hadn‘t made the cut for the trip home (we ditched them because we were afraid they‘d cause us problems at customs…). It certainly wasn‘t money – because none of that made it home either!!
Hi girls,
Gotta love the woofas! 🙂 Our little Cavvys (Cavaliers) are ground and air scenters. I remember coming back from a walk during which time the other half had arrived home from work. He was upstairs out out of sight. KC’s reaction (her little nose twitched and bounced around in the air) told me immediately someone was in the house and also who it was. It was reassuring to know she could – and did – do that sort of thing, just in case the ‘someone’ wasn’t invited.
Phillipa, dried liver snacks would come a close second to tennis balls for Zeus…
A couple of years ago, Fleur, we baby sat a beagle in training for quarantine. His family were going away and the kennels were full. Mango was an absolute glutton. When he started eating he didn’t breath and you could see his ribs sucking in as he hoovered the food out of his bowl. We had to be very strict about the amount we fed him as they are renowned for eating everything in their path…
On our way back from Tassie, we saw a sniffer beagle wearing ‘L’ plates! It was gorgeous!
My dog Lil can smell a dried liver snack from ten metres away. Awesome!
I love those sniffer dogs at airports, they look so goofy – as if they’re just havin’ a good time