Rusty the collie heading dog has come all the way from Southland to help find the invasive weed velvetleaf on farms in the Horizons Regional Council area.
If there's a breeze, he can sniff out a seedling with just two leaves from 85m away.
He's only in the Manawatu area for three days, council pest plant co-ordinator Craig Davey said. Yesterday, the dog was on a Kauangaroa dairy farm and had found several plants by 10am.
Rusty was initially a search and rescue dog, and he was good. When his owner, Invercargill electrician John Taylor, heard about the arrival of the pest plant velvetleaf he trained Rusty to search it out.
So far, Rusty is the only dog in the country that can do it. His expertise has also been used in Waikato and will be available elsewhere. Other dogs are being trained.