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By Felix Walton of RNZ

A pair of Auckland sniffer dogs who could not pass their training have had dozens of offers for new homes.

The Ministry for Primary Industries said beagles Bernard and Ozzy were better suited to a life of leisure than the high-pressure world of border control.

But they are in high demand, with 50 households inquiring for adoption in just 24 hours after the ministry said they were available.

Biosecurity NZ commissioner for the North Island, Mike Inglis, said sniffer dogs needed to work fast and be resilient.

“From time to time, some dogs just aren’t cut out or suitable for that type of work,” he explained.

“There’s a variety of reasons, but sometimes the work is very quick.

“They need to work in different environments, airport, on the ports.

“The biggest thing, they do need to be able to work in quite loud environments over a particular period of time.”

Inglis said the biosecurity training programme had a pass rate of about 85%, and the two beagles could not quite make the cut.

He said Bernard’s cruisy personality did not fit the fast-paced environment.

“Bernard’s a typical beagle,” he said.

“He loves to take life easy and relaxed, and for a working dog, that’s not always the best.

“He did the job well, but he was too slow and wasn’t able to keep up with that nature of it.

“He also had a little bit of naughtiness, which is a classic beagle trait.”

Meanwhile, Ozzy’s independent streak made him a troublesome employee.

“Ozzy is a very independent dog with a lot of personality.

“He loves a good adventure and is very, very cute, and he’s got one of the softest coats around, which will make him a great buddy particularly for families with children.”

Inglis said that despite their quirks, the dogs were in high demand, with emails from dozens of interested households flooding the ministry’s inbox.

“We tend to always be successful with rehoming these dogs, irrespective of whether they made it as working dogs,” he said.

“We train them very well, obedience-wise, and we also provide support [for their new owners], so we always get a good response.

“So we’ve already had 50 inquiries.”

That was no surprise for dog trainer and animal behaviourist Mark Vette.

He said dogs trained by Biosecurity NZ were very well behaved and made for great pets.

“You know, most people will take the easy road, and any of those, whether it’s guide dogs, MPI or whatever it is, you’ve normally got a pretty good head start if you’ve got one of their dogs.”

But Vette said there were plenty more dogs out there that needed a home.

He said training them might take a little bit more work, but they were worth it.

“There’s a lot of people that do rescue dogs, which is wonderful, but I’d like to see more,” Vette said.

“There’s a lot of dogs out there that need good homes, and cats.

“It’s one of those things that we encourage anyone to grow their skills a little bit more, and anyone can do it, but it does take some effort sometimes.”

Vette said rescue dogs were among the most loyal and loving pets around.

He hoped more people would be willing to put in that extra bit of effort to find a diamond in the “ruff”.

- RNZ