Two beagle puppies will spend their first Easter as trainee biosecurity detector dogs, the Ministry for Primary Industries says.
Ten-week-old Charleston and Roxy (brother and sister) joined MPI's detector dog programme two week ago.
If all goes well, they will start sniffing out food and plant materials at New Zealand's airports and ports after 12-14 months of training.
"They've been bouncing around our kennels brimming with enthusiasm, so we are very hopeful they will make the grade," MPI Detection Technology manager Brett Hickman said.
Charleston was due to move in with an Auckland family this weekend under the puppy walking phase of his training. Puppy walking involves socialising new dogs so they get used to working around people. Roxy will go to her foster home a week later.
MPI has 40 biosecurity detector dog teams operating at the border.
Detector dogs were great at picking up seeds and plants that can be hard to detect by MPI's x-ray machines at the border, Mr Hickman said.
They also screened people faster than x-ray, and their visual presence helped remind people about New Zealand's biosecurity rules.
NZME.
