The 18-month-old search and rescue dog passed his first certification at the Snow Farm on the Pisa Range at the weekend, despite bad weather, and is now a fully operational worker at Treble Cone Ski Area.
Zeppelin started training at Treble Cone last year, when he was a puppy, with ski patroller Callum Grant.
The labrador cross joins two other dogs, Milly and Blizzard, on the Treble Cone search dog roster.
Mr Grant said yesterday he was proud of Zeppelin, who passed his tests with flying colours.
"He was one of the top dogs. He did really well."
Eleven skifield dogs (and their owners) from around New Zealand sat their annual certification tests at the Snow Farm at the weekend and underwent further training.
The tasks included finding two buried people and one buried item, within 15 minutes.
"He'll just go back to doing more of the same - saving lives and breaking hearts," Mr Grant said.
