What's up dog?

Its a damp Thursday morning at Aotea Harbour on the wind-swept west coast of the Waikato.

But even at 5 am, Wink is up and ready. Theres important work to be done and whether he knows it or not, hes one of only a few that can do it. He has a quick breakfast of dog roll and biscuits and hes ready to rumble.

Wink is a border collie. Hes also a Conservation Dog. Hes been through an intense six-month certification programme to earn the right to pull on the coat each morning and head out to remote and beautiful places around New Zealand to carry out his work. Wink is a pest detection dog. Hes an expert at sniffing out Spartina grass. Spartina is a grassy weed that grows in the bare intertidal zone. It forms dense clumps and traps sediment which raises the level of the ground above the high tide mark, destroying the habitat for native wildlife such as shellfish and wading birds. When its prolific, its easy to see. But when its being controlled, like it is in Aotea Harbour, there can be very small pockets of it left, making it difficult to see. These small remnant specimens, otherwise hidden among other tall grasses, have the potential to grow and claim habitat, undoing all the work put into controlling them in the first place. And thats where Wink comes in. He can cover ground faster than any human can by foot, especially over mudflats, and he can detect even the smallest parts of the plant “ the seeds. He bounds, he leaps, and he sometimes dives, chasing scents and always on the search for that familiar smell. Winks story is a gentle reminder of the hidden potential in all things. There is the potential of a small seed, in the wrong place, left undetected and unseen, to grow and spread and destroy; and there is the potential of a young pup, who finds himself in the right place, nurtured and seen, to grow and roam and save. How beautiful that the one-eyed dog can teach us so much about what it means to see.