New Zealand's only certified 'rabbit dog' is helping to eradicate the pest from some of Auckland's parks.
Urban rabbit populations have been significantly lowered in the city with the help of night shooters, but Auckland Council says the problem hasn't been helped by pet owners dumping their unwanted bunnies.
Weaving through long grass in high-viz and hot on the tail of a rabbit, Abby the jagdterrier has a pretty good nose.
However, owner Gary Bowcock said their working partnership almost didn't happen.
"Nearly caused a divorce," Bowcock laughed.
"I wasn't allowed a dog, and I'd seen these dogs before and I said to the guy if you ever breed again, I want one - send it up.
"It didn't go down too well, I think both of us might have had to sleep in the kennel for a while."
Once the pair got out, Bowcock discovered Abby had a hidden talent for tracking rabbits and their burrows.
They are skills she's been putting to use to help Auckland Council eradicate the pest from some city parks by fumigating.
"If it's a hole, she will go down and have a look and a sniff at it, and look at me," Bowcock said.
"I get some greenery, which gives off moisture which sets the pills off in a dry season, put some pills in the hole as far as I can get, then the greenery behind it, then backfill it with soil and compact it down.
"The rabbit is coming up and he's got to dig and his heart rate goes up and he will go to sleep quicker."
Abby is 10 years old and has been certified since she was two-and-a-half.
Auckland Council said Waiatarua Reserve in Remuera is being targeted for rabbit eradication.
"That's when we bring in people like Gary and Abby, so we can find the last ones. Rabbits breed like rabbits so you only have to miss a few and you're starting again," Auckland Council's senior ecological specialist Sarah Gibbs said.
But pet bunny dumping, which happens across Auckland parks, doesn't help.
"If you're thinking about giving a pet rabbit, or any pet for Christmas, really make sure that you've done your homework," Auckland Council's biosecurity principal advisor Dr Imogen Bassett stressed.
Because Abby the specialist dog is working too hard already.
