Search dogs train in Christchurch rubble

One of Christchurch’s active demolition sites has gone to the dogs. Specialised canines from Urban Search and Rescue spent the day trying to locate people hidden in the rubble of the former Orion building.

It's a "real world" exercise for the search dogs, with Christchurch's mountainous demolition sites proving perfect conditions to train USAR's team of canines. “Massive columns, steel – there's a lot of drama,” says Bill Johnson of Ceres Environmental.

 “It's very similar to what the dogs might face in real life, so they felt like this would be a good location for them.” The dogs are critical in finding people trapped in buildings or under rubble, completing more than 80 searches following the February quake.  “It's just the type of dogs they are,” says Tim Drennan of the New Zealand USAR Search Dog Association.

 “They're all based around working breeds and we select them because they are so highly driven.”

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Pitbulls attack police after poo fight

When his girlfriend refused to pick up his dog's excrement from the kitchen floor, Dunedin's Jayden Lombardi picked it up with his bare hands and chased her through the house with it.

The 19-year-old then encouraged his pitbulls to attack two police officers when they were called and found him on a bed with a bleeding hand, Dunedin District Court was told on Thursday, the Otago Daily Times reports.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Graeme Evans said Lombardi and his partner, Charlie-Joy Beattie-Creed, were arguing about who should pick up dog excrement from the kitchen floor.

She refused and an aggressive Lombardi, who had been on tight bail conditions for five months, picked up the faeces in his bare hands and chased her.

She ran from the house but returned and locked him out. Lombardi smashed a window to get back in and Ms Beattie-Creed called police. MORE>>