The first in Australia to be trained and succeeding as a water and waste water leak detector at Potts Hill-based Sydney Water, ‘Joey’ has caught the attention of the rest of world in his short, nearly three-year career with countries such as Ireland and India now training their own canine workers.
His handler, colleague and housemate, Nicole Harvey says he is a joy to work with.
“He takes his work very seriously and even if a cat approaches, ‘Joey’ is not interested, only in the task at hand,” she said.
Now training a second Springer Spaniel ‘Hydro’ to share the workload, she said ‘Joey’ was a magnificent role model, helping to show the ropes to the pup.
“He is very smart yet gentle and takes ‘Hydro’ to the pipes to check them out, helping with the training,” she said.
“This is ‘Joey’s’ first award win but I don’t think it will be the last because he’s such an all-rounder, a real one in a million.”
