Herpetologist Phil Bishop has been training a Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever. With a bit of luck, the dog will become the first in New Zealand to work with conservationists sniffing out elusive native frogs.
Prof Bishop got Holly specifically to train her in the hopes of applying for the Department of Conservation's conservation dog programme.
If the application next year is successful, Holly will hopefully become the third or fourth canine worldwide working to hunt out frogs.
The conservation dog-training process was rigorous and would involve Holly's primary handler - Prof Bishop's wife, Debbie Bishop - being properly trained as well.
Holly had so far shown she had the right kind of temperament, and was motivated to scent things out.
No native frog species had been found in the South
Island, but Prof Bishop said that he believed there still could be some Aurora frogs in Fiordland.
They were thought to be extinct, and records showed they existed there about 300 years ago.
Holly is also set to become a minor celebrity, winning a competition this week to become the face of AA Pet Insurance.
Holly was the smallest of her litter. This was good, as she would be closer to the ground to scent the frogs and easy to pick up and carry in and out of difficult places, Prof Bishop said.
Conservation dogs are used widely- there are 80 working in New Zealand - but due to the typical conservation focus on birds, he thought frogs had been overlooked.
It was an opportunity missed, as the amphibians could be more easily detected.
''They are on the ground, and they don't move a lot. They are mostly likely to communicate through chemicals.''
There were only about 20 duck tolling retrievers in the country, and they were the smallest of the retrievers.
Prof Bishop described them as a ''border collie with an off-switch''. The breed was good to work with but did have some peculiarities, including screaming rather than barking when they got excited.
