Chili the Sniffer Dog Fights Against Weevil
A farm in Ontario was peppered with pests: Anthonomus eugenii, commonly known as the pepper weevil, a nasty bug that burrows into green peppers and hides so well even the trained eye can’t see them. But a trained nose can smell them, if that nose belongs to Chili, a Belgian shepherd specially trained to sniff out the forces of weevil. After just eight weeks of training, Chili was ready to hit the greenhouses for some weevil sniffing, followed by some weevil snuffing.
Full story at The Star.
“forces of weevil” 😀 😀 😀
that was the bestest!
Indeed!
Someone hand me a wipe to clean off my computer screen, please. I guffawed some coffee.
I’m here to snuffle produce and chew bubblegum, and I can’t open gum packaging without opposable thumbs.
‘They Live’! 😀
I wonder if they could train rats to do that job too? Not that Chili isn’t doing a great job 😉
I love seeing dogs at work!
“In the Royal Navy, you should always choose the lessert of two weevils.”–one of Patrick O’Brian’s fabulous Aubrey/Maturin novels, repeated in the movie Master and Commander.
That is one of my all time favourite movies. 🙂
Mine too. Wish they had made more while Russell Crowe was still youngish.
P.S. They’re brilliant audiobooks. Stephen Vance is one of those stratospheric readers.
When I was in 8th grade, all the girls had pictures of Crowe (as Maximus) in their lockers.
I thought “how does he look now,” went to google, and now I feel old.
BFB, you just made me feel positively ancient! I was 34 when Gladiator came out, and I had a Crowe poster in my office. (behind the door, where it wouldn’t create a hostile environment)
THAT was so cool!
“Pepper weevil”? I thought you made it out, Mike. I had to Google it to make sure.
If I could get a dog, I would so get a belgian shepard, malinois or tervuren. Great working dogs.