Meet Britain’s First Water Leak Sniffer Dog

A water utility in northwest England is adding a cocker spaniel named Snipe to its arsenal of leak detection tools

Mar 08, 2018 | by Kyle Rogers |

Snipe Sniffer Dog — A process of adding extra chlorine to one of a series of glass pots containing tap water was used to train Snipe on the type of smell he has to key in on out in the field. (Photo courtesy of United Utilities)

Last year, we wrote about an Australian water utility that was deploying dogs and their superior sense of smell as a leak detection tool. Now a British utility is experimenting with the same thing. According to a recent report in the Daily Telegraph, United Utilities, which serves about 3 million homes and 200,000 businesses in northwest England, is using a 16-month-old cocker spaniel named Snipe in trials to assess how well the dog can pinpoint water leaks in rural areas where they are harder to detect. Snipe’s owner, Ross Stephenson, has been training the dog for this since late last year. “All I

Please login or register to view MSW articles. It's free, fast and easy!