SCUBA-Doo? Labrador Sniffs for Sunken Treasure

Monday, June 18, 2001 - USA

LAKE BOWEN, SC — Dogs are really getting into the trash these days.  Last week there was Kuro, the little black dog who's saving the world from environmental terrorists by cleaning up Takao Hill, Taiwan.  Today we have "Gains" an enterprising Black Lab who has taught himself to retrieve bottles, old shoes and other trash from the bottom of Lake Bowen, SC.

And then of course there's Wags who got into last night's pizza box when someone accidentally left the trash out.

Front/center: Old mushroom-breath himself.

The Spartanburg Herald-Journal reports that on Lake Bowen, near the North Carolina border, a 70lb. dog named Gains can often be found pawing across the water on his self-directed crusade.  Although he is not a certified diver (are there any instructors out there willing to do the honors?), this water dog executes his duties in perfect form.

First you may see his head go under; here he is executing a visual sweep of the lake bottom.  Next his head comes back up, and he feels out the terrain with his paws.  Lastly, the whole dog makes a full-body dive under the surface for several seconds.  When he comes back up, he invariably has some sort of non-biodegradable rubbish in his snout (he leaves the rocks, plants and fish alone).

Debbie and Rolan Littlefield wait on dry land for the search-and-refuse dog to return with his booty, which they promptly dump in the trash.

"He does this until he can't find anything else," says Rolan.  He goes on to say that it's a talent that the couple and their neighbors truly appreciate.

"We didn't train him to do it," the Littlefields insist.  "He just started doing it."

Labrador Retrievers are known to have an instinct for certain complex tasks.  Now if you'll excuse me, I believe I hear Scoop senior editor Wags indulging his instinct for tearing up the rest of that pizza box.

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