Newly-arrived customs puppies bordering on adorable

Meet the excitable trainee customs dogs: (From left) Ember, Virgo and Dee and their handlers Monica, Pettina and Ezra. Photo / Michael Craig

Four labrador pups have crossed the ditch with a big job ahead of them - to keep New Zealand safe by stopping drugs crossing our border.

Like all Customs detector dogs, they came from the Australian Customs and Border Protection dog-breeding centre in Melbourne.

Ember, Santa, Dee and Virgo arrived in Auckland on July 28. They will do a three-month intensive training course in the art of sniffing out illegal drugs and cash.

Their skills will be used at airports, the international mail centre, cargo holds and even on small yachts.

Ruth Bennett, acting chief training officer for the detector dog training unit, said all four were chosen for their temperament, attitude and strong retrieval skills.

"Each one has a different personality but they're all very eager to work, which is obviously what we want out of a dog," Bennett said.

"They're still very puppyish in some ways, just jumping around, but they're lovely."

Bennett has been training Customs' dogs for the past 10 years and said it's hard not to get attached.

"But you don't want to have too strong a bond because it's not fair to the new handlers. They've started to create that relationship now, so it's lovely to see them out there working in the big wide world and to see them doing the job they're trained to do," she said.

When that job is done, they will be put into retirement where they will become "loved household pets" at the homes of Customs staff.