An Unusual Job for a Border Collie

In the town of Great Cornard, in Suffolk, England, a 6 year old Border Collie named Meg is on litter patrol.

Perhaps the most socially responsible dog on the planet, she cruises the local park every day with her owner, Ken Pople. When she finds candy wrappers or soda cans, she picks them up and tosses them into the trash can.

If she sees an irresponsible human littering, she's on it right away--and it goes straight into the trash. Her good habits have started to rub off on the local youth, too. After watching her put their used soda can into the trash, they decided to start picking up after themselves, proudly displaying their bagged-up litter to Meg's owner as they deposited it into the waste bin.

The local cleaning crew can take it easy. Meg has finished their job before they arrive, and the local dog warden (aka, animal control officer) is hoping to enlist her services in a local anti-littering campaign.

I wonder whether I could train Caitlin to put the stuff she finds into the trash instead of eating it. If she masters that, I'll see whether she can learn to scoop poop.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/dog-picks-up-litter-and-drops-770557
http://www.dogheirs.com/larne/posts/784-trash-cleaning-collie-setting-an-example-for-others
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2119233/Sheep-dog-set-star-anti-littering-campaign.html