World pupdates

AUSTRALIA: Brisbane-based

Rorschach, a two-year-old

Dalmatian, is the first of his breed to be trained as an autism assistance dog Down Under. Originally bought by retail worker Joanne Dower for her husband, Rick, Rorschach is now being trained to help the couple’s 10-year-old autistic son, Ethan, following the retirement of his service dog, Bella. The gentle Dalmatian is the first non-Labrador or Golden Retriever to be trained by Assistance Dogs Australia.

SOUTH AFRICA: Belgian Malinois Havoc has become the country’s first pangolin detection dog in a bid to protect this critically endangered animal from poaching and trafficking. Based in the African Pangolin Working Group’s (APWG) K9 pangolin counter-poaching unit, Havoc is able to detect both faeces and scales of all four species of the world’s most trafficked mammal, described as a scaly anteater. He’s often used to locate pangolins being smuggled in luggage at airports.