Nuneaton's Scruff paw-ses to fetch hundreds of bottles off street

Owner Yvonne Faulkner-Grant says Scruff's litter-picking ways have made him a star on Facebook

It seems you really can teach an old dog new tricks - certainly where border collie Scruff is concerned.

The 13-year-old, from Nuneaton, has been dubbed an "eco-dog" for at least 1,000 plastic bottles he has cleared up on walks with his owners this year.

Owner Yvonne Faulkner-Grant says he paw-sed to grab 104 in November, as #scruffsbottlepatrol on Facebook shows.

"He'll see one on the other side of the road and look at me as if to say, 'Can I get it?'," the 47-year-old says.

She and her husband David, 48, said that about a year ago, they realised that while Scruff would pick up a bottle but then drop it when he found the next one.

'So intelligent'

"It seemed wrong that he would pick the bottle up and then drop it again - we thought people would think we were dropping litter," said Yvonne.

"So we got him to start bringing the bottles to us and we put them in a bag and then count them up at the end of the walk - I'd say he will have collected at a least 1,000 this year.

"We get such a good reaction on Facebook - Scruff was dubbed an eco-dog yesterday."

Yvonne and Scruff celebrate with another haul of plastic bottles

Neighbour and friend Caroline Round, who also gets to walk Scruff, says he "will not go past a bottle without picking it up - he's so intelligent".

"He will always stop on his walk and won't move on until he's picked it up. If you're in a field with him, he will be off the lead and away," she says.

"And, when he comes back he will always have [a] bottle in his mouth."

But while Scruff has a great clear-up rate, she had a message for the people of Nuneaton. "It shows people don't really care - just don't chuck things down in the first place," she urged.

Now Yvonne and David just have the mammoth task of counting how many bottles he has collected - before taking them all to the recycling centre at the end of the year.