Airport dogs
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Even though border collies Hercules and Ned are panting after running around all morning, the second their human partner Chris Keyser says, "Ready" or "Bird," the dogs will spring into action and start barking.
That's because these dogs are trained as airport wildlife patrol for West Virginia International Yeager Airport, the state's busiest airport. Eight-year-old Hercules and his younger coworker, Ned, 3, work with Keyser, the airport's wildlife specialist, nearly every day to chase away any animals from the airport that could collide with aircraft.
Whenever birds are on the airfield – most often killdeer or geese in the West Virginia vicinity – the tower communicates with Keyser over the radio to command the dogs to run them off, rain or shine, from the taxiways to the grassy areas next to the fence.
"Anywhere there are birds, that's where we go," Keyser told USA TODAY.
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You will never live a job as much as those dogs love theirs.
