Kiwi troops in Afghanistan have been bowled over in more ways than one by a handsome dog who has become mascot, guard and pet at one of their patrol bases.

Gunner has won the hearts of soldiers operating out of Nayak, about four hours' drive west of the main Kiwi base in Bamian.

Major Syd Dewes, who returned last week after six months in Afghanistan, said Gunner was big, tough, and not for pampering.

He was nothing like the Afghan hounds that New Zealanders would recognise – there's no such thing as pedigree in Afghanistan. He is like a cross between a German shepherd and a husky.

"This dog was born for the snow and the sheer joy on his face when snow arrived – it was a sight to see." If the snow was piled he would dive into burrows made for him but most of the time he would just sleep on it regardless of the temperatures, which regularly got down to minus 30 degrees celsius, Major Dewes said.

He would use his kennel only when it rained.

Gunner was a great guard dog, who would kick up a fuss if anybody came around the base, and would snap at the ankles of strangers.

But he was also a real character. "He gets so excited to have you around that it makes going back to the base a pleasure.

"Whenever we had been away from the patrol base for a few days, upon our return he would be like a child seeing his dad return home."

Gunner was so big and heavy that the unwary would be knocked over by him.

Major Dewes said Gunner was a pup when he was given by local businessman Mohammad Amin two years ago.

Major Dewes is sending over some worm and flea tablets to make sure the new troops at the base continue to look after Gunner.

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HELPING HAND: DoC and Project Jonah members guide the orca into deeper waters.

A stranded orca whale hitched a ride across Auckland to safer seas yesterday, accompanied by the son and grandson of the late ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau.

The 3.4m juvenile female whale beached on the sand at the remote Whatipu beach on Auckland's west coast about 2pm on Friday.

Department of Conservation ranger Karl McLeod said whale strandings at Whatipu were common when rough seas made crossing the Manukau bar difficult for a young whale without guidance from older members of the pod.

McLeod stayed with the whale overnight, keeping her wet to prevent overheating.

It was decided to move the whale by truck to calmer waters at Takapuna on the North Shore yesterday morning.

"Biologically and logistically the best chance for its wellbeing was to move it," McLeod said.

The journey across Auckland took about 90 minutes, with a police escort.

"Whales circle the island in pods, so we aren't taking it to unfamiliar habitat," McLeod said.

"It should link up with its pod soon."

Project Jonah whale rescue volunteer Renee Kelly said moving it was "a bit of a mission" and someone had to stay on the trailer as it went across town to keep the whale wet.

About 100 people watched as the whale was guided out to sea.

Ocean Futures Society president Jean-Michel Cousteau and son Fabien, guests of New Zealand orca researcher Ingrid Visser, here to shoot footage for a television programme, followed the whale for several hours to ensure it didn't end up beached again.

By late afternoon Visser said the whale was "doing great" swimming just below the surface. "It looks like we made the right decision."

It stands around 23cm tall and weights just 2kg but the average chihuahua costs its owners more than $1600 over its lifetime in stained carpets, ripped sofas and chewed cables.

The pint-sized pooch has been unmasked as the second most destructive dog after its considerably larger cousin, the great dane, which notches up an impressive $1739 worth of damage.

Mastiffs came third, costing their owners $1521 over a lifetime while basset hounds were found to cause $1466 of damage on average, according to a British pet insurance company which compiled its destructive dogs list after interviewing 3000 dog owners.

Finishing off the top five is the whippet, which will leave a trail of destruction totalling $1346. But Hamilton chihuahua breeder Gail Nielson believes the tiny dogs are much maligned and do not deserve the bad rap they get. Recently an Illinois University study also identified chihuahuas as the third most aggressive type of dog.

"They are quite a high energy dog," says Nielson, who has 11 adult chihuahuas and five puppies in her care. "But they are probably no more damaging than any other dog." They do, however, have a penchant for chewing things: "I do have one dog which likes to chew books so we can't leave books on the floor," Nielson admits.

Aucklander Les Clark owns three great danes and says they can be a handful. "We've got one at the moment who's intent on destroying our garden. He's a bit of mischief. He's come down [bred] from a dog that was renowned for destroying his bedding. Our older dog got a bit of a separation complex a year or so ago when we left him at the kennels and he chewed our van to bits.

"They're pretty big dogs - we've got one that is about 75kg - but they're really neat animals and they've got a very gentle nature," says Clark, president of the New Zealand Great Dane Club.

Pukekohe woman Yvonne Tester breeds chihuahuas and used to own great danes. She says the great dane wins on the destruction stakes, hands down. "They're playful gentle giants really but when they are teething they do tend to chew on things. Great danes also have very long tails that when they wag do tend to knock over things."

Researchers have discovered that honey bees can count to four.

A researcher from the University of Queensland put five markers inside a tunnel and placed nectar in one of them, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) radio reported.

Honey bees placed in the tunnel flew to the marker with the food, and would still fly to the same marker stripe when the food was removed.

"We find that if you train them to the third stripe, they will look subsequently in the third stripe," researcher Mandyam Srinivasan said.

"If you train them to the fourth stripe, they will look the fourth stripe and so on. But their ability to count seems to go only up to four. They can't count beyond four.

"The more we look at these creatures that have a brain the size of a sesame seed, the more astonished we are. They really have a lot of the capacities that we so-called higher human beings possess."

The research was carried out jointly with Swedish researcher Marie Dacke.