Canberra - Rocky the police dog was just being friendly when he nuzzled the crotch of a drug suspect and did not breach the man's rights, an Australian court has ruled.

The 22-year-old suspect was found to be carrying amphetamines and cannabis but the man's lawyers had argued that Rocky's crotch nuzzle amounted to assault.

"If your honour were to do as this dog did and nuzzle the defendant's genitals, it would be an indecent assault," lawyer Clive Steirn was quoted as saying by the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper on Friday.

But Supreme Court Justice Barry O'Keefe said the crotch nuzzle by Rocky outside a Sydney nightclub in February 2001 did not constitute a search and the act of sniffing involved no trespass.

"When a 'crotch nuzzle'...is performed by a dog in relation to a human being, it may be no more than a conventional, friendly, social gesture with no hostile intent, and unlikely to constitute an assault," O'Keefe said.

O'Keefe's ruling on Thursday overturned an earlier decision to dismiss drug charges against the man, the newspaper reported.

-- Anonymous, November 29, 2002