Ananova:

A pet dog delivers its owners' letters by reading their names on the envelopes.

Denver the Cocker Spaniel waits for the post to arrive at his home near Skipton, North Yorkshire and then sorts it and delivers it to his owner Jeannie Crangle, her boyfriend Tim Johnson and her son Peter.

He leaves Jeannie's mail on her bedside table, then walks around to Tim's side of the bed with his post before going in to Peter's room and dropping his letters on his bed. Jeannie said: "People think we're crackers but this is exactly what he does. He never gets it wrong."

Denver has also been trained to fetch slippers, put washing in the machine and change toilet rolls.

Jeannie said: "We've never taught him how to sort the mail. He just picked it up all by himself. Most dogs hate the postman, but Denver loves ours. He sits on the doormat waiting for him to come every morning while we're asleep.

"He's a real gem. I bless the day he came into my life. If he was human I'd probably marry him."

A spokesman for Support Dogs, a charity, said: "The most likely explanation is Denver works out which letters belong to whom from the lengths of the names."