Dogs love to chase balls. Tennis players spend hours playing their sport with balls. A match made in heaven? We sure think so.
Recently, a group of shelter dogs were used at the 2016 British Open as “ball boys” and they did a great and adorable job.
The dogs all chased around loose balls and then carried them back to the sidelines or directly to the player.
The dogs took part in an exhibition game. The game included four pups named Frida, Costela, Mel, and Isabelle.
The dogs were so much fun to watch that they were often receiving more praise than the internationally ranked players on the court, Roberto Carballes Baena and Gastao Elias.
The dogs were searching for new homes with help from the Association of Animal Wellbeing which houses 1,200 dogs. After months of training by shelter worker Andrea Beckert, they were ready for the tennis match that helped raise awareness about the important initiative.
“We want to show that abandoned dogs can be adopted and trained. After all, it’s not easy to get a dog to only pick up the lost balls, and then to give them up!” Beckert said.
Check out this awesome shelter dogs at work:
