They can enjoy themselves for hours, running, chasing, and proudly returning balls to their owner, all with a wagging tail.
So when shelter dogs had the opportunity to chase balls during a tennis match, it was truly a “match” made in heaven.
The dogs took part in an exhibition game for the highly anticipated Brazil Open in São Paulo. Four pups — Frida, Costela, Mel and Isabelle — got to show off their impressive ball-catching abilities and collected stray tennis balls that hit the net or bounced out of bounds. At times, the cute canines were so fun to watch, they received more attention than the internationally ranked players on the court, Roberto Carballes Baena and Gastao Elias. Dressed in adorable orange bandanas and ankle wraps, it’s understandable why the dogs were such a hit!
The best part of it all? The tennis match had a very important motive…
The goal of the exhibition game was to help find shelter dogs from the Association of Animal Wellbeing a good home, as there are currently 1,200 dogs living at the shelter and waiting for adoption. The four dogs involved in the match were all shelter dogs at one point in their lives, roaming the streets of Brazil. 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.
The dogs worked hard to be tennis match-ready, and Beckert explained all the work it took to get the dogs prepared. “These are dogs that were mistreated. We have to make them adapt, feel the environment, the court, the noise of the balls and the noise of the people.”
After all that hard work, we think those dogs deserve a treat!
What do you think? LIKEor SHARE if you agree that the “ball dogs” did a good job!
Main and collage image via Sportsnet | Leandro Martins / Associated Press
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