Four shelter dogs specially trained as ball boys for the Brazil Open Tennis 2016 tournament
The four dogs, rescued from the slums of Sao Paulo, are seen in the video collecting loose balls and returning them to players. These amazing shelter dogs puts their ‘fetch’ skills to good use last week – when they served as ‘ball boys’ during a tennis match at the Brazil Open.
In the video, the four pooches – Frida, Costela, Mel and Isabelle – are seen chasing after and collecting loose balls, returning them to the players. The dogs were rescued from the favelas – slums – of Sao Paulo.
In the months leading up to the tournament, they were trained to act as ball boys. And they were given a chance to impress during an exhibition match between Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena and Gastao Elias, of Portugal.
Trotting around in their organge ribbons, the dogs were arguably the stars of the show, taking balls back to players – with a bit of encouragement.
Andrea Beckert, of the Association of Animal Wellbeing, trained the pooches. She said their success proved that old dogs can in fact learn new tricks.
Marli Scaramella, the organiser of the initiative, told Fox News Latino: “The idea is to show people that a well-fed and well-treated animal can be very happy. “We have more than 1,000 dogs in our care.”
These four shelter dogs have recently taken the world of tennis by storm at the Brazil Open Tournament
image credits:AP
Specially trained for months, the pups served as “ball boys” for this Brazilian tennis exhibition match
image credits:AP
The dogs dutifully retrieved the balls, which were often intentionally missed for obvious reasons
image credits:AP
“We want to show that abandoned dogs can be adopted and trained”
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image credits:AP
“After all, it’s not easy to get a dog to only pick up the lost balls, and then to give them up!”
Watch the video below:
All four ball dogs are still residents in a Sao Paulo shelter.