With so many stray and unwanted dogs being kept in animal shelters worldwide the various dog charities are always on the lookout for new and innovative ideas to highlight the benefits of adopting a dog.
One of the bigger problems is convincing the general public of the merits of adopting an older dog. So many people are interested in having a puppy but people don’t seem to be that interested in adopting an older dog. To try and publicise this, organisers in Brazil used this brilliant idea. They choose four older dogs who had been rescued from a life on the streets.
Then they started to train those dogs in how to collect tennis balls. The dogs were then used in one specific match of the Brazilian open as ball boys. This enabled the general public to see the dogs skills and really appreciate what an older dog can achieve given some time and love. Such a simple and yet brilliant idea that I hope is repeated elsewhere.