The life of a shelter dog is far from perfect, and some of them wait for years to be adopted. It’s an unfortunate situation, but as much as shelters would love to help these dogs out, they lack the necessary funds to produce ads that would put the spotlight on the dogs that are up for adoption.
Aside from being confined to their kennels, these dogs do not receive the necessary attention and exercise. The majority of human activities at the shelter do not involve dogs. There are only a handful of activities that involve the dogs.
There are event organizers who are animal lovers and committed to finding loving homes for our furry friends. The Brazilian Tennis Open, held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, was one of them. These people with big hearts usually go out of their way to help shelter pets get forever homes.
In 2016, the pet food company Premier Pet assisted shelter dogs in finding new homes by employing them as ball boys for a tennis tournament. The dogs are well-mannered and did an excellent job at retrieving balls for the players. They were all dressed up in scarves and sweatbands and were looking their best for the tournament.
After the tournament, each of the four dogs that served as ball retrievers during the game found a loving home.
In 2018, the event was a tremendous success. This time, six dogs were chosen to retrieve the balls during the warm-up practice for the semi-finals and finals.
We are simply grateful that there are businesses that care for our shelter animals. One event would not be sufficient, but I hope that their suggestion will spark a trend that will eventually include more shelter dogs.
Involving dogs in many popular activities such as tennis tournaments can really help the animals get the attention that they need. May there be more of these in the future!
Source: Brasil Open
