Rescued Stray Dogs Serve As 'Ball Dogs' At The Brazil Open

March 2, 2016

A group of shelter dogs stole the show retrieving balls during an exhibition match at the Brazil Open in Sao Paulo.

dog ball boys tennis Brazil
AP Photo / Leandro Martins

The shelter dogs, who previously ran the streets of Sao Paulo, had been trained for months for their role. But they had a much more important job than collecting tennis balls and exciting the crowd -- they were there to raise awareness of animal adoption in Brazil.

"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," Marli Scaramella, the organizer of the initiative, told Fox News. She said that all four ball dogs were currently residents in a Sao Paulo shelter.

Watch Frida, Costela, Mel and Isabelle in action below: