Dog Uses Retrieving Talents To Help Shelter Animals

For the past five years, one Minnesota man has been bringing his Bernese Mountain Dog with him to the golf course to help him find and retrieve his lost balls.

“I’m a lousy golfer, but he’s a good retriever,” Al Cooper said about his six-year-old dog, Davos. While searching through the rough for his owner’s ball, Davos often found other lost and left behind balls and Cooper began selling the balls back to golfers for 25 cents each.

Cooper had been using the money for dog treats and vet bills, but about a year ago he thought of a better way to spend the money they collected when he saw Davos get upset when an ASPCA commercial about suffering animals came on TV. “He’d just cry his little heart out when he’d see those commercials,” said Cooper.

Cooper began donating the money to help shelter animals in need at the Animal Humane Society in Golden Valley, and recently gave the shelter’s senior philanthropy advisor Deanna Kramer $100 after selling 400 balls. “That was probably the cutest donation presentation I’ve ever had the pleasure of being part of,” said Kramer.