Abandoned Sao Paulo slumdogs have been given a new lease of life – after being trained to be ‘ball dogs’ at the Brazil Open. They don’t always behave as intended, but I bet it made the tennis more entertaining.

Trainer Andrea Beckert says he’s helping them adapt and says the major issue is stopping them from getting distracted.

“These are dogs that were mistreated”, she explained.

“We have to make them adapt, feel the environment, the court, the noise of the balls and the noise of the people.”

The dogs are definitely a hit with the crowd – they just need to work on dropping the ball…