THINK IT’S ALL ROVER
Pup World Cup warm-up
WORLD Cup fever is taking over– with guests at a doggy day centre even dressing up for their own matches.
Staff at The Barking have been kitting out pups in England strips ahead of tomorrow’s big game and found they are naturals on the ball.
Manager Leah Ven, 38, said: “We love to think of fun ways to keep the dogs entertained and with the World Cup going on we thought they’d like to try football.”
Pals Saga, Frank, Biscuit, Marsha and Oakley have all been practising their paw-paw-two formation.
And as Gareth Southgate’s squad warm up ahead of England’s match against Tunisia, they should take a few pointers from this bunch.
French bulldog Biscuit is aged only one but is the star player. She can do headers and once she has hold of the ball, she won’t let go.
Rat terrier Saga, aged three, is fast on her little paws and when she has the ball between them, there is no stopping her. Clever Maltese Marsha is the oldest in the squad, at five, but she can balance on her back paws to intercept a pass.
Sausage dog Frank, who is four, is not one for chasing about on the pitch and prefers to stay in goal.
The youngest pup is mini dachshund Oakley, who is just eight months old.
He is picking up his dribbling skills from the rest of the pack.
Sweet
Lisa said: “For a group of little dogs, the five of them play really well. It is so sweet to see them enjoying themselves in their football shirts. “Biscuit and Saga are super tenacious and when they have hold of the ball, even we struggle to get it off them, never mind the other dogs.” As well as the World Pup, Leah and her team in Manchester have put on a doggy nativity play, hosted an Easter party. They let the pets dress up in bee bandanas and bow ties to remember those killed in the Ariana Grande terrorist attack. A survey by American Express found that the average owner spends £1,200 a year on treats for their dogs, with £540 of that on treats and dressy-up accessories. OUR vet Brian MY dog is Faulkner, from Petplan, seven has 22 years of experience months and is a freelancer working all old and acting a over the country. Send your bit wild all of a questions to Brian at: Petplan, sudden. I heard Great West House, Great if we castrate West Road, Brentford, him when he is Middlesex, TW8 9DX less than a year or via Petplan’s Facebook page facebook.com/ old he can get Petplanuk. cancer, though. If you have a story about wildlife email us at pets@people.co.uk