Ball dogs melt hearts at Brazil Open

Who needs ball kids when you've got these clever pooches?

Tennis officials in Brazil have taken stray dogs off the streets and turned them pro.

After training for months under their owner Andrea Beckert, the rescue dogs were given official attire and unleashed on the court at the Brazil Open.

"These are dogs that were mistreated. We have to make them adapt, feel the environment, the court, the noise of the balls, and the noise of the people," Ms Beckert told AP.

Sure, it was only an exhibition match between Roberto Carballes and Gastao Elias, and the players were clearly mishitting balls to get the dogs into the action, but it's still pretty darn cute!

It's not the first time we've seen the ingenious idea, with the ASB Classic in Auckland using ball dogs last year:

Perhaps in the future we'll see dogs replace ball kids in official tournaments...if they ever learn to give the balls back after fetching them.