Eleven year-old Davos is doing his bit for charity. Unlike most 11 year-olds helping out with charitable causes, Davos happens to be a dog! The Bernese Mountain Dog, along with his owner, Al Cooper, are raising money for charity by collecting golf balls. The duo find the balls on their local golf course, where Davos uses his sensitive nose to retrieve balls that have gone awry.
Al took in Davos whilst he was battling cancer. He said the dog helped him through his dark days.
“Ever since I’ve had him he’s just been a perfect companion for me and keeps me smiling,” Al said. “I call him my rescue dog because he rescued me in a sense.”
Rescuing golf balls
Al discovered Davos’s talent at finding balls when he took the dog with him to the golf course one day. The giant dog would jump off the golf cart he and Al were on to retrieve balls. The pair ended up with so many balls they even had to store them in their freezer!
One day, it finally dawned on Al what he should do with the balls. Whilst watching TV one night, an advert came on that showed distressed and neglected dogs. Al said Davos was deeply affected by the advert.
“He started crying at all those destitute dogs in those cages and stuff. [My wife] came up with the idea of selling the balls and donating the money to the Humane Society,”
So that’s what they did. The money that was made selling the golf balls was donated.
On Give to the Max day, a day of charitable giving in Minnesota, USA, Davos and Al donated $1000 to the Humane Society! Their donation also coincided with National Animal Shelter week. This means their donation will also be tripled by kind anonymous donors!
“We get the pleasure of starting the day with a big check from a big dog with a big heart,” said Deanna Kramer of the Animal Humane Society, Golden Valley.
