Tilly the golf ball retriever dog

When Garry Carr's three-month-old pup Tilly found a golf ball hidden in woodland he took it home planning to use it himself. Then the Jack Russell started to bring them back whenever he took her for a walk - and in the five years since her first find she has amassed a staggering 18,000. So many in fact that Garry has started selling them. So far he has made £2,000, with Tilly finding up to 40 a day. He says: "I had so many balls that Tilly had found that I began selling them to golfing friends. But I still had far more than I knew what to do with.

"So I thought I'd start selling them to other golfers and now they are selling all around Europe. I can't believe that such a small dog has found so many." Garry, 57, from Newbury, Berks, discovered Tilly's habit when he took her for her first walk near his local course. He says: "She started sniffing around in the woodland and the next thing I knew she had dropped something at my feet. It was a bright pink golf ball. It was in perfect condition, with not a single tooth mark on it. I'm a keen golfer myself, so I picked it up and took it home."



The next time Garry played a round of golf he took Tilly with him - and she quickly proved her worth. He says: "I put my ball on the tee, took a swing and it went sailing into the hedgerow. Tilly immediately started looking for it and within minutes she had brought it back to me." Then she went back into the bushes and found a clutch of other lost balls. Garry says: "My jaw dropped. I knew there were some bad golfers among my mates and me, but there were dozens of lost balls.

"So many golf balls are lost and many golfers discard them without bothering to have a look. Add all that up and it is a lot of money being wasted." Garry has even designed a golf ball vending machine that looks like an old-fashioned chewing gum dispenser. He has installed the machine, which holds up to 81 balls, in pubs, hotels and garages. He adds: "Usually dogs will chew a golf ball but Tilly is so careful. There is never a mark on them." He says: "Tilly just loves finding golf balls, it's her speciality. Now she more than pays for her upkeep."

Tilly's website.