by Judi McLeod
December 3, 2004
Being a pushover for any pet story, I was browsing the net looking for The "Bark Team" when I found the long-lost Father Guido Sarducci.
I had seen a televised feature about the BaRK Team teamed up with the San Francisco Giants, and have wondered about Saturday Night’s Father Sarducci ever since he disappeared from the radar screen.
The Baseball aquatic Retrieval Korps (a.k.a. BaRK) is a team of six Portuguese water dogs trained to retrieve homers slammed into the cold water beyond the right-field wall of the San Francisco Giants’ stadium, in Pacific Bell Park. Living to retrieve the balls, BaRK, in terms of human interest and baseball, is replacing angels in the Outfield of silver screen fame.
according to the BaRK website, "With a bark and a belly flop, a dark bundle of fur dives over the side of The Good Ship Jollipup, snags a bobbing baseball and heads back to the cabin cruiser."
aside from winning the affection of baseball fans, Shadow, Rio and Topper and other canine members of the BaRK team provide a most valuable service: saving the lives of underprivileged, four-legged friends.
The no-kill animal shelter, Pets in Need, gets to keep any balls retrieved, and have proven they are able to auction them off for a pretty price.
Now in its second season, BaRK has succeeded in helping to save the lives of more than 800 dogs and cats. The money raised saved these animals from euthanasia, and the more BaRK becomes known, the more adoptions skyrocket.
Shadow, Rio, Topper and Company make people aware that the shelter exists.
Now you might wonder, what has all of this to do with Father Guido Sarducci.
BaRK is his brainchild.
Father Sarducci is comedian Don Novello, who goes about dressed in the black garb of the average Jesuit priest.
When Novello came up with the idea of training dogs to retrieve balls, back in 1966, the Giants thought he was having a joke on them.
Too bad the Vatican never thought the sane thing when he turned up as sardonic Sarducci to test the authenticity of his Jesuit getup.
"I wrote them (the Giants) a letter saying I wanted to station dogs out by the bay, watch the game on TV and when I’d see a ball knocked over the wall, I’d punch a car door opener to free the dogs so they’d fetch the balls," Novello told PetPlace.com. "It was an idea most people thought was not serious," admits Larry Baer, executive vice president and CEO of the Giants. "But the more we explored it, the more we realized it could be outrageously fun."
Novello and the Giants, who hooked up with PetPlace.com at first thought that the cove’s cold water, called for a breed like Newfoundlanders. "But when we considered how we’d get these huge, wet dogs back into a small motorboat, we had to rethink it," explained Brenda Barnette, director of Pets in Need. "Years ago I’d had a Portuguese water dog. So I was familiar with what fantastic swimmers they are."
"Portuguese water dogs, equipped with webbing between their toes and short, strong tails that act like rudders, were bred to help fishermen by retrieving tackle, carrying messages between boats and even herding fish into nets."
Rio, a 6-year-old prizewinner with numerous blue ribbons, is the irrepressible captain of the BaRK team.
On his off time, Rio works as a therapy dog visiting hospitals and convalescent homes.
No one knocked a ball into the cove where the dogs were stationed except during batting practice, but one of the balls retrieved was hit by Barry Bonds, whose 73rd homerunner broke Babe Ruth’s slugging percentage record.
But BaRK doesn’t need a homerun from the bat of a Giant, they make homeruns every time they retrieve a ball. and to the dogs and cats languishing in cages at Pets in Need, BaRK is as big a hero as the Sultan of Swat is.
Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com
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