Fri Apr 23, 1:18 PM ET Add Top Stories - AFP to My Yahoo!

MANCHESTER (AFP)
It was the mysterious rattling sound from the 18-month-old German Shepherd's stomach which first alerted the British vet to what might be wrong.

A subsequent operation removed no fewer than 28 golf balls from the dog's belly and -- unsurprisingly -- the mystery ailment which made her stop eating has been cured, her owner said on Friday.

Mike Wardrop said he was "gobsmacked" to discover what his pet, called Libby, had been up to during their daily walk around Didsbury Golf Club in Manchester, northwest England, where he lives and works as a bar manager.

The German Shepherd had developed a habit of hunting down golf balls and bringing them back to her owner, Wardrop said.

"It got to the stage where she would pick up four or five balls every day. She loved fitting them in her mouth.

"She would bring them to me and I'd have a laugh. I had no idea she was wolfing them down as well."

Libby stopped eating properly and when she began coughing blood was rushed to a nearby vets' surgery, where the problem was swiftly diagnosed.

"The vets didn't even have to do an x-ray because they could hear the balls and feel them rattling around," Wardrop said.

"They were having bets about how many would be in there. I think the highest bet was 11, so they were shocked when 28 came out."

Wardrop said he was keeping the balls -- which weighed a total of six pounds (2.7 kilogrammes) -- as souvenirs.

"They are all brown from the stomach acid but we are keeping them to show people," he said.

.....And they say dogs are born smart..... Hmph!!

kiss85 said:

i'm still waiting for something along the lines of "compulsive germans"...

"But we are keeping them to show people."


WTF???

starkitty said:

What? They're not being auctioned off on eBay? The dog is a celebrity now!

I'm dissapointed. When I saw this, I was thinking "I'd bet a million bucks it was a lab." The GSs usually aren't that supid.

tackam said:

totally thought it was a lab.