You may not know much about the University of Tulsa’s football team, but the Golden Hurricane may have found a way to capture your hearts this upcoming season. Meet Goldie — the newest university ambassador.
Goldie is a 5-month-old golden retriever who has been training to lead the Tulsa football team out onto the field at home games. According to the Tulsa World, the pup will ride in a golf cart this year when the team takes the field. In 2014, she will be ready to lead the players out of the locker room, patrol the sidelines and even run onto the field to retrieve the kicking tee after kickoffs.
“I can’t imagine anything more adorable than seeing a golden retriever with a Hurricane flag cape draped around her neck running with the cheerleaders and leading the mighty Golden Hurricane out onto the field on game day,” Tulsa’s vice president of institutional advancement Kayla Acebo said.
Goldie is also expected to participate in Tulsa’s community outreach program by visiting nursing homes, children’s hospitals and schools. The dog’s trainer, Susan Owen, trains a number of dogs but said Goldie stood above the rest.
“She just kept jumping out to me as the one that was very nicely middle-of-the-road,” Owen said. “She wasn’t the one going around jumping on everybody all the time. There weren’t any that were shrinking violet or very shy. She wanted to play all the time, but then when you picked her up, she just melted in your arms and was just very soft, and that’s what we need. That’s what we’re looking for specifically for this job.”
If a sea otter can be taught to dunk basketballs, there’s no reason a golden retriever can’t kill it as the ambassador of a college football team.
