TEETIME signals a below par craving for Shep the 13-year-old collie - he eats the inside of golf balls!

The dog has fallen below scratch three times after gobbling the rubber innards while out walking with his owner Gordon Duckett on Wilpshire Golf Course.

Vets have had to operate each time to remove the balls from Shep's stomach.

Gordon, of Belvedere Road, Brownhill - and a low handicap member at Wilpshire - said: "Squirrels have a habit of chewing the white outer section of the golf balls, leaving the rubber latex and dark rubber ball inside. So they are quite difficult to see and it is hard to tell when he has found one. He never did this as a puppy, but he has needed surgery on three occasions. He also had a fourth operation when he got a fruit stone stuck in his stomach. I've stopped walking him on the golf course now."

Vet Dave Higginson, of the Veterinary Health Centre, Daisy Street, Blackburn, said: "In 30 years as a vet I have seen this happen on the odd occasion, but I cannot remember this happening three times! It is also very unusual for a dog of his age to keep doing it. A 13-year-old would normally have more sense."

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