Britta Closson adopted her dog Kohl about three years ago when the black lab was in pretty rough shape.
“He was underweight when we got him, he had some ear infections,” says Closson, who learned how to train dogs from her dad. “You would reach out to pet him and he would just bolt on you. So he didn’t trust us. So the first six months or so was just building a relationship and building trust.”
Now, not only does Kohl love Closson and every stranger he meets, but the all-around good boy relishes his time as the Boise State tee retriever every home game at Albertsons Stadium. That role has earned the four-legged football fan some national attention; last Friday a video of Kohl leaping onto the blue turf to snag the tee after kickoff was shared on Twitter more than 150,000 times.
Since then the doggo has been featured on USA Today’s sports blog, Mashable, NCAA news and other outlets. Closson says the attention has been surprising.
“I guess it just took one person that had a bunch of followers that posted something and that really got it out there.”
But Kohl was already internet famous to Boiseans, who may also recognize him as the Boise Hawks’ bat dog. He’s been retrieving bats for the baseball team since 2015 and became the football tee retriever last year.
Closson says off the field, Kohl is a total bed hog.
“He steals my bed – he’s the biggest cuddler in the world. He will cuddle anybody. He loves anybody and everything. He just wants to be around people now, which is pretty amazing.”
That’s a good boy, Kohl.
Find reporter Frankie Barnhill on Twitter @FABarnhill
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