Ice Skating Dog Shows Off Skills After Being Taught By Figure Skater Who Saved Him From Death

It's time once again to indulge in that most enjoyable of pastimes - watching a dog do something you wouldn't expect it to.

Yellow Labrador Benny has been learning to skate for the past year and can even play ice hockey (sort of). He's not exactly graceful as he slaps about the ice, but he is damn cute.

But hold your horses, this isn't just a cute story, it's a cute and heartwarming story.

SWNS

When five-year-old Benny was just a pup, the outlook wasn't so great for him. In fact, he wouldve been at risk of being euthanised had he not found an owner. Luckily for him, Cheryl Del Sangro from Las Vegas, Nevada, immediately fell for him and made him a part of her family.

"From day one, I couldn't believe how anyone could not want this dog. He was absolutely perfect. We had this bond from the first day," she said.

However, if Benny was going to be a fully-fledged family member then he needed to learn how to skate. Cheryl started skating when she was just four, working semi-professionally in her twenties before coaching for a further 20 years. Following a friend's suggestion, Cheryl decided to take Benny along with her to the rink, and from there it snowballed.

She said: "A friend of mine said we should make a video of Benny, getting some shots of him on the ice and I said, 'OK, let's do it.'

"He followed me around and was running after me on the ice. Maybe because it's so hot here in Nevada, he enjoyed being out there in the cold.

"He was rolling around on his back and everything. He enjoyed it so much.

"Our daughter, Brittany, I taught her to skate when she was 17 months old. I thought, well, if I could get a little 17-month-old to skate, why couldn't I get him to skate?

"We took some dog boots and old blades and we glued them together.

"I had him on a leash first in the rink and I helped him along with his feet.

"He knows how to turn now, and do crossovers, and he can do little bunny hops with his front feet.

"He's getting more powerful and soon we're going to have to get the skates professionally put together."

SWNS

Well that seems like a pretty small price to pay if it means you can go ice skating with your dog. But Cheryl is not content with limiting this to a little bit of recreational fun - instead she hopes Benny will reach sufficient awesomeness that he can perform during a Vegas Golden Knights' NHL match.

She said: "Our mission is to get a little bit more ice time. Next, I want to teach him a routine, maybe to do a spin with some music.

"Every time anybody sees him skate, they just laugh. It's so unbelievable.

"I had somebody offer me money to buy him a couple times since, but I would never, ever sell him.

"I don't care how much they offered me, there's no way would I ever give him up."

Looks like you'll have to find and train your own ice skating dog.

Topics: Dog, Cute, Funny, Animals

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey