Brazilian Ronaldinho, currently the world's greatest, developed his brilliant skills with the help of his mutt, Bombom, while growing up in Porto Alegre.
''Bombom loved to play with me,'' Ronaldinho told Brazilian newspaper Zero Hora. ''When all my friends got bored, I would go play with him. We would stay battling for the ball all day. I had to work hard on my moves to keep him from getting the ball. We were inseparable, he was my great companion.''
Ronaldinho, who says he also dribbled past tables and chairs in his house when rain kept him in, no longer has Bombom, but the Barcelona star still plays with hounds.
''My dogs in Spain also love to play ball,'' he says. ''I dribble with them all the time, too.''