Heartbroken dog owner leaves Biscuit's Ball exchange legacy for beloved pooch on St Annes Beach
A heartbroken dog owner has left around 100 tennis balls for other pets to find and play with.
Bethany Short set up a toy exchange on a beach in memory of her beloved dog Biscuit who died in May.
Named Biscuit's Ball Exchange, the wooden crate decorated in paw printsand filled with tennis balls, lies on Lytham St Anne's North Beach for other dog walkers to use.
It reads: “Take a ball for your dog to enjoy, feel free to keep it or pop it back afterwards.
“Enjoy every moment together, for they are never enough.
“In memory of Biscuit (2006-2025).
“He loved this place almost as much as he loved balls!”
Bethany said it felt wrong to put the toys into storage and she left about 100 balls there to "bring joy" to other animals.
She said: “We wanted them to create happy memories for other people.
"When you take on a dog you commit to them being an important family member but I never could have anticipated him becoming the centre of mine and my husband's world, even being the ring bearer at our wedding.
“Biscuit was roughly 19, I rescued him when he was around 3 so we're working on vets best guess.
“He was put to sleep, he had been in a slow decline with his legs and canine cognitive decline for a while and had reached a point where he was struggling, it was very important to us that we didn't wait for a crisis event to have him put to sleep where he would potentially be off his legs or something else where it would be an emergency and he would be scared.
“Because we planned and had lots of conversations with our vet team about prognosis we were able to spoil him with love, affection and his favourite things in the days running up to saying goodbye.
“Due to the fantastic vet care he received from my vet team he was still able to gallop around on his last day.”
The toy exchange is located on the cut through from the St Anne's North Beach car park to the seafront for anyone to enjoy.
Bethany added: “All I ask is that people return any balls they won't use for others to enjoy or maybe even donate one if they can that would be amazing.
“Also, people are welcome to share photos with us #Biscuitsballexchange, seeing the photos brings us a lot of joy.”
RIP Biscuit.