Pets in for a treat

BENGALURU: If you hear dogs barking at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here during the upcoming IPL matches , don't wonder, 'Who let the dogs in?'In a first, Royal Challengers Bangalore have decided to make their home matches pet-friendly. The Bengaluru franchise has come with an exclusive pet lounge called 'DogOut' with seating designed for humans and canines.RCB officials said the initiative, called RCB loves Furry, is a pilot project and there will be no tickets on sale for the exclusive lounge. Instead, for each of the home matches, 30 pet owners will be picked from a 'selfie with your pet' contest on the official team app and invited for the game with their pet. This season, only dogs and cats will be allowed."We've created a zone exclusive for pet-parents to experience matches with their pets ," said an RCB official.'TREATS for pets will be available in this space. We’ll also have well-trained people to care for them,” the official said.The entry for this stand will be from Gate 21, generally not open to spectators and will hence avoid any kind of confusion which may arise from pets being taken into the stadium. Along with Karnataka State Cricket Association, RCB has aligned with BCCI for this In an official statement, RCB said, “We care about all fans who are associated with the team. One such group of fans is pet parents and (pet) lovers. Pet are extension of their families and we are RCB would like to make them very much a part of the RCB family. ...”