Pittsburgh dog eats $4,000 in cash

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A Pittsburgh couple's dog got himself into some big trouble after wolfing down the most expensive dinner of his life.

The dog's name is Cecil. His owners said he is a well-behaved dog, and he never did anything bad until he chowed down on dozens of $50 and $100 bills.

Clayton Law put an envelope with a wad of cash on his kitchen counter in early December. He and his wife, Carrie, needed the cash to pay for a project at their home in Pittsburgh's Point Breeze neighborhood.

Clayton said about 30 minutes later, Cecil, a 7-year-old goldendoodle, was caught red-pawed.

"I walked back into the room and then all this cash was on the ground. He's just like this, standing there, and I'm just like oh my gosh, he ate some of this money and was in shock. I yelled to Carrie, 'He ate the money, he ate $4,000!'" Clayton Law said.

That's right, Cecil didn't eat any homework. He had an appetite for $4,000. He ate a lot of the bills, and the rest of the bills were chewed up into pieces on the floor.

The couple describes their dog as laid back, funny, weird and very human-like.

"He doesn't do many dog things, he doesn't chew furniture or clothing, that's why we're extra shocked when he decided to do this," Clayton Law said.

"He has never in his life tried to get anything from a counter, even coffee table. We could leave dinner and go to the kitchen and grab wine, and he would not touch the food, and he just doesn't care. He just took this opportunity and ran with it," Carrie Law said.

Clayton and Carrie Law checked with their vet and the 100-pound dog was OK, but they were in a tough spot because they believed he swallowed at least $2,000.

"Just trying to find numbers, we'd recover something from something he left in the yard and say oh my gosh, we have a 6 for the serial number. And try to get that taped on," said Carrie Law. "We had to have the majority of the serial number on both sides and the bank said if you tape it, that would help. So, I brought everything in a plastic bag and brought gloves for them."

She said they washed the chewed-up bills three or four times before bringing the money to the bank. They ended up getting all but $500 of the money back. 

The couple said they posted a video on social media sharing the story of Cecil's expensive taste, and it got thousands of likes and comments.

Clayton and Carrie are glad he is OK, especially because he had what was believed to be a stroke earlier in the year. 

Cecil was bad to the bone for one day. Now, they can just laugh about their money-laundering pup.

"At one point, he was sitting on the couch, we were laughing, thinking there is potentially $2,000 inside of this dog," said Carrie Law.

Nearly four weeks after the incident, they said Cecil is doing just fine and is still a good boy.

In:
• Pittsburgh

Jessica Guay

Jessica Guay joined KDKA as a reporter in February 2021. Before joining KDKA, Jessica was a morning anchor and reporter at WJAC in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. She was also an anchor and reporter at WCHS in Charleston, West Virginia, and at WTOV in Steubenville, Ohio.

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