Doggone It! Pooches Chow Down On Winning Oregon Lottery Ticket

It’s nice to know it’s not always a dog-eat-dog world. Sometimes it’s a dogs-eat-lottery-ticket world —with a tail-wagging (well, $8) ending.

Read on for a tale of what happens when two dogs eat an Oregon lottery ticket…

Doggie dateline: the bones of the story

It was a night much like any other no-lottery-ticket-involved night. Salem residents Nathan and Rachael Lamet went to bed, unintentionally leaving a $3 ticket for the Pharaoh’s Gold Crossword game on an ottoman.

That’s when 11-month-old Apple and 2-year-old Jax, the couple’s two Alaskan Klee Kais (smaller dogs that resemble Huskies) got into some mischief. The dogs decided the ticket was delicious, Rachael said.

Surprisingly, the pups didn’t eat the whole ticket but left some of it in tiny shredded pieces on the floor. The Lamets discovered the lottery ticket remains the next morning. Nathan found it hilarious and thought, “someone might get a good laugh at the least,” Rachael said. “He said for sure it’s a winner.”

So the Lamets sent a letter and the pieces of the torn-apart ticket to the Oregon State Lottery. They included a photo of the dogs, though it wasn’t quite a police “mutt shot,” if you will; the Lamets wanted the Lottery folk to see how cute the “vandals” were.

The letter read, in part:

“To whom it may concern: We have two Alaskan Klee Kai puppys (sic) that we dearly love. Unfortunately, they decided that they like the taste of your lottery tickets. So we write to you in regards to see if there is by some chance you may be able to see if they ate the winning ticket.”

Officials there approached the situation like a puzzle, doggedly attempting to piece the ticket back together.

And despite the Lamets thinking the ticket unsalvageable, they succeeded and it turned out the ticket was an $8 winner. The Lottery sent the Lamets a check for that amount.

And after everything was settled, the Oregon State Lottery advised the public in a press release to “above all, make sure the ticket is out of reach of any furry friends!”

Kooky canine connoisseurs

No dog has ever barked, “Do I look fat in this?” As everyone knows, dogs will eat pretty much anything — and everything. Shoes are just an amuse-bouche to Beagles and Great Danes.

When I was a teenager, my vacuum cleaner of a Cocker Spaniel ate my driver’s manual, a pin cushion, and an ink cartridge, all in one nosh. He remained fine.

When visiting some out-of-state friends years later, their lively Wire-haired Fox Terrier, Penny, got into my bag while we were out to dinner and ate my newly acquired bite guard plus my toothbrush.

Here are some wacky things dogs have eaten, by way of BarkHappy.com and IHeartDogs.com:

• A bag of cement
• Books
• Chapstick
• A Bible
• A couch
• Three cell phones
• A diamond ring
• Box of crayons
• A computer mouse

The dogs in question were okay, although some required (expensive) vet care.

“A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself.”
― Josh Billings