Last week, Kelley Davis went to her bank in Apex, North Carolina, to deposit money that she had been saving only to realize that the money was not in her pocket.

Through a rigorous process of elimination, Kelley discovered that her 2-year-old greater Swiss mountain dog, Augie, had deposited her money into his own Swiss bank account – his stomach!

Kelley and her family were trying to save up as much money as they could; even clipping newspaper coupons to save over $70 on their last trip to their local grocery store.

Kelley had picked up extra hours working as a physical therapist and had saved $400 in cash that she was excited to deposit into her bank account. But first she placed the crisp bills on top of her bedroom bureau and headed out to run a few quick errands.

With no one home to catch him in the act, Augie casually went into Kelley’s bedroom and made off with the $400 in cash! Augie then quickly consumed the money in order to hide any evidence of his crime.

Kelley was not impressed and took Augie for a very, very long walk the next day, and waited patiently for Augie to withdraw her savings. She soon started to see tiny pieces of the three $100 bills and the five $20 bills amongst Augie’s droppings.

That was when Kelley picked up the garden hose and remembered yelling to her kids: “Kids, get the colander! I’m out there panning for gold.”

A few days later, Augie had withdrawn almost $160 in tiny remnants of their former, full size; and an intact $20 bill.

Kelley hopes that if she is able to retrieve enough pieces, she will turn them into the Federal Reserve in the hopes of exchanging the remnants for actual bills.

According to Federal regulations, any currency that has been mutilated can be replaced as long as more than 50% of the bill is identifiable or if “the method of mutilation and supporting evidence demonstrates to the satisfaction of the Treasury” that the rest of the bill has been damaged.

“Who knows if there’s more coming or not,” she said. “We’re anxiously awaiting.”

In case you are wondering if Augie’s expensive taste will hurt him in any way, Dr. Steve Marks, an associate professor of internal medicine and critical care at the N.C. State University Veterinary School, says that the cash would not jeopardize Augie’s health.

“Dogs will ingest almost anything if given the chance,” Dr. Marks said.

It seems that money eating dogs are not that much of a rarity in the South. An 8 year old Lab and German shorthair mix named Pepper Ann, ate $800 in cash in Atlanta, Georgia, two years ago.

According to Pepper Ann’s owner, Debbie Hulleman, though, Pepper Ann is a very curious dog who has a tendency to get herself into all kinds of trouble.

“She’s always been naughty, and when she was little it was ‘you’re lucky you’re so cute, you’d be gone otherwise.’ But she’s just a cute little dog. She has personality, but she has issues also,” said her owner.

A great example of such an issue is Pepper Ann’s affinity to swallow anything that she can fit into her mouth.

“She’s eaten lipstick, so lipstick gets all over the carpet, ball point pens all over the carpet, toothpaste, shampoo. She’s done a lot, Kleenex, she’ll eat a whole box of Kleenex if she can get it,” explained Debbie.

When Debbie and her husband went away on vacation, she dropped Pepper Ann and her sibling Zach, at her mother’s house. Well, Pepper Ann’s Grandmother had a friend over who, besides being forewarned, left her purse on the carpet.

Later on when both of the women had woken up, they discovered that Pepper Ann had dug into the friend’s purse and consumed more than $800 in cash.

A few of the bills were scattered around the Grandmother’s house, whilst other pieces were found in the backyard wherever Pepper Ann had gone potty.

“Pretty soon (I) came to a pile that had a $50 bill hanging out, part of a fifty, and I said ‘gosh, look at that,'” Hulleman laughed “There were lots of piles with money hanging out there, so I had to save it, rinse it, strain it.”

Debbie had to tape together the bits and pieces of the money that was recovered, before she was able to exchange a little more than $700 with cleaner bills at her local bank.

She is, however, holding onto half of a $100 bill, in the hopes that she will recover the other half of it from Pepper Ann. She is less optimistic that Pepper Ann will turn over a new leaf however.

“She goes from room to room, looking to get into trouble.”

Photo Credit: The Examiner