What started out as a heavy and distressing turn of events for one dog owner has ended up as cause for celebration.
Harley, a 6-year-old pug from Manville, Rhode Island, recently won the third Annual VPI Hambone Award — an honor bestowed on the dog, cat, or exotic pet with the most creative mishap — for ingesting (and subsequently passing) more than 100 small rocks.
His owner, Lori Laverdiere, still doesn’t understand what prompted Harley to eat the rocks in the first place, but she is relieved to have her pal back at home after a scary overnight visit to the vet in June, when he was given medicine to facilitate the expelling of the rocks in what sounds oddly similar to humans passing kidney stones. Ouch!
Harley’s championship prize package includes a ham-shaped trophy and a bag filled with toys, treats, and an emergency pet kit.
VPI also awarded emergency pet kits to the second-place winner, Chico the Chihuahua, for surviving a tug of war on his leash with a Great Horned Owl; and the third-place honoree, Stella Artois, a Labrador who unfortunately got a big tin can of green beans lodged in her jaws after a (we say) unsuccessful attempt at dumpster-diving.
These awards were determined after narrowing the puppy playing field from 12 nominees who were culled from more than a million insurance claims received by VPI Pet Insurance. What a bittersweet and clearly occasionally amusing task that must have been! We’re glad that these winners are now safe and sound with their families.
Dogsters, what’s the strangest thing your pup has encountered or, well, swallowed?
Source: VPI Pet Insurance
