The 'Gunther's Millions' Dog Had 13 Commandments People Had To Follow
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The four-part Netflix docuseries Gunther’s Millions tells the very bizarre (and only partly-true) story of a dog named Gunther who allegedly inherited $400 million from a countess. The fascinating story of the millionaire dog has been widely reported on over the years, but his origin story has come into question thanks to some fishy evidence and contradictory statements from Gunther’s "handler," Maurizio Mian.
But, as it turns out, the whole countess story wasn't totally true. The scheme was concocted by Mian, and Gunther was just "the figurehead for various his companies, investments, properties and business endeavors," per Netflix.
But, as the docuseries explains, Maurizio has been a little…confusing about the whole Gunther story. The Associated Press once retracted a big story about the dog's real estate explaining that the legend of Gunther “appears to be little more than a joke that’s carried on for decades.” The article also noted that Maurizio told an Italian newspaper in 1995 that the late countess story “was just an invention to publicize the philosophy” of his foundation. Maurizio later said that those quotes were a hoax, and Gunther was really and truly a millionaire dog.
Still following? Here’s what you need to know about Gunther, plus where he is now.
Who is Gunther?
Gunther is a German Shepherd who was reportedly owned by German Countess Karlotta Liebenstein (whose existence has been called into question, BTW). Karlotta allegedly died in 1992, but not before she set up a multi-million dollar trust for her dog, Gunther, and his descendents, the Daily Mail reported. At least, that's what Mian has said.
Videos show Gunther hanging out in Italian villas, riding in a yacht, hanging with beautiful people…basically living the life.
There have actually been multiple “Gunthers”.
Yup, there are actually several dogs that have become the infamous "Gunther" over the years. That's because, as Maurizio explains in the docuseries, they’re apparently clones of each other. According to Maurizio, Gunther III was alive when Karlotta died. But these days, all the focus is on Gunther IV.
He recorded an album.
But it's not very good. Gunther’s album, called “Wild Dog,” was released by the Gunther Group in 1990, according to Discogs. The album features dance music with some of Gunther’s barks and is is actually kind of catchy.
Fast-forward to the four-minute mark here to hear some of the music:
Gunther had his own dance group.
Because why not? Gunther’s dance group was called The Burgundians. The group was made up of people (read: models) who lived with the dog and had to follow Gunther’s 13 Commandments, the documentary explains. Speaking of which...
He has a list of 13 Commandments.
The Gunther Commandments were allegedly spelled out in Countess Karlotta’s will and were designed to keep the pooch happy. As the documentary shows, the commandments said things like: “You can have all the gods you choose, just as long as they don’t upset your enjoyments. Only those who enjoy life go to heaven.”
Among the commandments are rules like the followers shouldn’t be conservative, should treat life like an “endless festival,” should study, and should be rich. There are also a few commandments in the mix about playing sports and being clever to help you “make love” better.
What is Gunther's net worth?
It depends on who you talk to. Those who say the millionaire dog story is a hoax believe he’s not worth anything. Those who believe Mian's story about Gunther story still think he’s worth at least $500 million, per People.
Gunther is probably still eating gourmet steaks in a mansion somewhere.
It’s not clear what Gunther is up to this second now that filming has wrapped on his docuseries, but odds are pretty high he’s still living it up.
Catch Gunther's Millions, streaming now on Netflix.
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