Dog owner retrieves $100 bills swallowed by pet

During the Watergate investigation, Deep Throat famously told Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward to “follow the money.”

Wayne Klinkel took the advice to an extreme conclusion after his dog swallowed five $100 bills, reports the Independent Record. For days, Klinkel followed his golden retriever Sundance, methodically retrieving the lost bills each time the 12-year-old dog defecated.

“Sundance is notorious for eating anything and everything, so right away I knew what happened,” Klinkel told the paper.

Amazingly, while the dog did consume the five $100 bills, one piece of tender was left untouched: a $1 bill.

Klinkel admits to largely being at fault. During a family trip, he said, he and his wife left the money in their car, where Sundance was locked up.

“I pretty much recovered two fairly complete bills and had some other pieces,” Klinkel said. “But it wasn’t nearly enough there to do anything with it.”

For months, Klinkel assumed the other $300 were lost to the ravages of Sundance’s digestive tract. But when his daughter came to visit recently, she brought a plastic bag containing more pieces of the missing money.

“She said, ‘Oh, Dad, look what Coty found in the backyard,’” Klinkel told the paper. (While it wasn't noted in the Record, it's assumed Klinkel and Sundance had visited Klinkel's daughter's home.) “They found it after the snow had melted," Klinkel continued. "She said they were shocked it hadn’t blown away. Good thing it’s a fenced yard.”

Klinkel painstakingly taped the pieces together. Afterward, he attempted to exchange the bills at the local branch of the Federal Reserve and at several banks. All locations denied Klinkel’s request, but one branch did point him in the direction of the Federal Bureau of Engraving and Printing, where he can request a check in exchange for the damaged bills.

However, it’s far from a guarantee that he’ll get a check for $500 as the serial numbers are reportedly missing from Klinkel’s reconstructed bills.

While Klinkel awaits word on whether his canine-infused cash will be accepted, he can at least take solace in knowing that he’s not alone. And some of the cases have ended on a happy note: In 2008, a Missouri man was reimbursed after mice consumed $1,000 worth of $20 bills.