One dog couldn't resist when a very special delivery arrived and ended up chewing up a recent graduate's degree certificate before they opened it.
Winston the Dachshund beat the whole family to the door and destroyed an entire corner off what represented years of hard work.
Steph Burford returned home to find the guilty puppy sitting beside the partially shredded brown envelope before she realised it was her son's degree.
However, the 48-year-old from Warton in Lancaster says the whole family just had to laugh it off, telling TeamDogs it was even the first time something like it had happened.
Her son, Kyle, whose degree it was, no longer lives at home so wasn't able to witness its arrival in one piece before Winston put his own touch to it.
Steph said: “He hasn’t ever chewed our mail before but this one seemed to say ‘important’ on it.
“My eldest son, Liam, hid in his bedroom because he couldn’t stop laughing when he realised what had happened. My daughter, Rhian, who owns Winston the naughty pup, went very quiet.
“I tried to find the corner piece of the certificate that had gone missing but I’m guessing that has long gone and will no doubt present itself in a different form soon.”
Kyle, 22, studied at York St John University and said he looked on Instagram and saw all his student friends had put photos up of their lovely certificates in shiny new folders before he saw what state his was in.
Luckily though, another one is on its way although it cost £30 for a replacement.
Steph couldn’t bring herself to call Kyle and tell him what had happened until a few hours later.
She said: “I have ordered a letterbox cage now so when the next one comes through, he won’t be able to get it if we are out.”
Kyle studied sport and exercise therapy and has just started a Masters in Leeds so he'll need to keep that one safe whenever it's due to arrive.
