$300 recovered from stomach of beagle

LARGO, Fla., Sept. 17 (UPI) -- A Florida family said they were able to recover $300 eaten by their beagle by collecting his droppings and washing the scraps of paper.

Corey and Hope O'Kelley of Largo said their 10-year-old beagle, Arnie, downed most of a $300 cash wad while they were sleeping last month and they soon decided the only way to recoup their loss would be to collect the pieces of the money from the canine's droppings, the Tampa Bay (Fla.) Times reported Monday.

The couple said they took Arnie were extra walks and were "relentless" about collecting his dog doo in order to retrieve their cash.

Hope O'Kelley said she was delighted when Arnie assisted by vomiting up some of the scraps.

"We found a pile of vomit, and I was like, 'Yes,'" she said.

She said her father's wife and sister-in-law assisted with helping to piece the money back together after it had been cleaned. She said the process took about 90 minutes "with wine."

The couple said the story had a happy ending with their bank agreeing to replace the cash since they were able to piece the bills back together well enough to read the serial numbers.