Russ Berkman will be living out a golf fan’s dream by traveling to Augusta this week and attending the Masters. But thanks to his dog Sierra, it was almost an experience that didn’t happen.
Berkman, who lives in the coffee-and-rain mecca of Seattle, won the tickets in a contest back in August and was set for the trip until he came home the night before leaving and discovered all four of his tickets missing. As he explained to “Mitch in the Morning” on KJR radio, he realized what had happened when he found the top parts of the tickets chewed off.
“I found a few strings on my hardwood floor that looked like the strings connected to my Masters tickets,” he said.
Sounds like Sierra is a picky eater. But, no matter, it was true: Sierra, a Swiss Mountain Dog, devoured all four of his tickets, perhaps making a three-legged, one-eyed cat more of a man’s best friend in Berkman’s eyes at that moment.
In an attempt to retrieve the tickets, Berkman ended up feeding Sierra hydrogen peroxide (which is safe for dogs) to induce vomiting. When Sierra finally puked them all up, Berkman sifted through the wreckage, looking for shreds of ticket, and actually put all the pieces he found back together, officially making it the world’s most disgusting jigsaw puzzle.
“Frankly, she didn’t have much in her stomach, so it worked out,” he said. “I didn’t know what I was going to find.”
Although he was able to piece together only “about 70 percent” of each ticket, there is a happy ending. Berkman reached out to the Masters ticket office, explained his situation and was able to get his tickets re-printed. Sierra probably wishes he thought of that before, you know, forcing her to puke her guts out.
H/T Devil Ball Golf
Photos via KJR
