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When cars at a dealership are damaged, most people assume it was the work of a failed thief or maybe some teenage vandals. I would wager that no one’s first guess after hearing hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage to five cars would be that a pair of stray dogs did it. In fact, even as I write that, it feels like a really bad way to commit insurance fraud or, at best, the plot of Cujo, which Stephen King wrote while on a bender. If it weren’t for the video evidence, I wouldn’t be surprised if the insurance company thought that, too. 

A pair of stray dogs run wild at a car dealership

If you are a Stephen King fan like me, you might have done some snickering while reading Cujo. The idea of a dog wreaking that much havoc always kind of hits as a little silly, that is, until you see the video footage of these dogs. 

Footage surveillance shared by ABC13 News shows the perps absolutely shredding cars at G Motors. The dogs ripped off bumpers, fenders, and more, causing over an estimated $350k in damage. The dogs were running wild in the dealership from Nov 6 – Nov 18. In that time, the dogs tore up five cars. 

Can a dog damage your car? 

A dog sits in a cabriolet.
A dog sits in a cabriolet | Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV via Getty Images)

Dogs have the potential to be pretty destructive. Finance manager Imran Haq told ABC13 he thought “a wolf” was possibly responsible until reviewing the footage. “You just never think a dog has the kind of power to tear up a car like that,” sales manager Gaby Fakhoury said. 

Adding more silliness to the story, after reviewing the video, at least one of the bouts of damage is believed to have happened because the dogs were chasing a cat that ran into the car lot. While silly to us, the people working at the car are more on the Cujo side of things. 

“Nobody wants to leave their cars anymore. They want to make sure they get straight into the office. They’re so scared,” he explained. 

Can you call the cops on a dog? 

A rear view of a police SUV pulled over on the road
A cop car parked on the side of the road | via Getty Images

You can call the police on a dog, but as the folks at G Motors found out, typically, the police won’t intervene in an issue with an animal unless the animal is hurting people. Instead of waiting around for the dogs to eventually hurt someone, the dealership has decided to move locations. It is unclear if the move next month was already planned or is a result of the dog menace. Either way, you can’t blame the dealership for wanting a solution to this issue. Cars are already in high demand due to lower-than-normal stock. Used car inventory is even worse than new car inventory.