Excited pup goes postal on the front door

Meet Archie, a loving and excitable medium mixed-breed pup from New Jersey.

Sometimes, a pet and their new family are the absolute perfect match. When pet parents and Nationwide members Troy and Briana S. brought Archie home, he immediately became a vital member of their pack.

“He needs to be directly in the middle,” Troy says. “If I come home from work and hug Brianna, he's wiggling his nose right in—because he needs to be part of that affection. He wants to be right up front and getting pet.”

“He thinks he's a kid,” Briana adds.

Archie is, above all else, a big snuggler. His family refers to him as a 65-pound lapdog. Troy says, “If you're trying to lay in bed or on the couch, he needs to be against you or on top of you or lay his head on your feet.”

As their family has grown, Archie has also taken on new roles: Big brother and best friend to Troy and Briana’s young son.

Troy says, “Our son crawls and climbs on Archie, and he's just the best with him. Our son loves to give him treats. I think they have a little bit of an alliance there.”

Like many family dogs, Archie is also a vigilant protector, alerting his household of anyone coming by—including, with timely regularity, the mail carrier. One day, his excitement got the best of him, leading to a misstep that inspired this Hambone Award nomination.

What happened?

Troy was looking forward to unwinding after finishing an important exam when he heard glass break in the other room. He quickly went to investigate, figuring that Archie knocked something over and it broke. He did not expect that something to be their vintage plate glass front door.

“He jumped up on the window with his paws, and his paw went through the window. I guess it wasn't tempered like new doors are, so when it broke, it broke into larger pieces,” Troy recalls. “I came upon a pretty gruesome scene.”

The injured pup, shocked by the turn of events, ran off throughout the house, tracking a mess from room to room over rugs and sofas. Troy did his best to calm his frightened pet so they could rush to the emergency veterinarian.

“I took a second to collect my thoughts and got him cleaned him up,” Troy says. “Luckily, his face wasn't cut up at all.”

Troy called Briana at work to tell her about the incident. She left the office and rushed home to find a chilling scene—a broken window, stained furniture, a mess all over.

Despite the scary encounter, Archie’s injuries weren’t life threatening. After some stitches, he was ready to return home. When Briana went to pick up him, Archie was as cool as a cucumber.

“When we picked him up, he was walked out of there wagging his tail like nothing happened,” Troy says.

How Nationwide helped

Archie still gets excited when the mail comes, but there's significantly less glass danger with the new door that has been installed. But in case something else comes up, Troy and Briana are ready with Nationwide pet insurance.

“My first time hearing about [pet insurance] was through my job,” Briana remembers. “I was surprised by it. I was like, ‘Oh, this is an interesting perk.’ It's been one of our more useful work perks that I had been offered.”

Troy and Briana initially got pet insurance to help cover routine costs like checkups. But after their surprising front door incident, they are more sold than ever.

“We recommend every time one of our friends gets any type of animal, dog, cat, whatever,” she says. “We're like, ‘Listen, you should look at pet insurance. It's a no brainer.’”