Puzzling snack for mixed-breed dog

Meet Lambeau, a mixed-breed pup living in North Carolina.

Having relocated to North Carolina, Nationwide members Emily H. and Matt W. had planned on getting established in their new home before adopting a dog. But just two short weeks after their move, fate stepped in.

"I decided to download PetFinder to see what was out there as far as available rescue dogs,” Matt says. “Immediately upon seeing [Lambeau] I thought, ‘I have to throw an application out there at least.’” Little did he know that his application would be seen before he could talk to Emily about his incognito search.

“He came home that day, and I said, ‘Do you have something that you need to tell me?’” Emily laughs. The couple had a serious conversation about their readiness for a new family member. Just as they leaned toward waiting on adoption, Lambeau’s foster mom reached out saying that she and Lambeau would be attending an event in Raleigh. One photo was all it took to change the couple’s minds.

Emily remembers, “Matt showed me his profile. And I immediately said, ‘Okay, we have to go to Raleigh tomorrow.’”

“Immediately upon meeting him, he came up to us,” Matt continues. “He was super happy and playful, and his personality really showed through.” The rest was history—Lambeau was going home.

Despite the sooner-than-planned adoption, Lambeau proved to be the missing piece to their family puzzle. However, when a puzzling disappearance occurred, Lambeau landed this Hambone Award nomination.

What happened?

Lambeau’s Hambone saga started innocently enough. Emily was looking for ways to chill around the house and took up an old favorite activity to unwind. “I was looking to pick up different hobbies,” Emily remembers. “I'd always loved doing puzzles. So, I thought you know what? I'm going to start doing puzzles again.”

She laid out a puzzle on the coffee table to piece together over the course of several days. Lambeau hadn't shown any interest in it at all, so when she needed to run out on an errand, she figured it was OK to trust him. "I said to myself, 'He's really good about not eating anything. I think this will be all right,'" she remembers.

Lambeau, of course, had other ideas. Emily returned home and everything seemed fine—until she noticed the coffee table. “I remember looking around and thinking, ‘Where are all the puzzle pieces?’” Emily says. “Lambeau ate all of the loose pieces but left the border and the corners.”

Upon realizing what had occurred, Emily and Matt called their veterinarian, who advised them that they could either wait and let it pass or induce vomiting. Not wanting to risk a 250-piece blockage, they chose the latter option. Luckily, they were able to recover all the puzzle pieces without surgery.

The mystery of the missing puzzle pieces solved, Lambeau made a quick recovery, and Emily and Matt received reimbursement for their eligible expenses.*

How Nationwide helped

Knowing Lambeau was a clumsy pup, Emily and Matt got pet insurance for him on a friend’s recommendation.

Matt says, “He's just so full of energy. He's so lanky and long that he'd just slide all over the place. He would do flips and like, he made us very nervous. So, we said, ‘We should probably think about pet insurance.’”

Now, they’re glad they did. While Lambeau is less of a counter—or coffee table—surfer now, his coverage is there to help with any other eligible veterinary bills.* “It's an extra added sense of security,” Emily says. “If there is an emergency that arises, I know that we have a backup.”

Matt continues, “Because we knew we had this insurance, we didn't need to worry quite as much about cost, and we could focus on what the best thing for him would be.”