Psychic Dog Wins The Lottery

Cherry Valley , Ma.--Mei-Li, a seven year old Shih-Tzu owned by Eric & Velma Dacron of Cherry Valley, has the uncanny ability to choose winning lottery numbers.

In a recent Megabucks drawing, the talented canine picked six out of six winning numbers, earning the couple $400,000.

"She has always been a very smart dog," says Velma. "She knows the names of all her toys and understands a lot of commands. Also, she knows when Eric is coming home-even when he's calling!"

Ms. Dacron relates how the dog runs to the telephone and sits beside it moments before it rings," and each time she does that, it's Eric calling!"

"We saw other things," adds Eric, "like the time our cat got stuck in a tree and Mei-Li came running upstairs and barked in front of me. I didn't pay much attention at first, but she did this a couple more times, so I followed her. She ran over to the back door and I looked out and saw the cat up a tree!"

The couple started paying closer attention to the dog's behavior, but they really took notice when, while watching a lottery drawing on television, the dog ran to the screen and starting barking excitedly.

"She always watches television with us, but this time it was different," says Velma. "She sat in front of the screen and when a couple of the balls flew out, she stood up, put her paws on the screen and barked."

This happened on a few more occasions before Eric got an idea. He printed out forty-two pairs of numbers, cut them into squares, and spread the squares out on the dining room floor.

"I put a doggy treat on each square, then called Mei-Li in and told her to pick out the numbers."

It took a couple of tries, but the dog quickly got the idea and was soon choosing six out of the forty-two numbers. Eventually she chose the numbers without the treats.

"We waited," Ms. Dacron says, "to make sure she wasn't being influenced by the doggy treats."

The couple started writing down the numbers chosen by the dog, playing those numbers in the weekly drawing. At first their winnings were small and could have been coincidence, but when they won $400,000 on all six numbers in the recent drawing, they knew it was no fluke. They were the proud owners of a psychic pooch.

When asked how they would spend the money, Eric replied, "I can get that Class A RV I've been looking at!" "And I can get hair extensions-I've wanted some for so long. And we're going to take Mei-Li to the pet store and let her pick out a new bed and some squeaky toys," Velma says.

"We always knew she was special," adds Dacron. "We just didn't know how much."