An Ashburton woman's Sunday walk along the river has gone viral after her dog picked up a very unusual chew toy - and the internet can't get enough.
Lissa Cross was walking along the Ashburton River this past Sunday with her 4-year-old Staffie/Mastiff cross Huni when the curious canine sniffed out an X-rated plaything ... and just wouldn't let it go.
"'Houston we have a problem'," Cross wrote on Facebook. "The dog found herself a new chew toy at the river and refuses to give it up!! How the hell do I make her understand this one and seriously WTF Ashburton."
Photos show Huni standing proudly with her discovery - a large flesh-coloured sex toy - and video shows her trying to bury it like a bone.
The post has been shared hundreds of times, in New Zealand and overseas, with Facebook users in hysterics over the bizarre doggie treat.
"Nothing like a dog with her bone," wrote one woman.
"Think your dog just won the Internet today. I can't stop laughing," said another.
Cross told the Herald that she and her husband "laughed till we cried" after the much-loved pooch found the large sex toy by the riverbank and says she's "stoked" that so many other people got a giggle out of the experience.
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Describing the day as "not your average trip to the river", Cross said Huni became quite attached to her new toy and wouldn't relinquish the naughty object for an hour.
"Well, let's just say an hour later after multiple sticks, branches and stones, the arrival of another car saved the day," Cross said, adding that "no words could have explained" to any onlookers what her and her husband were doing coaxing the toy "from her vice-like jaws".
Many commenters tagged their friends in in an effort to find the original owner of the well-chewed sex toy but Cross can do one better.
She revealed to the Herald that if the original owner wants it back they can find it in the tree line to the left of the entrance onto the riverbed at the Alford Forest Rd, past the rugby club.
Happy hunting.