A tiny Chihuahua is in the dog house after chewing up a stash of cash at his family home in Brazil.

Playful puppy Caramelo had been left alone in the house. In Esperantina, Tocantins State, while his owners went out on 14th January.

But when they returned home the horrified family found he’d discovered a bag stuffed full of banknotes behind a wardrobe.

Caramel had managed to chew his way through R 1,340, worth more than GBP 200, which was being saved for a rainy day.

Video footage, later posted on Instagram, showed one family member desperately picking up scraps of banknotes and putting them in a bag for a visit to the bank.

Some notes, the family fears, had been eaten whole by the curious pup, reports local media.

Bank officials say they might be able to swap some less damaged notes for new ones but can’t compensate the family for notes they no longer have.

But many social media users sympathised with their plight.

One named as ray_franresiliente said: “If the family has not attacked the animal for this reason, that is enough. They have evolved!’

Another called teresa.raquel.37454 laughed: “The dog at my mother’s house has already torn up money. But it didn’t tear up because they managed to take it and the damage could be patched up.”