How often have you had to deal with cliched excuses such as “the dog ate my homework” in your classroom?

A Wisconsin teenager used a variation on the classic excuse for evading school work this week when he missed a class trip to Peru. But for once, he was being truthful - his golden retriever, Sunshine, had eaten his passport.

Seventeen-year-old Jon Maier was denied access to the plane at Miami airport because the dog’s over-enthusiastic chewing had obscured some of the document’s numbers.

Jon could not get another document issued in time to join his peers from Eau Claire North High School. He was disappointed, but didn’t blame anyone, especially not his beloved Sunshine.