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Russian Bailiffs Seize Woman's Pet Dog to Compel Debt Payment

State bailiffs in Kaluga have seized an American Staffordshire Terrier as collateral after its owner failed to make a court-ordered payment, a news report said Wednesday.

The dog's owner had been ordered to pay damages of 12,000 rubles ($240) after flooding the flat beneath her own home, but refused to cough up the cash, the TASS news agency reported, citing the regional branch of the Federal Bailiffs Service.

When the bailiffs went to her flat to see about collecting the money, the woman refused to let them in and used her two dogs to scare them off, the report said.

But instead of running off with their tails between their legs, the bailiffs seized one of the dogs — identified as an American Staffordshire Terrier, a sumptuously priced breed in Russia — as collateral.

The woman was given 10 days to come up with the cash. Otherwise, the dog will be sold and the profit will be used to pay off her debt, the bailiffs told TASS.

The report comes just days after bailiffs in the Stavropol region seized a pedigree hairless cat belonging to a man who had defaulted on his debt. He was also given 10 days to pay off his debt or face the prospect of losing his pet.

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