Three Maryland dogs inherit $800,000 estate

Canines feast on spaghetti, meatballs and garlic bread every Friday night

Video: Wonderful World

Blind climbers scale Mt. Kilimanjaro
July 10: A group of 25 adventurers, including blind climbers, conquer Tanzania's Mount Kilimanjaro. KPNX's Melissa Gonzalo reports.

A trio of monkey babies in Indonesia

Baby boom at Tokyo zoo

Watch the ISS orbit the earth

Music man brings harmony home

Your turn!

Inspirational athletes
In honor of the 2008 Olympics, we're celebrating the athletes in your own life who inspire greatness.

Giving

Courtesey Patti Stanger

'Matchmaker' lends hand to cancer patients
Cause Celeb talks with Patti Stanger, CEO of The Millionaire's Club matchmaking service, about her work on behalf of the City of Hope cancer center.

Arquette to live in box for 2 days

Shriners may downsize some hospitals

Latest Buffett lunch auctions for $1.7 million

Newsweek: First lady reaches out to D.C.’s poor

Willie Garson touts adoptions in U.S.

Breaking news alerts (about 1 per day)
Click here to sign up or text NEWS to MSNBC (67622).

Find more alerts at alerts.msnbc.com

updated 7:15 p.m. ET Dec. 29, 2007

HAGERSTOWN, Md. - They're not as loaded as Leona Helmsley's pooch, but three Maryland canines are plenty rich enough to live high on the dog.

The dogs — named Buckshot, Katie and Obu-Jet — inherited $400,000 and a house in Hagerstown with the death last year of owner Ken Kemper. Altogether, their estate is worth about $800,000.

The beagle and two Labrador mixes were strays when Kemper adopted them. They now live at their house with caretaker Roy Grady.

Story continues below ↓

advertisement | your ad here

They might not be aware of their wealth, but they do know that on one night a week Grady treats them to spaghetti dinner, with meatballs and garlic bread.

"They love it," he said. "They know when it's coming on Friday, too. They have that time clock."

Top-notch benefits
They also get health care. When Katie got out of the yard last summer and was hit by a car, she made 40 visits to a veterinarian's office to mend her broken legs and hip. The bill was close to $6,000.

Helmsley's dog, a pampered but reportedly ill-tempered Maltese named Trouble, inherited $12 million from the late hotelier. But unlike that pooch, Kemper's pets seem content romping in their yard.

"They're the most loving dogs," Grady said.

Kemper worked for the Voice of America and commonly brought home stray dogs when he returned from overseas assignments.

The executor of Kemper's estate, longtime friend Karin Anderson, said that when the dogs die, she will probably donate the remainder of the estate to an animal charity because that's what Kemper would have wanted.

"He really loved animals," Anderson said. "The man's heart was so big, it needed its own ZIP code."