BIT OF A DOG'S BREAKFAST

A millionaire German Shepherd, his eccentric Italian owner and an elaborate web of lies designed to evade the taxman

- LAVERN DE VRIES

A CHEF cooks his breakfast each morning, a meal made of the finest meat, fresh vegetables and rice. Sometimes he enjoys caviar and at night he dines on steak done exactly to his liking. Between meals he plays catch with his personal trainer and travels the world in a private plane.

Welcome to the fabulous life of Gunther VI, the world's richest dog. The pampered German Shepherd comes from a long line of purebred hounds who inherited a jaw-dropping fortune from a mysterious German countess.

Or does he?

As the story goes, Karlotta Leibenstein lost her beloved son, Gunther, to suicide. When she died in 1992 without an heir, she left her R240 million fortune to her dog, Gunther III, and placed him in the care of her late son's close Italian friend Maurizio Mian. Her instructions were that the dog and his descendants – all to be called Gunther - were to live their lives in luxury.

When Gunther III passed away, Gunther IV inherited his wealth and Maurizio appointed trustees who invested the money in all the right places. Over the past 30 years, Maurizio built an empire on behalf of his canine boss - and today it's worth a whopping €370m (R7 billion) and Gunther VI is enjoying all the benefits. But the story isn't what it appears to be. A new Netflix documentary series, Gunther's Millions, delves into the bizarre story of the world's richest dog, exposing disturbing revelations about the man behind the money.

From setting up controversial social experiments and tax-evasion schemes to tragic tales of animal abuse, the saga has more twists and turns than a snake with an itch. Even Emilie Dumay and Aurelien Leturgie, the French filmmakers behind the documentary, admit they had difficulty peeling back the layers. "Everyone had their own intentions and their own agenda, Emilie says.

"It's definitely a story of deception to some degree."

A MAN WITH A PLAN