A New Jersey family with an adorably guilty dog almost missed the chance to compete on America's Funniest Home Videos because people stole their video online, NJ.com reports.

Maria Kreh of Mantua and her family will compete on the show Oct. 18 against two other families for a top prize, after submitting video of Chase, her dog. Chase, it seems, had sneaked away with a mouthful of tater tots when family members weren't looking.

"He was sitting there and you couldn't tell that he had anything in his mouth," she told NJ.com. "I told him he was such a good boy." That's when a very embarrassed-looking Chase fessed up — and let all the tots out.

But NJ.com reports the family was almost disqualified from AFV when someone else took the video without permission, dubbed new audio over it, and it started spreading online with the dog misidentified as "Ralph." AFV producers decided not to fault the family, the report says.

 

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