Zeus – and five other pets – managed to escape unharmed (Picture: Ross Parry/Tom Maffick)

A puppy blew up his owners’ house after he chewed through a can of deodorant.

Greyhound cross Zeus was left alone for just ten minutes before he sparked an explosion so powerful it shattered double-glazed windows, blew through floorboards and set a sofa on fire.

The six-month-old pup had chewed through a can of Lynx deodorant and, as it contents sprayed out, they were ignited by the heat from a lamp.

The blast caused £2,000 of damage but Zeus, along with five other pets in the house, escaped uninjured.


Owner Kerry Leech said: ‘He’s just a pup and at the moment he’ll chew anything.’



Miss Leech, 20, and her partner, Mathew Heckler, 22, were on their way to the shops on Saturday when they were alerted to the explosion by a text from a neighbour in Goldthorpe, in South Yorkshire.

She said: ‘I was panicking about our pets and rushed back. We saw flashing lights, two fire engines were outside the house and the street was blocked off.

‘We thought someone had put something through the letter-box or there had been a gas explosion.’

At first, firefighters thought the blast was caused by a leaky gas pipe but an investigation later concluded ‘a dog caused the explosion’.

Mr Heckler said: ‘I didn’t even know we had a can of Lynx in the living room. It was a Christmas present from Kerry’s parents and was in a gift box right next to the fire and back boiler.’

Prof Tom Welton, head of the chemistry department at Imperial College London, said the butane contained in deodorant was highly flammable.

He added: ‘The lowest temperature it can be ignited is minus 60C, so it is very dangerous stuff. These cans do come with warnings but obviously a puppy can’t read those.’