DOG
STORIES
(excerpts
from posts)
(If you want to retell any of the stories listed below, be sure
to obtain permission from the copyright holder if the material
is not in the public domain)
1) My
favorite to tell is "Why Dogs Sniff
Under Tails?" It's listed as "Iroquois," but I'm not sure of that. It tells of how wolf pups were brought
to live with the Two-Legged ones, but the Four-Legs were forbidden
to dance or sing. One night the dogs decided to have a dance,
but they took off their tails because they were sweeping up the
dust. They also sang which, of course, gave them away. In their
haste to get away, they just grabbed any old tail. ( I go into
great detail and have the audience contribute to how the Jack
Russell received the Husky tail, etc. The more ridiculous the
better.)
So... that's why dogs are always sniffing each others' tails,
searching and asking "Are you sure you have the right one?
Isn't that my tail?"
2) "Why Dogs Hate Cats" (found in The Knee-High Man and Other Tales (Picture Puffins)
, by Julius
Lester. Dog and cat were great friends and both loved either a
ham or cheese. They pool their money to buy favorite food and
take turns carrying it home . Dog carries it for a while on the
walk home and refers to it as "our ....." Cat then takes
a turn carrying it and refers to it as "my .... ." Cat
eventually climbs a tree and eats the whole thing. When cat finally
comes down from the tree, dog chases him and dogs have chased
cats ever since.
Response: There is a version of this
story in a Hamilton and Weiss book called Why
Dog Chases Cat. One of my student tellers is sharing this
story on Friday at the festival. I believe it is their book, How & Why Stories: World Tales Kids Can Read & Tell (World Storytelling from August House (Paperback))
.
3) "Why Dogs Have Cold Wet Noses" (Dog plugged hole in Ark's side with his nose.)
4) There is the very serious story - part of a much longer Indian
Epic about Yudistra who would not enter Heaven without his dog.
5) There is a shorter version of All Dogs
go to Heaven about a man who would not enter Heaven without
his dog. (Can be told that the place he could not enter was NOT
Heaven OR that is was not "Heaven for him.") Later on,
he finds identical place (heavenly fountains, etc.) which says
they used the earlier place to screen out those who would leave
their best friends behind.
6) The Old Man of the Flowers, a
folktale from Japan tells the story of a faithful dog. There is
a fairytale (Andersen, I think) about a soldier who goes down
into a hollow tree and finds 3 dogs with large eyes guarding treasure.
Anyone have more details? There was a joke posted recently based
on the fact that dog is god spelled backwards. The
Dog and the Bone (an Aesop fable) Why
Dog Hates Alligator - I think J. Reneaux (spelling?) wrote
this picture book.
7) From Fran Stalling - Musicians of Bremen
Two guys are out hunting. One turns to the other and says, "Your
dog has no nose! How does he smell?"
"Awful," says the other.
When telling Musicians of Bremen,
I have the anitquated hound dog complain, "When I was young
I was a really good hunting dog. But now I'm old and I don't run
so good or see so good. My master says I don't smell so good,
either." It usually gets a laugh from the older students
and the teachers.
http://www.franstallings.com/
8) From Bill Andre
I received this little story from a friend on the web and he got
it from a friend of his. (I'm trying to say that I don't know
where the story came from but I assume it is not copyrighted.
Anyway, here goes......
It is reported that the following edition of the Book
of Genesis was discovered in the Dead Sea Scrolls. If authentic,
it would shed light on the question, "Where do pets come
from?"
And Adam said, "Lord, when I was in the garden, you walked
with me everyday. Now I do not see you anymore. I am lonesome
here and it is difficult for me to remember how much you love
me."
And God said, "No problem! I will create a companion for
you that will be with you forever and who will be a reflection
of my love for you, so that you will know I love you, even when
you cannot see me. Regardless of how selfish and childish and
unlovable you may be, this new companion will accept you as you
are and will love you as I do, in spite of yourself."
And God created a new animal to be a companion for Adam. And it
was a good animal. And God was pleased. And the new animal was
pleased to be with Adam and he wagged his tail.
And Adam said, "But Lord, I have already named all the animals
in the Kingdom and all the good names are taken and I cannot think
of a name for this new animal."
And God said, "No problem! Because I have created this new
animal to be a reflection of my love for you, his name will be
a reflection of my ow >name, and you will call him DOG."
And Dog lived with Adam and was a companion to him and loved him.
And Adam was comforted. And God was pleased. And Dog was content
and wagged his tail.
After a while, it came to pass that Adam's guardian angel came
to the Lord and said, "Lord, Adam has become filled with
pride. He struts and preens like a peacock and he believes he
is worthy of adoration. Dog has indeed taught him that he is loved,
but no one has taught him humility."
And the Lord said, "No problem! I will create for him a companion
who\ will be with him forever and who will see him as he is. The
companion will remind him of his limitations, so he will know
that he is not always worthy of adoration."
And God created CAT to be a companion to Adam. And Cat would not
obey Adam. And when Adam gazed into Cat's eyes, he was reminded
that he was not the supreme being. And Adam learned humility.
And God was pleased. And Adam was greatly improved.
And Cat did not care one way or the other.
9) From Angela Jackson
THE DOG
A butcher is working, and really busy. He notices a dog in his
shop and shoos him away. Later, he notices the dog is back again.
He walks over to the dog, and notices the dog has a note in his
mouth. The butcher takes the note, and it reads, "Can I have
12 sausages and a leg of lamb, please." The butcher looks,
and lo and behold, in the dog's mouth, there is a ten dollar bill.
So the butcher takes the money, puts the sausages and lamb in
a bag, and places it in the dog's mouth. The butcher is very impressed,
and since it's closing time, he decides to close up shop and follow
the dog. So, off he goes.
The dog is walking down the street and comes to a crossing. The
dog puts down the bag, jumps up and presses the crossing button.
Then he waits patiently, bag in mouth, for the lights to change.
They do, and he walks across the road, with the butcher following.
The dog then comes to a bus stop, and starts looking at the timetable.
The butcher is in awe at this stage. The dog checks out the times,
and sits on one of the seats to wait for the bus.
Along comes a bus. The dog walks to the front of the bus, looks
at the number, and goes back to his seat. Another bus comes. Again
the dog goes and looks at the number, notices it's the right bus,
and climbs on. The butcher, by now open-mouthed, follows him onto
the bus. The bus travels thru town and out to the suburbs. Eventually
the dog gets up, moves to the front of the bus, and standing on
his hind legs, pushes the button to stop the bus. The dog gets
off, groceries still in his mouth, and the butcher still following.
They walk down the road, and the dog approaches a house. He walks
up the path, and drops the groceries on the step. Then he walks
back down the path, takes a big run, and throws himself -whap!-
against the door. He goes back down the path, takes another run,
and throws himself -whap!- against the door again! There's no
answer at the door, so the dog goes back down the path, jumps
up on a narrow wall, and walks along the perimeter of the garden.
He gets to a window, and bangs his head against it several times.
He walks back, jumps off the wall, and waits at the door. The
butcher watches as a big guy opens the door, and starts laying
into the dog, really yelling at him.
The butcher runs up and stops the guy. "What the heck are
you doing? This dog is a genius. He could be on TV, for God's
sake!" To which the guy responds, "Clever, my eye. This
is the second time this week he's forgotten his key!"
10) I know of the Japanese story of Hachiko, whom everyone in
Tokyo knows, faithful dog of a . . . professor? Ever after the
professor died, he still came to the street corner where he would
wait for the prof to meet him on the way home, every day. When
Hachiko the dog died, they have a stone statue on a pedestal -
you can probably see photos on the web of it- a big meeting place
for lovers, etc. Big common saying in Japan, "faithful as
Hachiko."
I spoke with Rav Sylvia Bar who reports a French variant, probably
this century, location unknown, reality uncertain. Blind, poor
man, pencil seller on a street corner, and the dog with whom he
lived. When the peddler died, his seeing-eye dog went daily to
the street corner where they had peddled, and also stopped at
the little cafe/restaurant where they had used to stop for a bite
on the way home. When the dog too died, he was remembered by the
town. Sylvia remembers this from an experimental movie clip in
LA fifty-odd years ago.
Rrruf.
Your Brother Heartfire
11) From Diane F. Wyzga
Famous Dog Quotes
"Some days you're the dog; some days you're the hydrant." -- Unknown
"Whoever said you can't buy happiness forgot about puppies." -- Gene Hill
"In dog years, I'm dead." -- Unknown
"Dogs feel very strongly that they should always go with
you in the car, in case the need should arise for them to bark
violently at nothing right in your ear." -- Dave Barry
"Outside of a dog, a book is probably man's best friend;
inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." -- Groucho Marx
"To his dog, every man is Napoleon; hence the constant popularity
of dogs." -- Aldous Huxley
"A dog teaches a boy fidelity, perseverance, and to turn
around three times before lying down." -- Robert Benchley
"Did you ever walk into a room and forget why you walked
in? I think that's how dogs spend their lives." -- Sue Murphy
"I loathe people who keep dogs. They are cowards who haven't
got the guts to bite people themselves." -- August Strindberg
"No animal should ever jump up on the dining room furniture
unless absolutely certain that he can hold his own in the conversation." -- Fran Lebowitz
"Ever consider what they must think of us? I mean, here we
come back from a grocery store with the most amazing haul -- chicken,
pork, half a cow. They must think we're the greatest hunters on
earth!" -- Anne
Tyler
"I wonder if other dogs think poodles are members of a weird
religious cult." -- Rita Rudner
"My dog is worried about the economy because Alpo is up to
99 cents a can. That's almost $7.00 in dog money." -- Joe
Weinstein
"If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain
dogs I have known will go to heaven, and very, very few persons." -- James Thurber
"You enter into a certain amount of madness when you marry
a person with pets." -- Nora Ephron
"Don't accept your dog's admiration as conclusive evidence
that you are wonderful." -- Ann Landers
"Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs
should relax and get used to the idea." -- Robert A. Heinlein
"In order to keep a true perspective of one's importance,
everyone should have a dog that will worship him and a cat that
will ignore him." -- Dereke Bruce, Taipei, Taiwan
"Of all the things I miss from veterinary practice, puppy
breath is one of the most fond memories!" -- Dr. Tom Cat
"There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking
your face." -- Ben Williams
"When a man's best friend is his dog, that dog has a problem." -- Edward Abbey
"Cat's motto: No matter what you've done wrong, always try
to make it look like the dog did it." -- Unknown
"Money will buy you a pretty good dog, but it won't buy the
wag of his tail." -- Unknown
"No one appreciates the very special genius of your conversation
as the dog does." -- Christopher Morley
"A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than
he loves himself." -- Josh Billings
"Man is a dog's idea of what God should be." -- Holbrook
Jackson
"The average dog is a nicer person than the average person." -- Andrew A. Rooney
"He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog.
You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful
and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to
be worthy of such devotion." -- Unknown
"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he
will not bite you; that is the principal difference between a
dog and a man." -- Mark Twain
"Things that upset a terrier may pass virtually unnoticed
by a Great Dane." -- Smiley Blanton
"I've seen a look in dogs' eyes, a quickly vanishing look
of amazed contempt, and I am convinced that basically dogs think
humans are nuts." -- John Steinbeck
Arf, Arf Meow, Diane Wyzga
12) Judy Schmidt (I include these just in case they've slipped
your mind)
"A Working Dog"
A salesman dropped in to see a business customer. Not a soul was
in the office except a big dog emptying wastebaskets. The salesman
stared at the animal, wondering if his imagination could be playing
tricks on him. The dog looked up and said, "Don't be surprised.
This is just part of my job." "Incredible!" exclaimed
the man. "I can't believe it! Does your boss know what a
prize he has in you? An animal that can talk!" "No,
no," pleaded the dog. "Please don't! If that man finds
out I can talk, he'll make me answer the phone as well!"
"Dog's Telegram"
A German shepherd went to a Western Union office, took out a blank
form and wrote, "Woof.. woof..woof..woof..woof..woof..woof..woof...woof."
The clerk examined the paper and told the dog, "There are
only nine words here. You could send another 'woof' for the same
price." "But," the dog replied, "that would
be silly."
"A
Talking Dog"
There was a guy who took his dog into a bar. Upon seeing the dog,
the bartender tells the owner that dogs were not allowed into
the bar. "Oh, this dog is special. This dog can talk,"
t he owner said. "Really," the bartender replied, "Sure
it can 'speak,' like almost any dog." "No," the
owner said, "This dog can actually talk like a normal human."
The bartender couldn't believe this for one second. He then decided
to make a bet with the owner. "I tell you what, I'll give
you free drinks for the evening if that dog can do what you're
saying." The owner turns to the dog and asks, "Who was
the greatest baseball player of all time?" The dog answers,
"Roof!" Upon hearing this, the bartender picks up the
owner and the dog and throws them out the door. While sitting
on the sidewalk, the dog turns to the owner quite confused, "What?
Ty Cobb?!?"
13) Some
background: Yudishtra was the eldest of the 5 Pandava brothers,
and, despite his mortal lineage, was the son of Dharma, god of
justice. In the normal course of things, Yudishtra would have
become king. However, he was cheated out of his succession, and
this unleashed a series of events which culminated in the great
war of the Mahabharatha. Krishna (the god Vishnu in a human avatar)
took the side of the Pandavas and of justice.
It was 36 years after the great war. The tribe of the Yadavs,
from the midst of whom Krishna had walked out to bestride the
world, had fallen into decadence. In one last mad drunken skirmish,
all men from the tribe, but for Krishna, his brother Balaram,
and a friend perished. The curse that had foretold their end had
come true. Krishna and his two brethren had no desire left to
live.
Balaram chose to die of his own will, as befitted a god. But Krishna,
who had taken human form, was determined to play his part till
the end. Having made preparations for the care of the women, the
children, and the elderly, he turned his attention to the vexing
question of how he could die like a mortal. As he slept in the
forest, a hunter mistook the sleeping form for an animal, and
unleashed one arrow, which entered through his foot and pierced
the length of his body. Grateful for the release, Krishna died.
(By the way, the foot was Krishna's only vulnerable part, and
I believe that this version predates the myth of Achilles.) The
last rites for the heroes were performed by Arjun, the heroic
archer and third Pandava brother.
Without Krishna and the menfolk, Dwarka was dead. The sea took
what was left, submerging the beautiful buildings where the Yadavs
had lived. The remaining citizens were escorted out of the city
by Arjun. Yet, when the band was set upon by robbers, Arjun, weakened
by grief, failed to protect them.
The death of Krishna drove the Pandavas to grief. (Having fought
an internecine war, the fruits had always been Pyrrhic, and the
shadow of grief had never really left them.) Weary of the world,
Yudishtra abdicated the throne in favour of a great-nephew. Then
the five brothers and the queen Draupadi embarked on a pilgrimage,
on what they knew was the final journey. As they ascended towards
the Himalayas, a dog attached itself to the procession. The small
band pressed on, but the overt fatigue and the hidden load of
their respective sins began to take their toll. One by one, the
queen Draupadi, the twins Sahadev and Nakul, Arjun the archer,
and mighty Bheem, all perished. Yudishtra alone, who had lived
a life of almost unblemished righteousness, continued, accompanied
by the dog. Numb with grief and loneliness, yet impelled by destiny,
Yudishtra pressed on. Suddenly, a glow of light appeared alongside,
revealing Indra in his golden chariot. Indra descended from the
chariot, and invited Yudishtra to board it, since it would carry
him straight to heaven. Yudishtra was reluctant at first, insisting
that his brothers and wife must also be present. However, on Indra's
insistence that he would meet them in heaven, he acquiesced. Yet,
as he prepared to board with the dog, Indra laughed and told him
that there was no place in heaven for a dog. Yudishtra shook his
head, and expressed his inability to comply. The dog, he explained,
had shared all his troubles. It had demonstrated its devotion.
All Yudishtra's deeds which had earned him a place in heaven would
be negated if he failed in his duty towards the dog.
Sadly, but firmly, Yudishtra turned away. If this was the price
heaven demanded, he was not willing to pay it. As he turned away, the
dog began to change form. The god of justice, Dharma, Yudishtra's
celestial father, stood before him. All along, it was Dharma who
had kept pace with his son, all the way till the final test was
played out with Indra. Yudishtra then ascended Indra's great chariot
and left for heaven.
(He didn't get there straight off, though. There were other trials,
but that is another story...Personally, I have always found the
image of Yudishtra, bereft, lonely, and at the end of his life,
still turning away for the sake of the dog especially poignant.
Hope you enjoyed it.)
Sridhar
14) From Clellon Baeder
If a dog were your teacher,
You would learn stuff like......
When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.
Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride.
Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to
be pure ecstasy.
When it's in your best interest, practice obedience.
Let others know when they've invaded your territory.
Take naps and stretch before rising.
Run, romp, and play daily.
Thrive on attention and let people get close and touch you.
Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.
On warm days, stop to lay on your back on the grass.
On hot days, drink lots of water and lay under a shady tree.
When you're happy, dance around and wag your entire body.
No matter how often you're scolded, don't buy into the guilt thing
and pout...run right back and make friends.
Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.
Eat with gusto and enthusiasm.
Stop when you have had enough.
Be loyal.
Never pretend to be something you're not.
If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.
And MOST OF ALL...
When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by and
nuzzle them gently.
15) Dogs in Israel are polite, they don't say, they ask HOW in
Hebrew.
Dvora Shurman
16) From Batsy Bybell
How do we know that puppies love their dads?
They always lick their paws.
What did the dog say to the flea?
Don't bug me.
What do you get if you cross a mutt with a poodle?
A muddle.
What happened to the dog who ate an onion?
His bark was MUCH worse than his bite.
What would you get if you crossed a hunting dog and a telephone?
A golden receiver.
Why did the dog feel so frisky?
He had a new leash on life.
What would you say if your puppy ran away?
Doggone!
What kind of dogs would Count Dracula buy at a petstore?
Bloodhounds.
What would you get if you crossed a goldfish and a puppy?
A guppy.
What does a mom dog say when she wants to her little one to quiet
down?
Hush, puppies!
17) There is a chapter about the Gelert legend, its predecessors
and analogues in Sabine Baring-Gould's "Curious Myths of
the Middle Ages" - this also looks at the Wandering Jew,
William Tell, the Pied Piper of Hameln, Pope Joan ... It's a wonderful
book to browse in.The Welsh story is that Llywelyn Fawr (the Great)
went out hunting one day, leaving his favourite hound, Gelert,
behind to look after his baby son (or the dog did not come when
called). When he returned, he was created by the hound, covered
in blood and with a bloody mouth, and when he rushed into the
tower he saw the cradle overturned, the bedclothes covered in
blood and no sign of his child. He immediately assumed that the
dog had gone mad and attacked devoured the boy, and drawing his
sword stabbed him to death. Then he heard a weak cry from underneath
the cradle and lifting it and the clothes found his son unharmed
and the body of a huge wolf, dead with its throat torn out; obviously
killed by Gelert. Full of remorse, he erected a monument to the
faithful dog, and the location is still called Beddgelert (the
Grave of Gelert), and much visited by tourists.
But the story was not associated with the place until 1793, by
a local innkeeper, and was then popularised by a ballad. The dog
was said to be a gift from Llywelyn's father-in-law King John
(he who lost his treasure in the
Wash), named Kill-hart, and therefore presumably English. At least
Llywelyn's dog was faithful - his wife, Joan/Siwan, was imprisoned
for adultery and her lover, a Norman knight, executed - Saunders
Lewis wrote a play on this.The story has been traced back to an
Indian version (I hesitate to say 'original' of course), where
an ichneumon (mongoose) kills a snake, in (Tim's favourite) the Panchatantra: The Complete Version
, and this, or its successors, was the source
for Muslim and Jewish versions, themselves the source for mediaeval
Latin monkish tales in the Seven Sages and the Gesta Romanorum;
there is a Welsh version of the former in the Red Book of Hergest
(which also contains one version of the Mabinogion). (Curiously
enough, these Latin tales seem be almost entirely based on Classical
and Oriental sources, never the vernacular folklore, although
clerics like Gerald of Wales recorded plenty of the latter)
In the opposite direction, the Mongolian Uligerun (a translation
of the Tibetan Dsanglun) apparently includes a version of this
story, received via Buddhist missionaries, with a polecat. But
things may not be so simple; there is a Greek version, recorded
in Pausanius (C2AD), with a snake protecting a baby from a wolf
at Ophiteia (Snake Town), so it may have been current orally in
the West before the Eastern versions came in, and I'm not one
of those who think stories only migrated from the East (or from
the Celts).Anyway, there is a more general motif of a man being
rendered a service by a dumb animal friend, which he misunderstands
and hence kills:
In a Latin poem 'Culex' (The Gnat)
attributed to Virgil, a countryman is stung by a gnat, which he
swats before seeing the snake the gnat was warning him about.
S. B-G quotes a tale very similar to your eagle one, but with
a falcon, from the Anvar-i-Suhaili (I don't know this) ; this
is said to occur, with variations in Aesop (anyone know where?),
Aelian and Apthonius.
In an Egyptian story, a (?dumb) slave smashes a plot of herbs
which a cook has prepared, and the irate cook thrashes him within
an inch of his life; when he returns exhausted from this labour
to examine the broken pot he discovers a poisonous snake among
the herbs.
hwyl/cheers.
Philip Anderson
18) My favorite is "Yudhishtira and
His Dog" also called "The
Final Journey" from the great Indian epic the The Mahabharata
.
It is such an old story and so powerful. I know it comes in some
modern versions too, but I like the ancient one. Takes a little
practice to learn how to pronounce the names but it is worth it.
Here is the URL that will lead you directly to the story.
http://www.wmblake.com/stories/mahabharata/journey.htm
Janet
19) From Margaret:
There is a fairytale (Andersen, I think) about a soldier who goes
down into a hollow tree and finds 3 dogs with large eyes guarding
treasure. Anyone have more details?
A dog with eyes as big as teacups! A dog with eyes as large as
mill-wheels!
A dog with eyes like towers!
(Although, I remembered it as a dog with eyes as big as a saucer,
another with eyes as big as a dinner plate, and the third with
eyes as big as a platter.)
It is the story, "The Tinderbox," which can be found at:
http://hca.gilead.org.il/tinderbx.html
20) From Mountain Hermit:
I had many requests on and off the list for this story so I finally
sat down and tried to write it. This is just a first draft and
I know can use much polishing, but it is a true story I can never
tell enough. Feel free to use it in your travels.
They were on their way from India to Canada, a young family immigrating
to a new home, and hopefully a better life. They got off the plane
in England for a brief stopover and to visit relatives. All of
them but one got back on the plane, the smallest one. She remained
behind, in a hospital bed, two years old and violently separated
from everything and everyone she knew by polio.
The family had followed all of the immigration guidelines and
got all their vaccinations before leaving India. When their daughter
got sick on the plane they thought it was just a reaction to the
shots. When they got the small child to the hospital, a small
rigid body was bundled carefully in the mother's arms where only
a short time earlier the heavy softness of a small child was cuddled.
It was here they discovered the polio, a disease that had been
almost eradicated many years earlier. It was 1975, and the polio
vaccine was suppose to prevent this from happening. What had gone
wrong? The rest of the family had to continue their journey to
Canada to meet the terms of their immigration. They left their
young daughter behind. It was several months before the mother
could return and pick up her daughter and bring her to Canada
with the rest of the family. But this is not the story. Nor are
the struggles the girl went through as she grew up. There is a
story in that, as there is a story in each person's challenges
as they grow physically and mentally, whether they faced the challenges
of a disability or not.
No, this story is about a dog. It is about a dog that came into
the girl's life twenty-five years after her first battle with
polio. It is about a Saint Bernard that came into her life as
a fifteen pound bundle of energy and grew into a hundred and seventy-five
pound bundle of love and an unsung hero of immeasurable proportions.
It was at this time that the girl was beginning to feel the effects
of Post-Polio disease, loosing strengths and capabilities that
as a child she struggled to regain after her bout with polio.
Not content to just sit back and loose her independence, and having
done here research the girl found a dog trainer that would work
with her, a dog breeder that would work with her, and adopted
a puppy that would hopefully grow to be the service dog she needed
to help maintain her independence.
This in itself was no small decision. She grew up in a culture
that foundanimals dirty and animals in the house an absolute taboo,
so there was much opposition and absolutely no support from family.
Anyone who knew about dogs advised against a Saint Bernard. "They
are big, dumb animals," they all said and then proceeded
to recommend almost any other breed but a Saint. The girl had
done her homework though. She knew her lifestyle and she knew
what she needed so for what seemed like the first time in her
life she went against the grain. This was that dog's first work,
bringing out a true independence when independence was at risk
of being lost altogether. As the puppy grew, it traveled to work
with the girl everyday, and was at her side wherever she went.
Went the strength in the girl's arms diminished to the point that
she had difficulty pushing her wheelchair that puppy, now a beautiful
mahogany and white Saint Bernard named Strauss, would pull her
wherever she wanted to go. The girl discovered that Strauss could
not only pull her where she wanted to go, but to places she had
never been able to go on her own. She discovered a world that
had always been just out of her reach and in that world she discovered
people that, were it not for Strauss, would have tried desperately
to pretend they did not notice the poor girl in the wheelchair.
Strauss attracted the attention of young and old wherever he went
and these people were often so busy noticing the dog that they
missed the wheelchair altogether and talked to the person holding
the dog, not the person in the wheelchair. Yet another barrier
knocked down by the unsung hero.
When the girl became to sick to work, Strauss never left her side.
He was there when she got up in the morning. He was there when
she went to sleep. He was there when she was in tears and pain,
and he was there when she was having a good day. Through it all
Strauss remained staunch and steady like no man or woman could.
Instinctively Strauss knew exactly what the girl needed. Sometimes
that meant sitting for hours with his head rested gently in the
girl's lap. Sometimes that meant nudging the girl with his big
nose to motivate her to move. Sometimes it meant just being nearby.
When the girl lifted herself from into her wheelchair, Strauss
would stand as steady as a rock, bearing the girls entire weight
when her arms gave out, and he never uttered a complaint. When
the girl fell to the floor, which happened more and more often,
Strauss would make sure she was okay, then retrieve the phone
for her before he would lie down on the floor with her and wait
for help to come. More than once when help came they found the
girl sound asleep, her head snuggled into the Saint Bernard's
soft side. When the girl ended up in the hospital for an extended
period, Strauss would be brought to the hospital to visit her.
During his visits he would lift not only the girl's spirits, but
the spirits of many patients and staff. The girl loves to tell
the story of walking outside the hospital with Strauss and being
surprised when Strauss ignored her commands and left her side
to sit in front of an older woman in a wheelchair who was surrounded
by family. The girl to the people as she reached for Straus's leash but they stopped her. The older woman was petting Strauss
with a very shaky hand and whispering something. This, according
to the family members, was the first time since her stroke that
the woman had moved or spoke on her own. These are only some of
his accomplishments, for which he could never be rewarded well
enough. When Strauss passed away someone told the girl that dog's
didn't go to heaven. The girl's response - "Then I hope they
don't send me to heaven when I go, I'd rather be with the dogs!" Strauss opened doors, physically and literally. Strauss knocked
down barriers with his mere presence. Strauss lifted the heaviest
of spirits with a grin only a Saint Bernard can give.
There will never be monuments or plaques dedicated to this dog.
Most people will never hear his name or his story despite the
hundred's of lives he has touched. After all, he is only a dog.
Only a dog!
21) Why Dogs Have Wet Noses
One version is written down by Joan Chase Brown in Why the Tides Ebb and Flow (Sandpiper Houghton Mifflin Books) (also tells about why we have tides,
why girls's legs get cold, and why boys warm up their backsides
in front of a fire when they get a chance.) A VERY tellable story.
22) Here's the version I tell.
1) "Why Dogs Sniff Under Tails?" It's listed as "Iroquois," but I'm not sure of that. It tells of how wolf pups
were brought to live with the Two-legged ones, but the Four-Legs
were forbidden to dance of sing. I spend some time going over
what Four Legs could do better than Two Legs - hearing, smelling,
etc. (Children love to make contributions here.)
One night the urge to do the forbidden made the dogs decided to
have a dance, but they took off their tails because they were
making dust clouds as they sweep the ground. They also sang which,
of course, gave them away. In their haste to get away, they just
grabbed any old tail. ( I go into great detail and have the audience
contribute to how the Jack Russell received the Husky tail, etc.
The more ridiculous the better.)
So... that's why dogs are always sniffing each others' tails,
searching and asking "Are you sure you have the right one?
Isn't that my tail?"
23) Query: A dog living in a village becomes absorbed chasing a butterfly/insect and finds itself lost in the jungle, where it shouldn t be. the dog hears a lion approaching. when the lion is close and about to harm the dog, the dog says something (i don t remember what) that causes the lion to leave. a monkey watching this from a tree goes after the lion and tells the lion (don t remember what) how the dog tricked it. the lion tells the monkey to get on its back and they go back to the dog. when they get to the dog, the dog says something (don t remember what) that causes the lion to doubt what the monkey told the lion, and the lion again doesn t harm the dog. Please help me complete this story. I heard it on public radio in 2004, don't remember date or time.
jb
Response: This may be the story:
A wealthy old lady decides to go on a photo safari in Africa, taking her faithful aged poodle named Cuddles, along for the company.
One day the poodle starts chasing butterflies and before long, Cuddles discovers that she's lost. Wandering about, she notices a leopard heading rapidly in her direction with the intention of having lunch. The old poodle thinks, "Oh, oh! I'm in deep doo-doo now!"
Noticing some bones on the ground close by, she immediately settles down to chew on the bones with her back to the approaching cat. Just as the leopard is about to leap, the old poodle exclaims loudly, "Boy, that was one delicious leopard! I wonder if there are any more around here?"
Hearing this, the young leopard halts his attack in mid-strike, a look of terror comes over him and he slinks away into the trees. "Whew!",says the leopard, "That was close! That old poodle nearly had me!"
Meanwhile, a monkey who had been watching the whole scene from a nearby tree, figures he can put this knowledge to good use and trade it for protection from the leopard. So off he goes, but the old poodle sees him heading after the leopard with great speed, and figures that something must be up. The monkey soon catches up with the leopard, spills the beans and strikes a deal for himself with the leopard.
The young leopard is furious at being made a fool of and says, "Here, monkey, hop on my back and see what's going to happen to that conniving canine!"
Now, the old poodle sees the leopard coming with the monkey on his back and thinks, "What am I going to do now?" But instead of running, the dog sits down with her back to her attackers, pretending she hasn't seen them yet, and just when they get close enough to hear, the old poodle says: "Where's that damn monkey? I sent him off an hour ago to bring me another leopard!" The monkey jumped up into the tree, the leopard ran away. The little old poodle and the rich old lady found their way to each other and lived happily. (Source unknown.)
Gladys C.
Response: I'm pretty sure this is an adaptation and transposition of part of the Panchatantra: The Complete Version, an ancient Indian series of fables. Obviously the poodle, and Africa, weren't part of the original, but the whole comedy of the monkey, leopard (tiger originally) and so forth was. I'd have to go back to the original to see just how much has been changed, but most of it's there.
Panchatantra: The Complete Version is an absolutely essential source of stories for all storytellers, and not all that long to read. There are plenty of editions, and even some other ancient collections of fables are based on it, including Aesop's. The fables string together into longer stories. One book for instance is called the War Between the Owls and the Crows - an amazingly evocative title I always think!
Tim S.
24) My favorite dog story comes from the The Mahabharata, the 3,000 year old Indian epic poem.
Bones:
Yudhishtira, and his brothers and their wife realize they have come to the end of their lives and they travel North into the Himalayas on foot. Finally only Yudhishtira and his little brown dog are left and Indra in his golden chariot appears before them and invites Yudhishtira to come with him to Paradise. Indra says, "You cannot take the dog with you into heaven." Yudhishtira refuses to go without the dog. "This dog has been companion, protector, friend. I will stay near him." The dog transforms into the God Dharma -- actually Yudhishtira's father. Yudhishtira is praised for his loyalty and devotion and heaven is attained.
This is the oldest version of the story, other versions exist today. I have a couple of versions from the Mahabharata on my hard drive. I think the Blake translation is the most accessible. I would be glad to send you a copy as an attachment, if you like. It has to be adjusted a bit in order to be tellable, and learning the names is challenging. I went to some of my Indian friends for help with pronuciation.
There are also a number of modernized versions floating around out there.
Janet M. 5/12/05
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25) Are dogs allowed in heaven?
Bones:
A man and his dog were walking along a road. The man was enjoying the scenery, when it suddenly occurred to him that he was dead. He remembered dying, and that the dog walking beside him had been dead for years. He wondered where the road was leading them.
After a while, they came to a high, white stone wall along one side of the road. It looked like fine marble. At the top of a long hill, it was broken by a tall arch that glowed in the sunlight.
When he was standing before it he saw a magnificent gate in the arch that looked like mother-of-pearl, and the street that led to the gate looked like pure gold. He and the dog walked toward the gate, and as he got closer, he saw a man at a desk to one side. When he was close enough, he called out, "Excuse me, where are we?"
"This is Heaven, sir," the man answered.
"Wow! Would you happen to have some water?" the man asked.
"Of course, sir. Come right in, and I'll have some ice water brought right up." The man gestured, and the gate began to open.
"Can my friend," gesturing toward his dog, "come in, too?" the traveler asked.
"I'm sorry, sir, but we don't accept pets."
The man thought a moment and then turned back toward the road and continued the way he had been going with his dog.
After another long walk, and at the top of another long hill, he came to a dirt road leading through a farm gate that looked as if it had never been closed. There was no fence. As he approached the gate, he saw a man inside, leaning against a tree and reading a book.
"Excuse me!" he called to the man. "Do you have any water?"
"Yeah, sure, there's a pump over there, come on in."
"How about my friend here?" the traveler gestured to the dog.
"There should be a bowl by the pump."
They went through the gate, and sure enough, there was an old-fashioned hand pump with a bowl beside it. The traveler filled the water bowl and took a long drink himself, then he gave some to the dog. When they were full, he and the dog walked back toward the man who was standing by the tree.
"What do you call this place?" the traveler asked.
"This is Heaven," he answered.
"Well, that's confusing," the traveler said. "The man down the road said that was Heaven, too."
"Oh, you mean the place with the gold street and pearly gates? Nope. That's hell."
"Doesn't it make you mad for them to use your name like that?"
"No, we're just happy that they screen out the folks who would leave their best friends behind."
Lee-Ellen M. 7/28/05
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26) A Heartwarming Story for Dog Lovers
http://www.boomerangtags.com/gates.html
Karen C. 8/9/06
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27)
The first one that comes to mind is the pourquoi story, Why Dog Chases Cat. Martha Hamilton and Mitch Weiss have a version in their book How & Why Stories: World Tales Kids Can Read & Tell (World Storytelling from August House (Paperback)).
http://www.beautyandthebeaststorytellers.com/btn-hws.html
Here are some other story links.
Indian Folktales, How The Dog Found Himself A Master, Ukrainian Folktales:
Dog decided to take up service with him, and he....
http://www.4to40.com/folktales/index.asp?article=folktales_dog
The Black Dog of Hanging Hills: A spooky Connecticut folktale from American
Folklore.
http://www.americanfolklore.net/folktales/ct2.html
Take a look at the story here titled, The Curious Monkey African Folktales
http://saxakali.com/youth/african_folktales.htm
The Story of the Jackal and the Dog
The jackal, the dog and their children, according to our ancestors, lived and ate together in the bush. One year, long ago, the weather was rather cold, and as they could not bear the cold, they and their children were about to die. The jackal asked the dog: "How will we ever find fire to heat ourselves?"
The dog said: "Mondo, Mondo, look over there! This Man is lighting a fire! I will immediately go to fetch a piece of burning wood so that we can heat ourselves." The dog went to talk to the Man who was heating himself. The Man asked him, "Where do you come from?" The dog answered, "We will die from the cold, which is why I came to seek fire to heat ourselves." The Man answered him, "Heat yourself well before you take some of the fire with you, then you can be on your way."
Then the dog, with her mouth raised up, put herself nearer the fire to heat herself. She heated herself until she burned her fur, but her nose remained moist. During this time, the Man's Wife came to prepare a meal for them. They ate well, and the dog even ate the bones. Thus it forgot to take some fire with her. Meanwhile, the jackal suffered from the cold with her children. And to this day, she continues to call the dog to bring fire so that they can be warmed by its heat.
Then the dog said, "I will go into the bush, where my nose leads me, only if it first becomes dry." Thus she gave up on the jackal with her children. As for the dog, she followed the Man to return to his house. This is why, even today, the nose of the dog always remains wet. When you notice that the nose of the dog becomes dry, you will know for certain that she just died, and so you should throw it in bush. To this day, whenever you hear the jackal crying out, it is that she is calling the dog. The dog in turn will bark, to affirm that it will go into the bush when its nose becomes dry.This history is drawn from the book Taaya gede (Dog Stories) by the Association for the Development and the Promotion of the Guerguiko Language. 2000: Association SIL Chad, BP 4214, N'Djaména, Chad. http://www.tchad.org/research/folktales.html
The Dog and the Pig
http://www.pitara.com/talespin/folktales/online.asp?story=27
The Crocodile and the Dog - Bura folktale
Folktale20 http://www.msu.edu/user/hamza/Folktale20.htm
The Dog and the Dog Dealer
http://www.rickwalton.com/folktale/junior28.htm
The Pug Dog and His Shadow
http://www.rickwalton.com/folktale/50fabl47.htm
I hope these will be useful.
Karen C 9/3/06
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28) Do you know what you get when you mix a poodle with a mutt?
A muddle.
Karin McC 9/3/06
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29) To add to the dog stories, here's one of a different kind. The story of Llewelyn and his dog, Gelert. I'm sure you know it; it is the one about the man who comes home to find a bloody mess around the cradle, and, thinking his dog had attacked the baby, kills the dog, only to hear an infant's cry and discover that the dog had killed an attacking wolf. It was wolf blood that he had seen around the cradle and on the dog.
What I found on Snopes is that there are hundreds of settings for this tale, so tell it however you wish! It is a tender, heart-rending tale of dog loyalty--and one man's regretable doubt.
http://www.snopes.com/critters/defender/babysave.htm
Mary Grace K. 9/4/06
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30) I learned about a REALLY special dog named Jim the Wonder Dog. Look him in Google, and you'll get the whole story. Another wonderful dog story is about Ginny, the Dog Who Rescued Cats.
Judith W. 9/4/06
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(This
web page updated 7/28/05; 1/1/06; 8/9/06; 9/4/06)
