The Dog Who Could Talk

Jeevan Sivasubramaniam Posted by Jeevan Sivasubramaniam, Managing Director, Editorial, Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc.



(This fable comes from my old friend Bob Lewis.)

A man walks into a bar with his dog. He tells the bartender, “This is the smartest dog in the world, and he talks, besides. If I prove it, will you give me a free beer?”

“Get outta here,” the bartender replies, having had way too many requests for free beer before.

“No, really,” says the man. “I’ll prove it.” Turning to the dog he asks, “What do you call the top of a house?”

“Roooooof!” the dog replies.

“And what do you call the bottom part of a tree?” the man asks.

“Roooooot!” the dog answers.

“One more question,” the man says, holding up his hand to keep the bartender at bay. “Who was the greatest baseball player of all time?”

“Ruuuuuuuth!” the dog answers, wagging its tail.

“Get outta here before I throw you out!” the bartender yells, grabbing a baseball bat from behind the bar so the man knew he meant it.

As they rush out of the bar, the man starts chewing out the dog for being such an idiot.

“What?” asks the dog. “Should I have said Ty Cobb?”

The moral of the story: If you want to get the answers you want, be careful about the questions you ask.