Wednesday, October 20, 2004

Houdini - The Most Stupid Dog in The World

Years ago Yvonne and I lived next door to a dog called Houdini. He was a beautiful looking boxer, just a puppy when we first made his acquaintance. Unfortunately despite his charm and good looks, Houdini was undoubtedly the most stupid dog in the world.

The reason for this statement (and let's face it, dogs aren't renowned for their intelligence so it isn't a title bestowed lightly) is an incident that occurred about a year after we moved into the house next to his. It was his habit to lean his front paws on the shared fence in our back garden and peer over (he was very nosey). One day while in this position, he noticed something flapping around from the corner of his eye. Eventually he couldn't control himself, had a nip at it and then emitted a huge yelp - it was his own tail that had been wagging away. His owner Pam took him to the vet where he was bandaged up and sent home suitably chastened (or so we thought).

The next day, in the same position in the back garden he once more noticed something flapping round, so he again took a nip at it and emitted an even louder yelp; once again his own tail was the victim of his exuberance. Pam took him to the vet again, who as well as patching him up, mounted a conical collar on him so that he wouldn't be able to see his tail.

The following day, pleased as punch Houdini was in the garden again. This time he was not troubled by objects flapping in the corner of his eye. Unfortunately while he was in the garden there was a sudden downpour. Houdini, being a uniquely gifted dog decided to stare straight up into the sky during this downpour. The result of this was that his collar rapidly filled up with water and would undoubtedly have led to his drowning if an alert Pam had not charged out of her house at high speed and knocked Houdini's head forward causing the collar to empty.

After that Houdini was not allowed out in the rain on his own until his tail healed.

I challenge anyone to come up with a more stupid dog than Houdini.