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From: warinner@typhoon.xnet.com (Robert Warinner)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Clearly not vacationing from NASA jobs or a neurosurgical practise.....
Date: 15 Apr 1997 21:41:39 GMT

Leviathan (jsheen@ultranet.com) wrote:
: Reprinted, in its entirety, from e-mail from a friend. I have no idea whether
: it's true or not, but it has all the makings of a fine urban legend.....
<"The Loaded Dog" snipped>

Yep, it's a bona fide urban legend. Jan Harold Brunvand dates it to 1899 or even earlier:

All of these tales, however, were anticipated by a medieval legend about birds used as incendiary missiles against a besieged village, and by Sampson's trick, described in the Old Testament, of setting foxes's tails afire and releasing them into his enemies fields. JHB, "The Baby Train", ISBN 0-393-31208-9

Jan Harold Brunvand was prescient about the insurance angle to the tail:

[Coyote tied to dynamite, coyote crawls under camper, kaboom!]

Since the mythical coyote is such a notorious trickster in Western American Indian folklore, I am surprised that the man's lawyer did not sue the insurance company for failing to pay off damage suffered from a predictable hazard.
JHB, "The Choking Doberman", ISBN 0-393-30321-7

It also has some resemblance to the following entry from the FAQ:

Tb.In WW2, Russians fed dogs under tanks, then released them in battle with

anti-tank explosives having an antenna-like trigger on their backs. Tb.Dogs ran under wrong ones, German tanks didn't smell like Russian tanks. T. Most Russian tanks were diesel, most German ones weren't. T. German high command counters by spreading rabies rumors, encouraging

soldiers to shoot every dog they see.

I've been sitting on references for all the above entries but I've been too busy to post them (sorry Emily).

Andrew "Cites R Us" Warinner
warinner@xnet.com
warinner@ttd.teradyne.com
http://www.xnet.com/~warinner

Beating a Dead Horse Department:

    Subject:      Bad Day Fishing
    From:         Frank Bigham <franklin_l_bigham@ccmail.orl.mmc.com>
    Date:         1997/04/07

Message-Id: <33493653.2FD4@ccmail.orl.mmc.com> Newsgroups: rec.humor

I am not sure if this story is true, but it is funny anyway. And it may have originated here. I haven't checked the NG in a while. So pardon if this is a repeat.

Grand Rapids, MI - True Story!

A local man had just bought a new Ford Explorer and, in one of those male-bonding rituals, decided to do a winter duck hunting expedition with his buddies. So they loaded the dog, the guns, the decoys, the beer, etc. into the vehicle and headed out to a nearby lake. It is common practice in Michigan to drive your vehicle out onto the frozen lake. Further, it is common (if slightly illegal) to make a hole in the ice for your decoys by using dynamite. The young man had a stick of dynamite, but it had a short fuse - 20 seconds. Since it is not a good idea to light the fuse, then drop the dynamite and run (after all, you could slip & fall on the ice), he decided to throw it instead.

    Subject:      Heard this one?
    From:         cd@world.std.com (Chris Dugan)
    Date:         1996/04/07

Message-Id: <DpIIFw.r2@world.std.com> Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban

My brother-in-law told me a story that was told to him as true. It sure as helll sounds like an UL, but it's not in the FAQ unless I missed it.

Two ice fishers who were very serious about their hobby were in the practice of throwing small bits of dynamite onto the ice to create holes and "stir up" fish. One day, they bought a highly-trained dog to help them fish. Then they went to the lake, lit the dynamite, and threw it onto the ice. The dog, however, had apparently been trained to fetch, and ran to the dynamite and picked it up in his mouth. Then he ran to return it to the fishermen. The fishermen managed to run away from the dog quickly enough to avoid getting blown up, but just barely.

    Subject:      Duck Hunting story in rec.guns UL?
    From:         Nick Hingtgen <ndanger@bnr.ca>
    Date:         1997/02/21

Message-Id: <330E3FF2.480E@bnr.ca> Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban

I looked for this in the faq and for follow-ups in rec.guns but I didn't see anything so I assume that this a joke/UL. Anyone see this?

Subject: Duck Hunting

This is supposedly a true story with pictures to back it up. Seems a couple got a new Jeep Cherokee for Christmas and drove it to visit relatives in Michigan. The guys decided to do that male bonding ritual of duck hunting.
So they load up the Cherokee with decoys, food, beer, guns, warm clothes, etc. and head off for the lake. Now it's a little known fact that when duck hunting in cold climates, it's common to drive the truck out onto the ice.

    Subject:      Doggy Dynamite
    From:         derick@sky.net (Don Erickson)
    Date:         1997/02/02

Message-Id: <5d2dlk$581@trout.slug.net> Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban

I've recently been exposed to a variation of "The Coyote's Revenge" legend in TCD. I've not seen it discussed here, so I'll pass this version along.

A guy who lives out in the country decides, for some undisclosed reason, that it's time to kill his dog. This animal lover decides that he doesn't have to heart to shoot old Shep, so instead decides to blow the dog up with some spare dynamite he just happens to have handy. (Yeah, I know, bear with me.) Our hero ties the dog up, attaches the dynamite, lights a long fuse and heads back to the house so he doesn't have to watch. Just a few seconds after our hero closes the door, he hears a familiar scratching sound on it. Yes, faithful old Shep has gotten untied and has followed his master back to the house. Kabloowie.