Another help ID this story thread

At least twenty years ago I read a short story or novella I can’t remember the title of to find again.

It’s told in the first person. I forget the circumstances but the storyteller meets a guy who has a pack of trained Dobermans. The dog owner seems to be kind of crazy. To show off his dogs training he points at the storyteller and says “Kill!” The Dobermans proceed to jump up and down on the guy, trying to lick him, playful as can be.

At the very end of the story the guy has fallen out badly with the doggy man, who has him trapped in a room and is breaking in. He points at the doomed man and gives the command “Kiss!”

Does this ring a bell with anyone?

This sounds much like a Columbo episode from the 1970’s.

Googling (please wait)

Darn, I have this in the wrong forum.

I’ll await Andy L’s reply, but I know what I saw was in print, not on TV.

The episode was “How to Dial A Murder” http://www.columbo-site.freeuk.com/sea7.htm#7.4

Written by: Tom Lazarus (from a story by Anthony Lawrence), but I haven’t found if Anthony Lawrence published it in non-Columbo form.

It’s possible that the original story you read was adapted into the Columbo episode I’m thinking of.

That happens a lot. I’m going to do some Googling now, with that author’s name.

Darn, I keep getting referred to the Columbo episode

I didn’t find anything useful at Amazon with the author’s name. They had a link to something called an “enabled wikipedia page” which was useless. There was nothing enabled about it.

Moved from the Game Room to Cafe Society.

Just one bump. I still haven’t found anything.

Yeah, neither have I - I’ve been searching here and there, but not coming up with anything. Sorry.

Anthony Lawrence was a TV writer, creator, and occasionally actor; he is associated with Columbo. When they say “story by Anthony Lawrence,” I don’t think the mean they got it from a book, I think they mean he came up with the story and handed it off to a writer.

Ok. The Columbo thing is probably a red herring, then. I’ve tried other search strategies and still come up with nothing, unfortunately.