Original "Shaggy Dog" Story

Hi,

I think everyone knows what a ‘Shaggy Dog’ story IS. You know, a long, involved narrative that typically builds to a somewhat twisted groaner of a punchline.

OK, but was the ORIGINAL story that gave us the ‘shaggy dog’ cliche?

Thanks,
Stephen

The “original” one I heard is one my dad told me when I was little. He’d used the phrase “shaggy dog story” and one day I asked him where it came from. (I’m really tempted to relate the telling of the story of how I heard the story in glorious detail. :smiley: But I’m at work, so I won’t.)

The story, in short form, is that a man loses his shaggy pet dog. He puts out advertisements offering a large reward for the dog’s return. A man sees the offer and tries to track down the dog. The middle of the joke goes into the man’s adventures. He finally finds the dog, but there are more adventures (one of which, in the version that I heard, was that the man and dog were castaways on an island for a long time). Finally, after years of hardship and adventure, the man returns with the dog to the owner. The owner looks at the dog and says…

[spoiler]Nope. Too shaggy.

(i.e., “That’s not my dog, because my dog, though shaggy, was not that shaggy.”) [/spoiler]
Is this the original “shaggy dog story”? I don’t know. But it’s the only shaggy dog story involving a shaggy dog that I’ve heard.

There are two possibilities, both involving aristocrats (or other wealthy folk) searching for shaggy dogs. In the first, the aristocrat sponsors a contest for the shaggiest dog, and (after a long story) is presented with the winner, of whom he observes: “I don’t think he’s that shaggy.”

The second is the story of an English noble who loses his dog, and advertises widely for his return. Years later, an American (after a long story) finds a dog who he thinks fits the description. He presents the dog at the grieving noble’s mansion, and the aghast butler observes: “Good Lord, not THAT shaggy!”

Yeah, I know. That’s why people hate 'em. What you’re thinking of a a shaggy dog story is called a groaner; real shaggy dog stories have no punch line to speak of.

The one that I heard was about a man who had a shaggy dog that everyone admired and told him to enter it in a shaggy dog contest. Each contest he enters it in, it wins, and everyone encourages him to enter bigger and bigger contests. When he finally gets to the ultimate shaggy dog contest, the judges take one look at the dog and say “That dog, he’s not so shaggy.”

Shaggy Dog stories are long, with a groaner pun at the end. Here is the short version:
As a joke King Arthur sends out a midget knight on a joke quest, and instead of a huge stallion, they send him out on an english sheepdog. Late one stormy night, the wet Knight with his loyal and bedraggled dog knocks on the door of a monastery and the abbott gives him lodging, saying: “I wouldn’t send a knight out on a dog like this.”
“Raggy?”
“Soocby!”

I don’t see how the stories mentioned by Johnny L.A. and Nametag can be considered the original shaggy dog story, since the typical shaggy dog story is supposed to end with a pun.
Here’s a good definition of what I thought was a shaggy dog story.

Interesting. I always heard (FWIW) that the original SDS was:

(it’s late, I need sleep, so I’ll abridge the long, drawn out story.)

Guy walks into a bar with a big, shaggy dog. Tells the barkeep that he has no money, but will demonstrate his talking dog in exchange for a beer.

Barkeep agrees.

Guy asks dog: “What’s the surface of sandpaper like?”

Dog says: “Rough!”

Barkeep is not amused, asks guy if he thinks barkeeps are stupid.

Guys asks for second chance. Barkeep agrees.

Guy asks dog: What’s on the top of a house?

Dog says: “Roof!”

Barkeep threatens to throw guy out of bar. Guy pleads for one more chance. Barkeep agrees.

Guy asks dog: "Who’s the greatest baseball player who ever lived?

Dogs says: “Ruth!”

Barkeep throws guy and dog into street, reenters bar.

Guy (in gutter) expresses disappointment in dog’s responses.

Dog (in gutter beside him) says (New Yawk accent helps here): Whattaya mean? Ya thought I shoudda said DiMaggio?

Sorry, but you’re all wrong. Shaggy dog stories do NOT end with a pun. That is a variation added later, probably because everybody hates REAL shaggy dog stories. The term “shaggy dog story” describes a long, complicated story with NO satisfying resolution–it just ends. Their very pointlessness is what makes them shaggy dog stories, and not jokes.

You’re free to call your jokes “shaggy dog stories” if you want, but the ORIGINAL story has to meet the ORIGINAL definition.

Yeah, likely story.

Yeah, Nametag has it right. A typical ending to a shaggy dog story is “but her dog wasn’t shaggy enough.” A long, detailed, drawn-out tale with a severly inadequate punch line - that’s a shaggy dog story. Telling someone a shaggy dog story is more of a joke ON them than a joke FOR them.

Some of the stories that end with a tortured pun (e.g. “he was arrested for transporting gulls across a sedate lion for immortal porpoises”) are, indeed, long and drawn-out, but they are just groaners.

I once witnessed a long, drawn-out story told by one man to another. Near the end of this long and fantastic story, the reconteur says, “And then he reached out. . .” and as he said this, he reached out, and grabbed his listener by the left ankle. He continued, “. . .and then he started pulling his leg–like I’m pulling yours right now.”

FWIW, the expression “shaggy dog story” is unheard of anywhere I’ve ever live (LA & MS). This thread is the first time I’ve ever heard of it. Is it a regional thing?

I dunno… I’ve lived in SC, TN and GA and have heard the phrase for a loooong time.

This is what Alan B. Combs Esq. of the University of Texa at Austin, a collector of Shaggy Dog Stories, has to say about it:

The whole quotation (and much more) can be found at: http://www.awpi.com/Combs/Shaggy/

Combs is wrong.

Yeah. A shaggy dog story is a long story that ends anticlimactically in a dull thud of an unfunny ending, not a clever/twisted pun.

I heard the one about the dog in the long string of shaggy dog contests, and in the final one (as I heard it) the owner of a shaggy dog enters the dog into shaggy dog contests and the judges always say “That’s the shaggiest dog we’ve ever seen so we have to give it 1st prize” until (40 minutes’ worth of contests later) the judges finally say “That’s NOT the shaggiest dog we’ve ever seen so we’re only giving it 2nd prize”. And it was indeed described (by the person who told it, as we smashed his body with hammers and rocks) as “the original shaggy dog story”.

How do you know what the original definition is? Where did the original definition appear?

According to the OED, the earliest cite is from 1945.

And, sorry, Bindlestiff, but Combs is right. The term refers to both types of stories. It can either be a long, pointless story, or a long story that ends with a lame pun (another name for this type of story is “feghoot,” but feghoots are usually shorter than a shaggy dog variety).

Or, when someone complained to Isaac Asimov that his story “Shah Guido G.” was a shaggy dog story, he replied, “Of course it is! Take a look at the title!”