Big Dog Free to Good Home

Claim:   Classified ad attempts to find a new home for Dolly, a large dog.

Status:   Multiple.

Example:   [Collected via e-mail, 2006]

DOG FOR SALE — READ BEFORE OPENING!! Read the ad before you look at the picture!! A real ad from Colorado!! FREE to an approved home. Excellent guard dog, loves other small-dog breeds. Answers to the name of Dolly. Will eat anything, owner cannot afford to feed her anymore, as there are no more kids, thieves, murderers, rapists or molesters left in the neighborhood. Your help will be appreciated ...

Origins:   Although

we don't know the identities of the woman and dog captured in the photograph displayed above, this image appears to be another case of someone's grafting a humorous description (in this case a tale about a classified ad placed to find a new home for a large, ravenous
dog named Dolly) onto a fairly ordinary picture.

The canine in this picture looks extraordinarily large because ... it IS a very large dog. The type of dog shown here is a
mastiff, and mature male mastiffs typically measure 30 inches or more at the shoulder and not uncommonly weigh over 200 lbs. (Note the size of the woman's hands in comparison to the size of the dog's leg on which they rest to get an idea of the proportion between human and canine.) That the woman is seated and the mastiff is a bit closer to the camera than she is also helps to create a slightly exaggerated sense of proportion.

Last updated:   7 October 2006