One day in 1815, a Parisian poodle scampered over to an immaculately dressed Englishman, and muddied his shiny boots. The Englishman immediately enlisted a shoe-black’s assistance, only for the dog to catch him twice more. Suspecting some ruse, he retreated to the shadows, and sure enough soon saw the poodle deliberately roll in the mud before soaking another well-dressed passer-by.

It turned out that the shoe-black had taught the poodle to do this as a way of drumming up trade, which tickled the Englishman so much that he bought the dog and took him home to London. At the first opportunity, however, the dog bolted, and two weeks later he was spotted in Paris, up to his old tricks.

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