Urban Legends Animals Trivia Quiz

Answer: That's not a dog, it's a Mexican sewer rat

The story often ends with the 'dog' dying, or the vet announcing that the pet has rabies. We are left to laugh at the foolish American, picturing her cuddling a piece of diseased vermin. A similar legend deals with gullible Japanese being sold sheep which they are told are poodles.

Folklorist Jan Harold Brunvand named one of his urban legend books "The Mexican Pet" after this story.

Answer: There were three human fingers in the dog's throat--he'd tangled with a burglar!

The story usually follows the pattern of the vet telling the woman to go home while he performs an emergency tracheotomy on the dog. The vet later calls her and instructs her to leave her house, and that police are on the way. The cops later arrive and discover a burglar with three missing fingers, passed out in a closet from loss of blood.

This story has been told from coast to coast in the U.S. and has made it to the U.K. as well. Folklorist Jan Harold Brunvand named a book "The Choking Doberman" after this legend.

Answer: She dries it in the oven...the microwave oven.

The old woman would use her oven to dry the dog off after bathing. One day she gets a microwave as a gift. Not understanding how it works, she puts the dog inside, where it explodes.

Little yappy dogs seem to fall victim to urban legend fatalities: being sat upon, carried off by falcons or jumping off buildings.

Answer: A dead cat

A woman accidentally runs over a cat on her way to the mall. Not wanting the local kids to see the dead animal, she scrapes it off the road and stuffs it in a shopping bag. As she enters the mall, she sees a woman open her car door and run off with the package. Later, she discovers the thief being loaded into an ambulance. She had taken one look in the bag and fainted. One of the EMTs places the bag on the stretcher so she'll be sure to have it when she wakes up.

A variation has a woman who keeps a cat in her apartment in violation of her lease. When the animal dies, she wraps it up and attempts to abandon it on the bus, the train or at a restaurant. The package is always returned by well meaning people. When she returns home she unwraps the cat, only to find a leg of lamb. She has accidentally switched with someone.

Burglars getting their comeuppance is a very common theme in urban legends. They rob someone, but end up with something disgusting or dangerous: a live bobcat in a steamer trunk, a urine sample in a whiskey bottle, dog poop in a bakery bag, and so on. The cat in the bag is the most famous of these.

Answer: A spider moves into her hair and bites her

This one circulated in the 1950s and 60s when big hair for women was stylish. The girl never washes her hair, so when she walks through a spider web she doesn't notice the spider moving into her hair and laying eggs. The spider babies bite her and she dies.

Another version has a woman irritated by a strange boil on her face. When it pops, thousands of baby insects rush out. Still another legend deals with a slovenly hippie who never bathes and dies when a mouse burrows into his brain.

Many urban legends talk about our fear of being infested by animals. There's the girl who thinks she is pregnant, but actually has an octopus growing in her stomach (she swallowed an egg while swimming). There's the boy who has a live snake growing in his belly (he swallowed an egg while drinking from a stream); and the famous earwig story about the insect that burrows from one ear to the other, laying eggs in your brain.

Answer: In the sand traps at golf courses

The noise, vibrations, and lack of food would make ball pits poor homes for snakes. The chlorine and lack of food would keep snakes out of most log flume rides.

The cobra rolled up in the rug from India has attached itself to various cities and department stores over the years. A customer supposedly sticks her hand inside an Oriental rug (or tries on a blouse) and is fatally bitten. This rumor really had legs (pardon the pun). Several concerned citizens have written to newspapers, asking why they are covering up the customer's death.

Answer: Giant, albino alligators

This rumor really flourished in the 1930s, and was written up in the 'New York Times' more than once. Supposedly tourists would buy baby alligators in Florida, then flush them or dump then down sewer grates when they grew too big to manage. The reptiles would thrive in the sewers, living off rats and occasional sewer workers. They've grown huge, lost their pigmentation, and gone blind. They're still down there, living among enormous, white marijuana plants which sprouted from seeds flushed during drug raids.

A similar legend deals with Volkswagen-sized catfish that live under a dam.

Answer: Straight to the husband's mistress

The husband would take the dog for a walk every evening. One day he was laid up with the stomach flu, so the wife took the dog. The dog led her straight to a strange woman's house, who was just filling the dog's bowl, in anticipation of a romantic visit from the master.

Answer: The grandfather had stomped a rattlesnake to death, and its fang was embedded in the heel

The grandfather shot a rattlesnake and stomped on its skull, leaving one of its fangs stuck in the heel. It killed the grandfather, but no one knew why he'd died. When his son grew up, his mother gave his his father's boots, which killed him. Later, his son died the same way, and the fang was discovered.

Another legend deals with a mechanic killed by a rattlesnake fang embedded in a tire.

Answer: Their own pet dog, stuffed and roasted

The tourists, usually Americans or Swiss, bring their dog into the restaurant. They cannot communicate with the waiter, due to the language barrier. When they indicate that their dog needs to be fed, the waiter takes the dog into the kitchen. He returns much later with a covered dish...

While dog is a food product in some parts of the world, there is no evidence this scenario really happened, and it seems unlikely.

Information for this quiz comes from the works of Jan Harold Brunvand, Hal Morgan and Kerry Tucker, and the Snopes urban legends site. Oh, and if your dog ever licks your hand at night, make sure it's really a dog.