Dog phrase

Posted by ESC on September 05, 2002

In Reply to: Dog phrase posted by Monkeyhanger on September 05, 2002

: Does anybody know where or when the phrase:
: "you don't buy a dog and bark yourself" first appeared?

: Thanks

From the archives:

From A Dictionary of American Proverbs by Wolfgang Mieder & Others (Oxford University Press, New York, 1992): "No sense in keepin' a dog when doin' your own barking' Var.(variation): I will not keep a dog and bark myself. Rec. dist.(Recorded distribution): Miss., N.Y., Vt. 1st cit.: 1583 Melbancke, 'Philotimus'; US1791 'Thoughts on Proverbs in Universal Asylum. 20c coll. (20th century collections: ODEP (Oxford Dictionary of English Proverbs) 416..."