Two bird hunters, Jake and Zeke went out with Jake's trained bird dog. When they got out in the field, Jake said quietly "Find'em Scooter." Scooter started to run in a zigzag pattern, nose to the ground. Suddenly he stopped and went on point. Jake whispered "How many Scooter?" The dog slowly wagged his tail from side to side four times. Jake told Zeke "There's four birds in that clump a brush. Now watch this. What kinda birds?" Scooter's tail moved slowly to the left and Jake said "Quail, his tail goes left for quail and right for grouse. Flush'em!" Scooter jumped into the clump and flushed four quail straight out. The hunters quickly dispatched the birds and Scooter went out, found all four birds and brought them back by their heads. He laid one on the ground at Jake's feet and three where Zeke was standing.
"What's that all about?" Zeke asked. "Well, he is such a great dog, he can tell who shot the bird! Yep, he's the smartest bird dog anywhere!" Jake was obviously very proud of Scooter. The day went on and by the time the hunters had their limit, Zeke was very impressed. "Say Jake, would you let me borrow Scooter tomorrow? I gotta day off work and I sure would enjoy seeing Scooter do his thang. He's a true joy to watch." Well, Jake wanted to be sure Zeke knew how his dog worked, so they went back into the field. They left their guns in the truck, since they had their limit and Jake watched as Zeke put Scooter thru his paces. After an hour, Jake could see that Zeke and Scooter worked well together, and Zeke WAS Jake's best friend. So Jake agreed to let Zeke borrow his dog. "I'll be home tomorrow afternoon and you can pick him up in the mornin'."
So the next afternoon when Zeke come bouncing up in his truck, Jake went out to see how it went. To his horror, Scooter was laying dead in the back of Zeke's truck. "WHAT TH' HELL HAPPENED?" Jake roared. "Now Jake,I'm real sorry.... but Scooter went mad! I had to shoot him! We went out and the first three or four flushes went just like always. 'How many?' and he'd wag. 'What kind?' and he'd go left or right... Then he went on point and he jest started to quiver and shake! When I asked him 'How many?' he jumped up and started to humpin' my laig like he wuz nutz! Then he grabbed a big'ol stick and started shakin' it like he was plumb CRAZY! So i shot him.... I'm real sorrowfull 'bout yer dog Jake, really I am."
Jake had tears streaming from his eyes when he said "I just knew somethin' like this would happen. Zeke, ya dern fool.... He was trying to tell ya 'There's more birds in there than you can fukin shake a stick at!"