The Choking Doberman: And Other Urban Legends

by Jan Harold Brunvand

Professor Jan Harold Brunvand expands his examination of the phenomenon of urban legends, those improbable, believable stories that always happen to a "friend of a friend."

Genres: Nonfiction, Folklore, Urban Legends, History, Horror, Pop Culture, Anthropology

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Jan Harold Brunvand (born 1933) is a professor emeritus of English at the University of Utah in the United States, best known for spreading the concept of the urban legend, or modern folklore. Before his work, folk tales were associated with ancient times or rural cultures; Brunvand's breakthrough was to take concepts developed in the academic study of traditional folktales and apply them to stories circulating in the modern world.

Brunvand is the author of several well-known books on the topic of urban legends, starting with The Vanishing Hitchhiker in 1981. This book brought urban legends to popular attention in the United States. Follow-up works include The Choking Doberman (1984), The Mexican Pet (1988), Curses! Broiled Again! (1990), The Baby Train (1993), and others. He also edited the one-volume American Folklore: An Encyclopedia (1996), as well as several textbooks.

Born in Cadillac, Michigan, Brunvand received a Ph.D. in folklore from Indiana University in 1961. He taught at several U.S. universities before joining the University of Utah in 1966. He retired in 1996, but remains a popular speaker and writer; he gave the keynote address at the 2003 meeting of the Missouri Folklore Society, of which he is a longtime member.

Reviews

[Glen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Academic book studying modern folklore. Brunvand started the whole "urban legend" thing.

This one goes into detail about the old Choking Doberman story, as well as a few others. A bit dated now, but books on the subject keep coming out.

[Trin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Popular analysis of urban legends by a folklore professor. I read Brunvand’s first book, The Vanishing Hitchhiker, last year; first published in 1981, it apparently became a bit of a phenomenon, and the later books reflect that. I preferred Doberman to The Mexican Pet, which I read soon after, because it contains more in-depth analysis, though both books are a great deal of fun, both because they reprint these delightfully disturbing tales (many of which still have the power to freak me out, even though I know they’re fake fake fake) and because they do such a good job tracing the ways the various stories shift and evolve. I am also quite charmed by the fact that all of these books are pre-World Wide Web, giving them a glamour that only tales passed on by mimeographed pages can provide.

Urban legends have of course evolved to fit the age of the internet, though. In fact, just this weekend I was having lunch with my brother when he leaned across the table and said, in utter seriousness, “I heard the creepiest story the other day. A friend of a friend was babysitting…” I interrupted him with a burst of laughter right there, as babysitting and FOAFs are two of urban legends’ most common tropes. He was terribly pissed at me for being so reluctant to believe his story from the get-go, as he’s going through a rather pretentious film school phase and he bought it, hook, line, and no doubt photoshopped photographic “proof”-sinker. I’d be cool if Brunvand wrote a modern book that includes details like doctored jpegs. Until then, I’m going to continue to enjoy these wonderful ’80s relics.

[Kathryn Hemmann · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Choking Doberman collects different variations of urban legends from the 1970s and 1980s with very little contextualization. The lack of any description or explanation of the culture that gave rise to these stories is often jarring. To give an example, Brunvand recounts the myth of a young white boy who enters a public restroom in a Kmart only to be mutilated as part of a Black gang initiation ritual. He claims that it's not a new story, as it's comparable to European folklore about Jewish congregations kidnapping Christian boys in order to serve their genitalia at Passover Seder dinners. I understand the analogy, but all of this could use some serious cultural unpacking.

The author isn't concerned with discussing what urban legends are and how they spread, and he doesn't seem to be interested in talking about the cultural anxieties these narratives reflect. Rather, his primary objective is to prove that these stories didn't really happen. Instead of taking an analytical approach to the transmission of contemporary folklore, Brunvand mocks and belittles his sources, which can be very uncomfortable to read. One of the more absurd examples is when Brunvand argues that no reputable doctor would link cigarettes to cancer.

The Choking Doberman is uncritically recounted from a white male perspective. This results in a number of unfortunate arguments, especially when combined with a lack of contextualization. For example, Brunvand argues that date rape is nothing more than an urban legend because no one has ever actually been date raped. Date rape always happens to "a friend" of the male writer/reader, after all, and therefore it can't be real.

I read this book because it was recommended to me as a classic text in the study of urban legends. That may be the case, but The Choking Doberman feels more like a relic of its time than a key source that still deserves serious attention and citation.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

This a great book. It does not just lay out the standard urban legends. The author is a professor of folklore, and he traces the evolution of urban legends, some of which go all the way back to the Middle Ages.

[Ape · Rating 3 out of 5]

More from the 1980s expert on American folklore and urban legends. These aren't just the friend-of-a-friend stories that we've all heard at one point or another, but also a look into how these things spread, and how certain themes fit in with fears of the times, even how themes can continue over hundreds of years, adapting with society and travelling across countries. It's very interesting, but not too scholary or heavy going, so overall good reading.

Brunvand covers a variety of themes in this book, kicking off with the Choking Doberman and various dog and attacker stories. There's even an interesting and lengthy account of rumours and urban myths that caused the company P&G a lot of headaches when it got all over the States that their company logo was a Satanist symbol and they donated profits to Satan. They actually hired 15 full time telephonists at one point to field calls about it. The mind boggles.

One reference in the Sex Scandals chapter was a bit depressing. I don't know if this was just the perception thereof in the 1980s, but men spiking women's drinks with drugs and then raping them later on when they're senseless got a mention. In a book about urban myths. True, this hasn't happened to me or anyone I know of, thank god. But this one has come up in the media so much, even just now there's appeals here in the UK against the release of Warboys who was convinced of doing just that to female passengers in his taxi. Not sure how appropriate that one is in a book about urban legends anymore.

But otherwise an entertaining and thought provoking read. As a human race we've been creating these myths since the beginning of time and nothing has changed. We just can't help ourselves telling tales.

[Lucian Logan Charles LeBeau · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent book but I had a hard time getting into it. Fortunately for me it was perfect for my girlfriend who adores that kind of stuff. Would recommend to anyone who enjoys the type of nonfiction writing that elaborates on why fiction pieces like "urban legends" come to be.

[Jo · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried a few times to read this. I am more interested in hearing the urban legends than reading about their beginning. The writing was good, it just was not the book for me.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

This wasn't quite as good as the original, but was a solid follow-up.

[Emma Burris]

very good book! picked this up from a free book pile at college just because it seemed interesting. flew right through it. such a great read

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished this less than twenty-four hours after buying it, which should speak for its fascination. As a long-time reader of snopes.com, I'd often seen this or Brunwald's previous work, The Vanishing Hitchhiker American Urban Legends and Their Meanings, cited, so I was eager to read it first-hand. Tales I knew from boarding-school and from the dead-grannies conference on CIX are recorded and deconstructed along with their subconscious or conscious meanings and morals. The titular legend in particular turns out to be disturbingly Freudian.

[Roland Volz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Author Jan Harold Brunvand is a well-known folklorist, having appeared on Letterman and written a number of books on the subject. This classic covers some well-traveled urban legends from the 80s. His witty style and conversational tone fits oddly with the subject matter; one the one hand, the book tries to be a reference work documenting some popular modern myths, but instead of just reporting the stories, the author tries to fit them into a conversational framework. I'm not sure it worked that well, but the subject matter is interesting enough.

[Art · Rating 4 out of 5]

I heard the story of the choking Doberman a couple of decades ago. I first heard the story from a relative living back East. Later, a totally unrelated person living out West told me a nearly identical story. I remember thinking, "How could such an unusual incident occur and repeat itself exactly in a totally different part of the country?" The story was related to me as being "true." You know, it happened to the friend of a friend of a friend. Later, I stumbled across this book and was introduced to the fascinating world of urban legends.

[Peacegal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this back in college, and was of course overjoyed when a classmate told the “Doberman” story in one of my news writing classes. She of course, swore up and down it was fact, and had happened to a relative of hers! I love it!

Also of note: the man-eating dog in the story switches breeds to correspond with whatever unfortunate pooch is popularly stereotyped as vicious. In the 1970s, it was a Doberman; in the 1980s, a pit bull; in the 1990s, a Rottweiler.

[HeavyReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

More urban legend goodness. Oh yeah!

I remember that I read several books by Jan Harold Brunvand when I was depressed. They are good for depression reading for several reasons.

1) The chapters are short.

2) The chapters do not need to be read in order.

3) The stories are humorous.

4) No pesky characters to differentiate from each other.

[Mick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a bit dated, having been written in the mid 80s, but still quite entertaining. Brunvand explores many myths that have been passed as fact throughout history, and debunks them systematically. Many of the camp-fire horror stories you heard as a child get this treatment, as well as some more adult themed yarns. A good read.

[Particle_Person · Rating 3 out of 5]

I give Brunvand great props as an academic but he is a failure as a writer. The text is not engaging despite the subject matter. You want to learn about urban legends, Snopes.com is a lot more accessible.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

It has some of the classics, but get brunvalds complete text and save some money.

[Rod · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was an invaluable resource when I started studing urban legends as a writing resource. Of course, the Internet soon eclipsed this book's usefulness, I suppose, but that was inevitable.

[Dennis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting urban legends.

[Elsie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read. Breaks down types of urban legends and origins. Some of them are really funny.

[Clive Riddle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is what what got me started on urban legends -- a classic

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Repetitious and only worthy of a skim, especially if read immediately following "The Vanishing Hitchhiker."

[Fishface · Rating 4 out of 5]

More terrific mapping of the American urban legend. Every page is a riot.

[Marjorie Jensen]

I read this book for my latest U.C. Berkeley TA-ship.

[John]

Not worth a rating.