A Southern boy graduates from high school heads north to college, taking the family dog, Old Blue with him, for company. He's only been there a few weeks when he gets a call from his girlfriend; seems like they've got a problem, and she needs a thousand dollars to take care of it. The boy calls his folks: "How are you?" they ask. "Oh, I'm fine," he says. "And how," they ask, "is Old Blue?" "Well, he's kind of depressed. You see, there's this lady up here that teaches dogs to talk, and Ol' Blue is feelin' kind of left out 'cause he's the only dog that doesn't know how to talk. She charges a thousand dollars." The parents send the boy the thousand dollars, he forwards it to Mary Lou, and everything's fine until Christmas vacation. The boy leaves Ol' Blue at his dorm, 'cause he just can't figure out what to tell his parents. Sure enough, when he gets home, the first thing his father wants to know is "Where's Old Blue?" "Well, Pa," says the boy. "I was driving on home and Old Blue was talking away about this and that when we passed the Buford's farm. Old Blue, well, he said, `Say, what do you think your mother would do if I told her that your father's been comin' over here and seeing Mrs. Buford all these years?'" The father looks at his son -- "You shot that dog, didn't you, boy?"