Walking the Dog by Foxymoron

The expression "walking the dog" in bridge refers to the tactic of bidding less than a hand is worth but then adding one level each time the bidding comes round again. The hope is that the opponents will eventually double. The meaning "to trick the opponent" possibly comes from Gershwin's 1937 song Walking the Dog in the film Shall We Dance. Alternatively the words of Walking the Dog, the 1963 song by Rufus Thomas, could have created the meaning of deception.

Urban slang uses "walking the dog" as committing adultery, another deception, and it has also become used to mean visiting the bathroom. The Americans are fond of euphemisms and "going to see a man about a dog" is another of their contorted phrases for going to the bathroom. The song Walking the Dog is very American:

I asked her mother for fifteen cents

See the elephant jump the fence

He jumped so high, he touched the skies

Never got back till the fourth of July

Steve Coulter attempted to walk the dog on Tuesday, and he ended with a good result, but his opponents might have done better:

North opened a weak 2S and South decided to "go slowly" and passed. West bid 3D as 4D would have shown 5-5 in the red suits and 5D ruled out playing other contracts. East bid 3H and South again walked the dog with 3S. West now showed his heart support with 4H which went round to South who finally bid 4S.  West smelled a rat and bid 5D. This expression seems to come from English poet John Skelton's 1540 poem "The Image of Ipocrysy": 

But then beware the catte; For yf they smell a ratt, 

They grisely chide and chatt

5D should have ended the auction. If West had wanted to offer a "choice of red-suit saves", he would have bid 4NT but East "corrected" (or should that be "wronged") to 5H anyway. So the full auction was:

                       North        East        South        West

                        2S            Pass        Pass           3D

                        Pass         3H           3S             4H

                        Pass         Pass         4S             5D

                        Pass         5H           All Pass

South led his singleton diamond and declarer won with the ace and played a top heart. South ducked this, and North won to give his partner a diamond ruff for one off. Remarkably, eschewing the diamond ruff and playing a spade instead would have beaten the contract by two, but this was very hard to find and could have been completely wrong.

5D would probably have made. North needs to lead the king of hearts, in a suit bid and supported by the opponents, to beat this. Frequently found online during Covid in the days of self-kibitzing, but not since ... As it was, 5H-1 was still worth 68% to North-South. The results this week were skewed with five pairs above 60% but no pair below 40%. It was good to see 13 tables as well.