A Dog Under the Bed

When my friend's daughter was about five years old, she started running to her parents at night crying. When asked, she'd claim there was a dog under her bed. Her parents, naturally, explained there was no dog there. They turned on the lights and shone a flashlight under the bed, but to no avail—the child continued to come crying every night.

My friend consulted a psychologist, who advised taking her daughter to a toy store and buying her a stuffed dog she liked, naming it, and placing it under her daughter's bed. That's what they did. The child calmed down and stopped running to her parents at night, only occasionally mentioning that the dog was snoring loudly or scratching and disturbing her sleep.

After some time, my friend decided to clean up and, in a creative burst, moved her daughter's bed. Imagine her surprise, bordering on shock, when she saw a multitude of telltale scratches on the floor. These are well known to pet owners, as they are the result of their pets trying to dig up the parquet floor...