Tim O'Rourke was walking his Irish Setter in the countryside. He picked up a stick and threw it, the dog went and retrieved it and brought it back. Tim then threw it in a different direction and the dog once again went and retrieved it and brought it back.

Tim then threw it in another direction and it landed in a small lake. The dog went down to the water's edge, walked across the water, picked up the stick and brought it back.

Tim was astounded. He couldn't believe what he had seen and threw the stick in the lake again, and the dog once again walked across the water to bring the stick back. As he went into town, he promised that he would show his dog's wonderful new trick to the first person he came across.

Once in town, the first person Tim came across was the town drunk Declan Dunphy. Tim dragged Declan to the lake to show him what his dog could do.

Once again, Tim threw the stick into the small lake and the dog went to the water's edge, walked across the water, picked up the stick and brought it back to its owner. Once the drunk saw that, he turned to Tim and said, "Why that's great, mister! But when are you going to teach your dog how to swim?"