Judge — December 1, 1928 — page 21: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This comic strip satirizes the high prices charged at dog shows. The top panel shows a wealthy man astounded that a small dog is "worth twenty-five thousand dollars," while a woman responds sarcastically about the expense. The subsequent panels mock pretentious dog-show culture through exaggerated character types: a pompous judge in ornate dress, wealthy socialites discussing dubious "breeding" methods (sulfur and molasses treatments), and working-class men in flat caps discussing crude dog-show terminology ("pull out the stoppuh"). The satire targets the absurdity of the dog-show elite—their inflated valuations, affected speech, and dubious breeding practices—contrasting them with ordinary people's bafflement at such extravagance. The humor lies in exposing the pretension and financial excess of this leisure-class pursuit during what appears to be the early 20th century, when such shows were fashionable among the wealthy.