A doctor, an engineer, and a lawyer go out hunting in the woods one day. Each of them brings along his hunting dog, and they spend most of the morning arguing about which of the dogs is the smartest.
Early in the afternoon, they discover a clearing in the forest. In the middle of the clearing is a large pile of animal bones.
Seeing the bones, the doctor turns to the others and says, “I’m going to prove to you two that my dog is the smartest. Watch this!” He then calls his dog over and says, “Bones! See the bones? Go get ’em!”
The dog rushes over to the pile, rummages around for a bit, and then proceeds to build a replica of the human skeleton, perfect down to the last detail. The doctor grins smugly; after all, his dog has just built a human skeleton from animal bones.
The engineer, however, is totally unimpressed. “That’s nothing,” he says. “Watch this.” He calls his dog over, and points out the pile. “Bones! Get the bones!” The dog rushes over, tears down the skeleton, and in its place builds a perfect replica of the Eiffel Tower. It even has a little French flag waving at the top. The doctor is forced to agree that the engineer’s dog is, in fact, smarter than his own.
The lawyer, however, is still not impressed. “My dog is smarter,” he says. “Watch.” He then calls his dog over, points to the pile, and says simply, “Bones.” The dog rushes over to the pile, tears down the tower, eats half the bones, buries the other half, and takes the rest of the afternoon off.