OK - Maybe I was too terse in my previous explanation of why Jock shoots his dog. So here's the full version. When I first heard this song on the Pogues record I thought it was beautiful. I figured out the chords and wrote down the words and I'd play it and my wife would sing it and she enjoyed the way the melody hung on her voice but she was uncomfortable every time she got to the part about shooting the dog. But we loved the song so much that we kept coming back to it. You know how the way you think about a song can change after you've sung and heard it a bunch of times? Well. that's what happened, one day it just clicked. The reason he shoots the dog is because HE HAS TO! The dog has taken sick or gotten old. He's recounting his story in a pub where he is not known. (Otherwise, why would he have to recount his story?) Perhaps his fellow patrons are impressed by his acres of land and men he commands, but this is not mere bragging. Jock himself is marveling at the irony that no matter what he has, no matter how much he is envied, he has this pain that all his possessions can't shield him from. And the pain is probably exacerbated by the fact that all these gomers that he's drinking with can't see beyond his riches. It just occurred to me that this song is a lot like "Richard Cory" in that regard. Would you say that, in that song, it makes no sense that he kills himself because the preceding verses have detailed his seemingly happy life? Anyhoo, that's what I think and that's why I love this song and, I should add, credit where credit due, many (most) of these ideas were my wife's. I'll be interested in what you think.