The Microwaved Pet

A friend of a friend had a grandmother who was a little bit "dotty." One day, Grandma had just bathed her miniature poodle, Pierre, and was about to towel-dry him when the phone rang. It was her daughter, reminding her that they had arranged to meet for lunch a half hour earlier. Grandma apologized for being late and said she'd be there as quickly as she could.

As she began towel-drying Pierre, it dawned on her that there was a quicker way to do it: the microwave. So she put her beloved pet inside the oven, set the dial to "defrost" and switched it on.

A half a minute later, as Grandma was donning her coat to leave, she heard a muffled explosion in the kitchen.

Pierre the poodle was no more.

Comments: In identifying this story as an urban legend, I'm not suggesting that similar incidents have never happened — they surely have. I am suggesting that most often when a tale like this is told as "true," the storyteller has no direct knowledge or evidence to back it up; having heard the story secondhand, he or she simply assumes it is true and passes it on, with or without flourishes. That's one defining characteristic of an urban legend.

"The Poodle in the Microwave" (a.k.a. "The Microwaved Pet") enjoyed its first wave of popularity in the mid-1970s. In part, it's a cautionary tale reflecting societal ambivalence toward technological change (a recurrent theme in contemporary folklore). Greater convenience entails greater risks, such stories seem to say, so we should approach new technologies with caution. Yet "The Microwaved Pet" also hearkens back to warnings dating back to the 1940s, if not earlier, about dogs and cats suffering injury or death after crawling unnoticed into old-fashioned gas ovens. While one can always quibble over the "function" or deeper meanings of urban legends, it's safe to say that they almost always serve as a barometer of our everyday fears.