Ukridge's Dog College
"Ukridge's Dog College" is a short story by P. G. Wodehouse, which first appeared in the United States in the April 1923 issue of Cosmopolitan, and in the United Kingdom in the May 1923 Strand. It features the irrepressible Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge and was included in the collection Ukridge, published in 1924.
Main characters
- Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge, the irrepressible entrepreneur
- Jimmy Corcoran, Ukridge's writer friend
- Bowles, Corky's landlord, an ex-butler
- George Tupper, an old schoolfriend of Ukridge and Corcoran
- Mr Nickerson, Ukridge's rural landlord
Plot
Ukridge is introduced to the reader as a childhood friend of the narrator, later revealed to be James "Corky" Corcoran, who having been expelled from school for sneaking out of the school grounds to attend a fair has travelled the world undertaking all manner of enterprises. He is now, much to Corky's surprise, living with his wealthy aunt near Wimbledon Common and dressing smartly. All this soon ends, however, when Ukridge appears in Corky's London apartment, dressed after the old manner and accompanied by half-a-dozen Pekingese dogs. He announces to Corky that he plans to run a school for dogs, training them up as performers for the music hall, and promptly departs for Sheep's Cray in Kent.
Some weeks later, Corky receives an urgent telegram from Ukridge, and travels to Kent. There he finds Ukridge in his usual state of financial embarrassment and returns to London to ask mutual friend George Tupper for the necessary funds. Tupper coughs up happily and forms a plan to approach Ukridge's aunt in order to gain capital to fund Ukridge's scheme. Corky returns to Kent, where he finds Ukrdige enraged that his landlord, angered at not being paid, has kidnapped Ukridge's dogs. They visit the landlord, and pay him the money, but he finds the dogs have escaped, and in his contrition at having ruined Ukridge's business, agrees to refund Ukridge's rent and pay his remaining debts to local tradesmen. Ukridge and Corky return to Ukridge's house, where they find the dogs, Ukridge having secretly retrieved them overnight. They are about to decamp when Corky breaks the news about Tupper's plan, at which Ukridge quivers with shock. The dogs were in fact purloined from his aunt. Corky slips out of the house as the furious aunt arrives.