a large dog is no respecter of judges

Landseer, A Distinguished Member of the Humane Society, 1831. (PD)

Here's a story about John Philpot Curran, Master of the Rolls in Ireland (1750-1817), who for all his wit and legal acumen was unable to persuade a dog on one very memorable occasion:
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Curran, who was always punctual when invited to a dinner-party, had received one day a special invitation; but the patience of everybody was long exhausted, when the guests concluded he must have been drowned, and all the stableboys went out with lanterns to search for his body in the river. After many disappointments a maid at last discovered him stark naked and shivering in a bedroom where he had gone to take a bath. The Newfoundland dog of the house was lying watching him, and ready to spring the moment he moved, as it did not know him when stripped of his usual dress. He had been kept at bay in this situation for some hours, and was afraid to stir lest the avenging guardian should seize him by the throat. At last the master of the house appeared upon the scene, and rescued the naked figure from premature destruction, put him to bed under a heavy pile of blankets and administered brandy and water hot, by which means he was sufficiently brought round to relate his hairbreadth escape.

-- Engelbach, A. Harold. (1913). Anecdotes of bench and bar. London: G. Richards. 191-2.