If your dog is barking at the back door and your wife is yelling at the front door, who do you let in first? The dog, of course. He’ll shut up once you let him in.

This is a modern, anonymous joke that circulates widely in oral humor and internet quote collections, often framed as a one-liner or a short “riddle” about domestic life. It draws on a familiar setup—noise at two doors—to deliver a punchline that plays on the idea that a dog’s complaint is easily resolved, while a spouse’s complaint will continue after being “let in.” The humor depends on a stereotyped, old-fashioned portrayal of marriage as nagging and of pets as uncomplicated. Because it is transmitted informally and repeatedly reworded, it is difficult to tie to a single first publication or identifiable speaker.

The line functions as a piece of domestic, anti-spousal humor: it pretends to offer practical advice but actually aims for a cynical punchline about communication and conflict. The dog symbolizes a problem with a simple, immediate fix—open the door and the barking stops—whereas the wife symbolizes a problem that persists even after the immediate barrier is removed. The joke’s “logic” is intentionally unfair, relying on a gendered stereotype of wives as perpetually dissatisfied. As a quotation, it is less an aphorism than a comic bit that reveals cultural attitudes about marriage, irritation, and the fantasy of choosing the easier problem over the more emotionally complex one.