The story
In early America, people hunted at night with dogs, often for raccoons. The dog’s job was to chase the animal until it climbed a tree, then stand at the bottom and bark so the hunters could find the spot.
A dog could get it wrong. In the dark, the animal might slip away through the branches to another tree, or never have been up that tree at all. The dog would keep barking, sure of itself, at an empty tree.
The phrase shows up in American print in 1832, in James Kirke Paulding’s novel Westward Ho!, where a character says, “I thought I’d set him barking up the wrong tree a little.” In other words, he sent someone off on a false trail.
It caught on fast. By 1834 a Pennsylvania newspaper had someone telling a general, “Gineral you are barkin’ up the wrong tree this time.” From there it became a handy way to tell anyone their guess was wrong.
Notice that the dog in the picture isn’t lazy. It is working hard and making a lot of noise, just in the wrong place. That is why the phrase usually points to an honest mistake rather than a foolish one.
