ここほれワンワン

[holferty]

So I was reading 花咲じさん　and I came across the barking dog phrase ここほれワンワン. I know that ワンワン is the sound a dog makes but I couldn't find ここほれ in my tiny dictionary. And then a google search yielded many sites and businesses called ここほれ or ここほれワンワン which made me wonder if there is some cultural significance to this phrase. Could someone please enlighten me?

[Jessi]

ここ means "here", and ほれ is the imperative form of the verb ほる, "to dig", so ここほれ means "dig here". I took a look at the story (this is it, right? http://www.ifi.uzh.ch/ailab/people/thom ... nasaka.htm) and it looks like the dog is telling his owner to dig up a certain area because there's something there.

And like you said, it appears to be a really common set phrase from the likes of Google