Barking up the Wrong Tree

Barking up the wrong tree. An interesting expression, really. Nice use of canine imagery. The idiomatic meaning, of course, that one mistakenly believes the source of and solution to a problem lie in one sphere, when, in fact, the cause and solution lie in a different sphere entirely. You won't find the answer because you are looking in the wrong place.

The thing is, have you ever seen a dog bark up a tree before? What if you are barking up the right tree? The location of that squirrel, or pussy cat, or other object of canine fancy has been correctly identified. That pussy cat is up that tree. Yet, all of the barking in the world, is not going to capture that pussy cat, or squirrel, or bird, whatever the hell it is. It would seem that the success rate for barking up any tree is incredibly low, regardless of the wrongness or rightness of said tree. Arguably, barking up a tree isn't really the correct approach in the first place.

Hmmm.