"a dog barked and the caravan moved on"

[IDSHAW]

This is part of a phrase, what is the full phrase and where does it come from?

[Janetex]

The dogs bark but the caravan moves on or the dogs barked while the caravan moved on is a proverb from an Arab story, said by a father to his son. This should be enough for you to do some searches rather than me waffling on.

[IDSHAW]

Further research revealed that many countries claim this proverb as their own; including Persia, Italy, Russia, Romania, Ukraine and Turkey, to name but a few. Below is the Turkish version with a short explanation of the proverb, which seems to make sense. It urur, kervan yurur. -(Dogs bark, but the caravan goes on.) Used to put down someone's efforts or words and meaning that it won't have any effect on the outcome. It is a rude but effective expression

[smudge]

I wouldn't stay anywhere in a caravan where a dog was barking either. It's bad enough living next door to one!

[chezza69]

the correct phrase is: the dirty gypsy had a ****, the dog barked and the cavarvan moved on to create havoc elsewhere. It is derived from a newcastle rhyme entitled hootly do do.