מנחה לעשיו (וישלח לב:יד)

Reb Yasha Ber Brisker zt’’l once traveled by train with a few other Yidden. When it was time to daven Mincha, he began gathering a minyan. There were eight Yidden, and they found two additional simple Yidden who did not want to daven. To avoid the minyan, these two moved to a different carriage, causing the minyan to fall apart. After davening, the two returned and sat in their original seats.

Reb Yasha Ber remarked that he had always wondered why, when Yaakov sent Eisav a מנחה—oxen, sheep, goats, and so on—he did not include dogs. Now he understood: dogs, it seems, have a nature that when they hear the word מנחה, they tend to flee.