Another one was Murder can be Hazardous to your Health.

Bob- I don't know the one you mean(I'm a novice, and there are episodes I still haven't seen yet).I just thought of a few other moments. In "Lady in Waiting" there is a little yappy dog in which he keeps trying to be-friend. Also, there's a funny bit in"Identity Crisis" when he's at the park eating a hotdog and he talks with a little girl, totally cracked-me-up.

The trust he placed both in the dogs and the trainer in How to Dial a Murder was stunning.

Rrrrrosebuddddd . . .

And he wants to take care for small puppy of Verity Chandler in Ashes to Ashes, I remember one scene where he speaks with her secretary after her death and says that HE must take care that puppy will always have food or sth. similar.And his facial expression is very serious at that time.

In "Identity Crisis" there is the famous
scene filmed at Travel Town in Los Angeles
where he is supposed to meet "The Top Man".
He buys a hot dog and has a conversation
with two sisters about his dog and how his dog
likes swimming. Today, in our sick modern
society, he would be arrested as a potential
child molestor, simply for being friendly.

BTW-that reminds me of the scene in "By Dawn's
Early Light" where he is looking for Cadet Springer's
girl friend. He asks one of the girls at the
school where she is and the girl says "I am not
supposed to speak with strangers". THIS IS A TERRIBLE
THING TO TEACH CHILDREN! By doing this, the child
is being taught that every other person in the
world is a potential danger and enemy. One should
teach a child not to GO anywhere with a stranger,
but talking is a good, normal human activity, just
like Columbo was doing with those girls.

i agree ym. it is a very sad commentary. i know when my husband and i are out at the grocery store and there is a little girl there he invariably says hello to her and maybe starts a little conversation with her......but the looks from the mothers are downright horrible. my husband is a very friendly person and he likes to talk to people. but some of these women take it as if he were trying to kidnap their daughters or something! HE IS STANDING THERE WITH ME!!
i just find the whole thing quite sad.

ok...sorry for ranting...

as far as the topic goes....i love all the scenes in forgotten lady dealing with Dog. he buys him an ice cream cone...and then he drives to grace wheeler's house and when he gets out of the car he sees that Dog has ice cream all over his face!! and he tells Dog that he has to clean his own face!! it is so adorable!

He also has a neat little interaction with the son of Brimmer's favorite employee in "Death Lends a Hand." Leo's wife actually DOES run up, angry and scared about this strange man in a raincoat pushing her son on the swing.

You can definitely see that it was a different time, though. As Cassa noted, his playfulness with the girls in "Identity Crisis"--especially telling them both that they are pretty--would upset some people today.

RE: the Bye Bye Sky High IQ case, I also wonder what Caroline Treynor's parents would think in 2006 if she went home from the Sigma Club and told her parents that the police lieutenant told her he liked her for her body instead of her mind.

Columbo also touches girls and women more than would be acceptable today--e.g., laying his hand over Joanne Nichols's clavicle before he leaves, while she is dressed in a robe. I imagine some young college women would find that gesture a little disconcerting from a police officer they just met.

Wow, you guys really impress me with your eye for details!!

Let's not forget Columbo's relationship with the killer's mother's dog in "Lady in Waiting."

It is great how witnessing Columbo's affection for that dog actually adds to Beth Chadwick's frustration with him. Very deep episode.

Ah yes . . . Fred Draper's "you're a sport" scene.