Actually, in the black ghetto of Denver Colo. (circa1949) there was an old story of two horny, poor men who went to a whore house in town. They were met by the madam and her ugly bulldog who was dripping saliva from his mouth and snarling. The first man asked how much for a woman and the madam responded that the 19 year old was $20.00, the 30 year old was $10 and the 50 year old was $5. The first man said I only have $3. The madam said, "Hey Bertha, greese up the cat's ass. " Reluctantly, the man went to a room with the cat. Afterwards, he met up with his friend and said, "that was the worst night of my life." "I couldn't catch the cat and when I did it scratched me all over." "How did you make out? The second man said, "you think you had a bad night." "I only had $2 and I had to screw the pooch."
To screw the pooch means that bad circumstances lead you to make a poor decision that leads to terrible consequences.