The post you are reporting:
'a woman, a dog, and a walnut tree, the more you beat them the better they be' etc.
1581 G. PETTIE tr. S. Guazzo’s Civil Conversation III. 20 I have redde, I know not where, these verses. A woman, an asse, and a walnut tree, Bring the more fruit the more beaten they bee.
1981 Daily Telegraph 5 Feb. 17 It’s not right to batter your wife. It is like the old saying, ‘A wife, a dog and a walnut tree, the more you beat them the better they be.’ It’s just not true.
A mixture of fact AND fiction?