这个成语故事源自孟尝君的一个门客，他学雄鸡啼叫，装狗进行盗窃。后来，这个故事被用来比喻那些既无真才实学，也无堂皇风度，只不过略有低下本领的人。

《史记·孟尝君列传》载：战国时候，齐国的孟尝君喜欢招纳各种人做门客，号称宾客三千。他对宾客是来者不拒，有才能的让他们各尽其能，没有才能的也提供食宿。

有一次，孟尝君率领众宾客出使秦国。秦昭王将他留下，想让他当相国。孟尝君不敢得罪秦昭王，只好留下来。不久，大臣们劝秦王说：“留下孟尝君对秦国是不利的，他出身王族，在齐国有封地，有家人，怎么会真心为秦国办事呢？”秦昭王觉得有理，便改变了主意，把孟尝君和他的手下人软禁起来，只等找个借口杀掉。

在这个紧要关头，一位门客提出了一个惊人的计划。他宣称能够偷回那件天下无双的狐白裘作为交换条件。这位门客特别擅长钻狗洞偷东西。他先摸清情况，然后在月光之下轻易地钻进贮藏室把狐裘偷出来。妃子见到狐白裘高兴极了，并成功地说服了秦昭王放弃了杀Son Meng’s plan was to escape by using the excuse of sending back a gift to the queen. He knew that the queen loved fox fur very much, so he decided to send her a fox fur cloak as a gift. However, he didn’t have any fox fur cloak with him.

At this point, one of his guests stepped forward and said that he could steal a fox fur cloak for him. The guest then went into the palace and stole a valuable fox fur cloak from the storage room. He brought it back to Son Meng and gave it to him.

Son Meng was overjoyed and thanked his guest for his help. He then put on the fox fur cloak and went out of the palace with his guests. When they reached the gate, they found that it was locked because it was too early in the morning for anyone to be out yet.

The guard asked them why they were there at such an early hour, but Son Meng just smiled and said that he had come to visit some friends who lived nearby. The guard believed him and let them pass through.

Once they were outside, Son Meng took off his fox fur cloak and gave it back to his guest who had stolen it from