Dog idioms

In this post, you can learn the most common dog-themed idioms in English. I was surprised to discover that there are so many! Read on to learn more!

Go to the dogs.
If something has gone to the dogs, it means that it was good but now it isn't. For example, if we say his career has gone to the dogs, it means he had a good career but then something went wrong and now his career is a disaster.

Bark up the wrong tree
If you are barking up the wrong tree, it means you are wasting your time on something that will never work. Maybe you asking the wrong person, or asking for something they will never give you or trying to do something the wrong way.

A doggy bag
If you go to a restaurant and don't eat everything, the restaurant might give you a small bag to take your leftovers home.

Doggy paddle
A simple style of swimming where you move your arms in the water like a dog would move it's front legs.

Dog-tired
Extremely tired or exhausted.

Dog-eared
If a book or page is dog-eared, it means the corners are turned down or worn as a result of lots of use.

Dogsbody
A dogsbody is a person who gets all the boring and menial tasks that nobody else wants to do, like doing the photocopying and making the coffee.

Dog tag
This could be the metal disc that dogs wear on their collar with their name on but it also means the piece of metal that American soldiers wear on a chain around their neck with their name and number written on it for identification.

All bark and no bite.
If we say someone is all bark and no bite, it means that they talk a lot, maybe in an aggressive fashion, but they don't do anything or have no real power to do anything.

Her bark is worse than her bite.
She seems like a scary person at first but she's harmless really.

Let sleeping dogs lie.
Don't interfere. Forget about it. Leave it alone because you don't want to make things worse.

He's in the dog house.
He did something wrong and now people are angry or upset with him.

​Click here for more vocabulary about dogs.
You might also like this post about cat idioms.