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by Kate Woodford

Last month, I published a post on idioms connected with man’s best friend (=the dog). When I researched the piece, I found that there were more frequent and useful canine idioms than I was expecting, so here is a second post on the subject. As well as idioms containing the word ‘dog’, I have included a few that feature dog-related vocabulary. I hope you learn a phrase or two from it!

As I wrote in my previous post, ‘dog’ idioms often have negative associations. For example, two ‘dog’ idioms are associated with suffering. Someone who works like a dog works extremely hard. The phrase suggests that they work too hard, or for too little reward. Meanwhile, a dog’s life is a life that is full of suffering and difficulty, with little happiness:

He worked like a dog, six or sometimes seven days a week.

It’s a dog’s life running a restaurant in this city.

Another negative idiom is the phrase go to the dogs. A country or organization that ‘goes to the dogs’ becomes very much worse:

He’s always grumbling that the country is going to the dogs – I take no notice.

In US English, the disapproving phrase a dog and pony show refers to an event that is intended to impress people or sell them something, but has no real meaning:

Nothing of substance was said at the press conference – it was just a dog and pony show.

If someone complains that the tail is wagging the dog, they mean that a relatively unimportant aspect of a situation is having an excessive influence on the whole situation:

These people with their extreme opinions do not represent the party. The tail is wagging the dog.

To let sleeping dogs lie is to deliberately avoid mentioning a subject that has annoyed or upset people in the past, in order to prevent more arguments or problems:

I didn’t want to raise the issue again. You know, let sleeping dogs lie.

Two nice dog-related idioms feature the verb bark. If you’re barking up the wrong tree, you’re taking the wrong approach to solving a problem and it won’t work. Someone whose bark is worse than their bite seems more frightening than they really are.

If she thinks that’s how to gain support, she’s barking up the wrong tree.

He can seem a bit scary at first, but his bark is definitely worse than his bite.

Finally, a person who is in the doghouse has done something that has made someone else cross with them:

I’m in the doghouse after coming home later than I said I would.

That concludes my second ‘dog idioms’ post. If you’d like to read the first one, please follow this link.