the dog ate my homework expression

Where Did The Phrase “The Dog Ate My Homework” Come From?

Dogs are known as man’s best friend. Dogs keep us safe, are hard workers … and can provide a handy excuse in a pinch. Maybe that’s why versions of the classic expression the dog ate my homework have been around for hundreds of years.

Today, the dog ate my homework is used as a stock example of the kind of silly excuses schoolchildren give for why their work isn’t finished. Very rarely do people say, “the dog ate my homework” and expect it to be taken literally; they use the expression as an example of a typically flimsy excuse.

So where did the phrase come from?

Forrest Wickman, a writer for Slate , describes the legend of the 6th-century Saint Ciarán of Clonmacnoise as the alleged first recorded “the dog ate my homework” story. According to the tale, Saint Ciarán had a tame young fox that would take his writings to his master for him. One day, the fox grew up and decided to eat the leather strap binding the writings together instead. Still, this tale is more Garden-of-Eden parable and less terrible schoolchild excuse.

The notion that dogs will eat just about anything, including paper, turns up in lots of stories over the centuries. An example comes from The Humors of Whist , published in 1808 in Sporting Magazine . In the story, the players are sitting around playing cards when one of them remarks that their companion would have lost the game had the dog not eaten the losing card. Good boy.

Some attribute the creation of the dog ate my homework to a joke that was going around at the beginning of the 20th century. In a tale found as far back as an 1894 memoir by Anglican priest Samuel Reynolds Hole, a preacher gives a shortened version of a sermon because a dog got into his study and ate some of the pages he had written. However, the clerk loved it because they had been wanting the preacher to shorten his sermons for years.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary , the first example of the dog ate my homework excuse in print can be found in a speech given by retiring headmaster James Bewsher in 1929 and published in the Manchester Guardian : “It is a long time since I have had the excuse about the dog tearing up the arithmetic homework.” The way this comment is phrased suggests that the whole dog ate my homework story had been around for some time before it was put in print.

When was the word homework created?

But in order for a dog to eat homework specifically, homework had to be invented (oh, and how we wish it hadn’t been). True, the word homework , as in what we call today housework , appears as early as 1653. But homework , as in school exercises to be done at home, isn’t found until 1852. Once we had homework , it was only a matter of time before the dog was accused of eating it.

How we use this phrase now

No matter the origin, sometime in the 1950s, the expression became set as the dog ate my homework . This inspired any number of riffs on the theme, like my cow ate my homework or my brother ate my homework . In the 1960s, the dog ate my homework continued to gain popularity. The expression popped up a couple times in politics over the years, like when President Reagan said to reporters in 1988, “I had hoped that we had marked the end of the ‘dog-ate-my-homework’ era of Congressional budgetry … but it was not to be.”

It seems unlikely that the dog ate my homework was ever used consistently or frequently by actual schoolchildren. In fact, it’s the unlikeliness of the story that makes it so funny and absurd as a joke. Instead, teachers and authority figures appear to have cited the dog ate my homework many times over the years as such a bad excuse they can’t believe students are really using it.

In the 21st century, students don’t spend as much time working with physical pen and paper as they once did. That may contribute to the decline in the use of the phrase. So, maybe soon we’ll see a new equally absurd phrase pop up. Come on Zoomers, you’ve got this.

WATCH: What's A Unique Homework Routine That Works?

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Why Do We Say “The Dog Ate My Homework”?

The history of the delinquent schoolchild’s favorite excuse..

Did this sad Lab eat your homework?

iStockphoto.

Viacom announced on Monday that Mitt Romney had declined to appear on Nickelodeon’s Kids Pick the President special this year, citing time constraints. President Obama’s camp pounced on Romney’s decision, saying, “Kids demand details … ‘The dog ate my homework’ just doesn’t cut it when you’re running for president. ” When did “my dog ate my homework” become known as schoolchildren’s favorite excuse?

The 1970s. Delinquent schoolchildren and adults have been blaming their shortcomings on their pets for more than a century, but it wasn’t until the 1970s that “my dog ate my homework” came to be considered the No. 1 likely story. One of the first sad sacks who was said to blame his dog for his own ill-preparedness was a priest. In this anecdote, which appeared as early as 1905, a clergyman pulls his clerk aside after a service to ask him whether his sermon seemed long enough. The clerk assures him that it was very nice, “just the right length,” and the priest is relieved. “I am very glad to hear you say that,” he says, “because just before I started to come here my dog got hold of my sermon and ate some of the leaves .” The story was repeated again and again . The first citation of the excuse in the Oxford English Dictionary is a 1929 article from the Manchester Guardian , which reads, “It is a long time since I have had the excuse about the dog tearing up the arithmetic homework.” In Bel Kaufman’s best-selling 1965 novel Up the Down Staircase , a list of students’ excuses for not having their homework includes “ My dog went on my homework ” and “ My dog chewed it up .” Even in 1965, however, it was still just another excuse.

“My dog ate my homework” became known as the quintessential far-fetched excuse in the next decade, when the phrase was used over and over . In a 1976 account of the Watergate tapes, E.C. Kennedy describes listening to President Nixon “ working on the greatest American excuse since the dog ate my homework .” A 1977 article from Alaska’s Daily News-Miner describes the difficulty students faced in coming up with a new excuse since “ ‘My dog ate my term paper’ is no longer acceptable .”

The excuse was alluded to more and more throughout the 1980s. A 1982 Time magazine column on excuses suggested that “The dog ate my homework is a favorite with schoolchildren,” while a 1987 New York Times column about how students were starting to blame malfunctioning computers and printers quoted one teacher as saying she recently received “ a note from a student’s mother saying the dog ate his homework .” Even the president picked up on the trend: When Congress pushed spending approval to the last minute in 1988, Ronald Reagan complained to reporters, “ I had hoped that we had marked the end of the ‘dog-ate-my-homework’ era of Congressional budgetry … but it was not to be .” It was all over television, with references to the excuse on shows like The Simpsons and Full House . By 1989, the narrator of Saved by the Bell theme was singing, “ And the dog ate all my homework last night .”

The phrase continued to grow more popular. Between 1990 and 2000, the New York Times wrote articles with headlines such as “ Beyond ‘Dog Ate My Homework’ ” and “ Homework Help Sites (Or, the Dog Ate My U.R.L.) ,” while The New Yorker described one criminal’s accounts of his wrongdoings as having “a decided my-dog-ate-my-homework quality.” Children’s books tried to capitalize on the trend with titles like A Dinosaur Ate My Homework , Aliens Ate My Homework , Godzilla Ate My Homework , and My Teacher Ate My Homework , daring to use the term to promote reading and education. Such titles have continued into the 2000s, but in recent years the phrase seems to finally be losing steam .

Bonus Explainer: An Obama spokesperson also said, “ It’s no surprise Romney decided to play hookey .” Why do we call cutting school “playing hookey”? To play hookey began as an Americanism in the 19 th century. The earliest known citation comes from 1848, from John Russell Bartlett’s Dictionary of Americanisms , where it was said to mean “to play truant” and noted to be “ a term used among schoolboys, chiefly in the State of New York .” Word historians usually suggest that it’s from to hook it meaning to run away , a term as old as the Revolutionary War. However, others have proposed that it might derive from the Dutch expression hoekje spelen , the Dutch expression for “hide and seek”—especially since playing hooky emerged in New York during a time when it had a larger Dutch population.

Got a question about today’s news?  Ask the Explainer .

Explainer thanks Barry Popik, Jesse Sheidlower of the Oxford English Dictionary, and Ben Zimmer of the Visual Thesaurus and Vocabulary.com .

word histories

“ad fontes!”

early history of the phrase ‘the dog ate my homework’

The phrase the dog ate my homework and variants are used as, or denote, an unconvincing or far-fetched excuse: – for failing to hand in school homework, and, by extension: – for any failure to do or produce what was expected.

The earliest mention that I have found of a person blaming a dog for their own unpreparedness is from More Memories: Being Thoughts about England spoken in America (London: Edward Arnold, 1894), by the English Anglican priest Samuel Reynolds Hole (1819-1904):

There is one adjunct of a sermon, which nearly all who hear admire, and which all who preach may possess if they please—brevity. Unhappily, the speakers, whom this virtue would most gracefully become, do not seem to be aware of its existence; like Nelson, they put the telescope to the blind eye , when signals are made to “cease firing.” They decline to notice manifest indications of weariness, yawns, sighs, readjustment of limbs, ostentatious inspection of watches; and they seem rather to be soothed than offended by soft sounds of slumber, as though it were music from La Somnambula. One of these tedious preachers went away for his holiday, and the clergyman who took his duties in his absence apologized one Sunday to the clerk in the vestry, when the service was over, for the shortness of his sermon: a dog had been in his study, and torn out some of the pages. “Oh, sir,” said the clerk, a bright beam of hope on his countenance, “do you think that you could spare our vicar a pup ?”

This story has often been repeated, and elaborated on, since 1894. For example, the following version is from the President’s Address , in the Proceedings of the Forty-second Annual Meeting of the Fire Underwriters’ Association of the Northwest Held at the Hotel La Salle, Chicago , Illinois, October 4 th and 5 th , 1911 (Printed by order of the Association, 1911):

In my efforts to make my annual address as brief as possible it reminds me of a Scotch story. Donald McPherson was a leading member and also a leading deacon in an old church in Scotland, whose old minister had for many years inflicted on his congregation very long and tiresome sermons. One Sunday the old minister was invited to fill the pulpit of a church in an adjoining parish, and Donald’s congregation, thinking this was a good chance to get a much younger man, got one to fill the pulpit for that day. After the services, and as the young minister and Donald were walking home together, the minister naturally asked: “Well, Mr. McPherson, how did you enjoy the sermon?” Donald replied: “Well, minister,” he said, “I think it sounded kind of disconnected, but I liked it awfully well because it was brief.” The young minister was a little frustrated at the frank expression or criticism and replied: “Well, Mr. McPherson, there was perhaps a reason for it being brief and disconnected.” Donald replied: “And what was the reason?” “Well, sir,” the minister stated, “in coming to church this morning, I had occasion to change my manuscript from one pocket to the other, and while doing so, unfortunately, a sudden gust of wind came along and blew several of the pages down the street, and a dog seeing the flying papers got after them, and really, Mr. McPherson, what he didn’t destroy he practically eat up.” Donald, on hearing the excuse, replied: “And so, Mr. Minister, the reason your sermon was brief was because a dog ate it.” “Well,” replied the minister, “yes, Mr. McPherson, that is practically true.” “Well, well,” says Donald, “I will tell you, I am willing to forgive you, and so is all of the congregation, if you will only send a pup of that dog to our old minister.”

The earliest recorded mention of the excuse consisting for a schoolchild in telling that a dog ate their homework is from a speech that, on his retirement from the headmastership, James Bewsher gave on Tuesday 30 th July 1929 to the pupils of Colet Court, London—speech published in The Manchester Guardian (Manchester, Lancashire , England) of Wednesday 31 st July 1929 (Bewsher remarked that the phrase had long been in usage):

“I think that the boys are no worse than they used to be,” said Mr. Bewsher, “in fact I think sometimes they are better. It is a long time since I have had the excuse about the dog tearing up the arithmetic homework . (Laughter.) We have trained the young boys to accept some responsibility and to achieve the power of rising to the occasion when crises happen.”

Frank Fletcher (1870-1954), headmaster from 1911 to 1935 of Charterhouse, a ‘ public school ’ (i.e. a private fee-paying secondary school) in Godalming, Surrey , mentioned a similar excuse in After Many Days: A Schoolmaster’s Memories (London: Robert Hale and Company, 1937):

He kept a dog, and taught us Greek prose and verse. The two facts are connected in my memory by his occasional apology when he got behindhand with his work, “I’m very sorry, but my dog’s eaten your Greek prose .”

In American English, the phrase must have been already popular in the mid-1950s, since the final exclamation probably alludes punningly to it in the following instalment of Etta Kett , a comic strip by Paul Robinson (1898-1974), published in the Daily Intelligencer Journal (Lancaster, Pennsylvania , USA) of Wednesday 26 th December 1956:

– Mom!! Where’s that fudge pie I whipped up? – With boys around, that’s a silly question! – Oh, no!! Not my whole pie !!! – After the way I slaved! – You dizzy creeps!! I baked that to take to domestic science class tomorrow!! – You ate my homework !!

A similar punning allusion to the phrase occurs in Restaurant School: What Cooks? Students Do , by William Boldenweck, published in the San Francisco Examiner (San Francisco, California, USA) of Monday 12 th December 1960:

“ My little brother ate my homework .” The excuse has not been tried yet, but it could happen in City College of San Francisco’s hotel and restaurant course, a unique series of classes in which students cook and serve 5,000 meals each school day, punch a time clock and in which part of the “final” is a semi-annual banquet.

A yet similar punning allusion occurs in the following instalment of Blondie , by Murat Bernard ‘Chic’ Young (1901-1973), published in several North-American newspapers on Friday 26 th August 1966—for example in The Leader-Post (Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada ):

– What happened to the cupcakes I made for my cooking class? – I ate those cupcakes – Boo-hoo, Mommy – Daddy ate my homework !

Donna Schwab mentioned a variant of the phrase in Underestimation of “Culturally Deprived” Youth , published in New Teachers in Urban Schools: An Inside View ( New York : Random House, 1968), by Richard Wisniewski:

Any teacher gullible enough to fall for the inevitable story, “ my little sister ate my homework ,” without demanding a new version of the same, deserves the reputation she will soon have to live with.

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Where did that doggone phrase come from?

'The dog ate my homework,' which has been a catchall excuse for more than 100 years, is on its last legs.

By FORREST WICKMAN, Slate

When did "my dog ate my homework" become known as schoolchildren's favorite excuse?

Delinquent schoolchildren and adults have been blaming their shortcomings on their pets for more than a century, but it wasn't until the 1970s that "my dog ate my homework" came to be considered the No. 1 likely story.

One of the first sad sacks who was said to blame his dog for his own ill-preparedness was a priest. In this anecdote, which appeared as early as 1905, a clergyman pulls his clerk aside after a service to ask him whether his sermon seemed long enough. The clerk assures him that it was very nice, "just the right length," and the priest is relieved. "I am very glad to hear you say that," he says, "because just before I started to come here my dog got hold of my sermon and ate some of the leaves." The story was repeated again and again.

The first citation of the excuse in the Oxford English Dictionary is a 1929 article from the Manchester Guardian, which reads, "It is a long time since I have had the excuse about the dog tearing up the arithmetic homework." In Bel Kaufman's best-selling 1965 novel "Up the Down Staircase," a list of students' excuses for not having their homework includes "My dog went on my homework" and "My dog chewed it up." Even in 1965, however, it was still just another excuse.

"My dog ate my homework" became known as the quintessential far-fetched excuse in the next decade, when the phrase was used over and over. In a 1976 account of the Watergate tapes, E.C. Kennedy describes listening to President Richard Nixon "working on the greatest American excuse since the dog ate my homework." A 1977 article from Alaska's Daily News-Miner describes the difficulty students faced in coming up with a new excuse since "'My dog ate my term paper' is no longer acceptable."

The excuse was alluded to more throughout the 1980s. A 1982 Time magazine column on excuses suggested that "the dog ate my homework is a favorite with schoolchildren," while a 1987 New York Times column about how students were starting to blame malfunctioning computers and printers quoted one teacher as saying she recently received "a note from a student's mother saying the dog ate his homework."

Even the president picked up on the trend: When Congress pushed spending approval to the last minute in 1988, Ronald Reagan complained to reporters, "I had hoped that we had marked the end of the 'dog-ate-my-homework' era of congressional budgetry ... but it was not to be." After that, the phrase was all over television, including shows such as "The Simpsons" and "Full House."

Between 1990 and 2000, the phrase continued to grow in popularity. The New York Times wrote articles with headlines such as "Beyond 'Dog Ate My Homework' " and "Homework Help Sites (Or, the Dog Ate My U.R.L.)." The New Yorker described one criminal's accounts of his wrongdoings as having "a decided my-dog-ate-my-homework quality."

Not to be outdone, children's books tried to capitalize on the trend, with titles like "A Dinosaur Ate My Homework," "Aliens Ate My Homework," "Godzilla Ate My Homework" and even "My Teacher Ate My Homework."

While such book titles have continued into the 2000s, the phrase seems to finally be losing steam.

That means schoolkids will have to come up with a new, improved excuse.

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From Our Listeners

Sometimes the dog really does eat your homework.

Last week, we brought you the story of how the phrase "The Dog Ate My Homework" came to be and how it morphed into a palpably ridiculous excuse. Turns out, sometimes its not an excuse at all. Weekend Edition host Scott Simon has a few stories from our listeners that swear, honest, the dog did eat their homework.

Copyright © 2012 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

the dog ate my homework

• 2011 May 6, Damian Carrington, “Environment action delays blamed on 'dog ate my homework' excuses”, in The Guardian ‎ [1] , archived from the original on 2022-08-24 : Their reasons for missed deadlines are mostly of the " dog ate my homework variety" including such easily foreseeable events as yesterday's elections and that the badger culling policy is "difficult and sensitive".
• 2014 September 12, Oscar Webb, quoting Donald Campbell, “UK Government Changes Its Line On Diego Garcia Flight Logs Sought in Rendition Row - Again”, in VICE ‎ [2] , archived from the original on 2022-12-05 : The government's excuses for Diego Garcia's missing records are getting increasingly confused and desperate. Ministers could hardly be less credible if they simply said ' the dog ate my homework .'
• 2017 February 18, Mia Berman, “Go West-minster, Young Mastiff”, in HuffPost ‎ [3] , archived from the original on 2019-04-09 : Our immune system's weak; we've been sick as a dog, missing work and school, resorting to " the dog ate my homework " excuses amidst these frigid dog days of winter.

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Origin of "my dog ate my homework"?

Is there a specifc incident or origin story for the common joke/comedic phrase "my dog ate my homework"? I always wondered whether there was a student who became notorious for not turning in their homework and using that excuse, or whether someone somewhere used it as a flimsy excuse and everyone thought it was funny, or any other reason...

If no one can find anything, do we at least know how long it's been around as a saying?

Also, how often does it turn out to be true? Has anyone here who owned a dog during childhood ever actually had that happen to them?

• 2 Yes, one of our dogs chews lots of things if they are left lying about. It is completely plausible. I’d bet it originated in truth about the same time as people started letting dogs live inside the home and homework was being done on paper. –  Jim Commented Mar 6, 2019 at 2:03
• Here is a piece that recounts a similar joke as early as 1905: slate.com/human-interest/2012/10/… . However, I do not have any evidence that this was the earliest occurrence. –  Benjamin Kuykendall Commented Mar 6, 2019 at 2:04
• It's been around for as long as there have been dogs and homework. –  Hot Licks Commented Mar 6, 2019 at 2:05
• That article would make a pretty good answer. –  DJClayworth Commented Mar 6, 2019 at 4:13

The phrase was actually built up through a series of sentences like, ' My dog chewed it up ' and ' My cat chewed it up and I had no time to do it over. '

These sentences were first used in the 1965 comic novel, Up the Down Staircase.

But it mainly became popular in 1974 when a book was written with the title, ' The Cat Ate My Gym. ' Many works had the same reference and only then did it become a classic punch.

It's funny, anyway.

• 2 1965 may be the origin of the two precise sentences you quote, but it is definitely not the origin of the trope, which is attested in written sources from the beginning of the 20th century. –  Janus Bahs Jacquet Commented Mar 6, 2019 at 16:15

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30 Dog Idioms and Phrases – Origins and Meanings

| Candace Osmond

Candace Osmond

Candace Osmond studied Advanced Writing & Editing Essentials at MHC. She’s been an International and USA TODAY Bestselling Author for over a decade. And she’s worked as an Editor for several mid-sized publications. Candace has a keen eye for content editing and a high degree of expertise in Fiction.

Have you wondered why people say, “it’s raining cats and dogs”? Or why “every dog has its day”? Some phrases about dogs have been around for centuries, and we’ve integrated them into ordinary conversations. I actually use a ton of these phrases in writing, but I’ve also grown up hearing them used in various ways. Let’s discover more about the meaning and origin of the sayings with “dog” in them.

Where Did Dog Idioms Come From?

Like most animal idioms, dog cliches might be older than you think, with some dating back to Julius Caesar. But have you ever wondered what all these expressions mean? We associate dogs with happiness and carefree life, but many dog idioms are gloomier than you think.

Funny Dog Idioms

There are more than a handful of canine idioms in the English language, ranging from euphemisms to Cockney rhyming slang. Since canines and humans have been pals for millennia, this should be no surprise.

The Dog Ate My Homework

According to what I found in the Oxford English Dictionary, the first printed use of the excuse “the dog ate my homework” can be traced back to a speech by retiring headmaster James Bewsher in 1929 .

How this comment is worded gives the impression that the entire “my dog ate my homework” narrative was already in circulation for some time before it was placed on paper.

Are you unable to finish your food but feel it is simply too delicious to throw away? Why not ask your waiter for a box or bag to take your food home in? It is believed that the earliest use of doggy bags was a courteous way to ask to take restaurant leftovers home by saying that dinners were bringing it for your puppy.

Doggy bags are still commonly used today for this purpose. All the diners desired were the previous day’s leftovers for breakfast the following morning.

Dog’s Body

Peas pudding, often known as “dog’s body,” was the primary source of nutrition for members of the Royal Navy during the 19th century. This dish was made by boiling dried peas and eggs in a bag.

Later on, it evolved into a word that was used to refer to an individual who did all the labor that higher-ranking officials in the Navy did not want to do. It is likely because nobody enjoyed eating peas pudding.

Believe it or not, I eat this dish several times a year as it’s a Newfoundland specialty. I had no idea until now it had a relation to an old idiom.

Dog Idioms and Puns

It’s raining cats and dogs.

There are more possible origin stories for this phrase than there are dog treats on the entire planet. Ideas include:

• Allusions to Norse mythology.
• Translations of arcane French terminology.
• Even stranger conjecture concerning thatched roofs.

The theory that “it’s raining cats and dogs” originated from the satirical poem A Description of a City Shower written by the poet Jonathan Swift is the one that seems to hold the most water.

In this poem, Swift criticizes the society of London in the year 1710 by implying streets would be flooded and animals would drown. Later, Swift compiled a collection of familiar and brilliant words into a book, which included the phrase “raining cats and dogs.”

As Mean as a Junkyard Dog

Why is it that the dogs who live in junkyards always seem to be so tremendously hostile and even vicious? You could claim that they are there to prevent anyone from coming too close to them. They rarely even feel the urge to make a sound.

The proverb junkyard dog conveys the idea that a person is ruthless. A person who is harsh or eager to fight can also be described using this term.

Better the Head of a Dog Than the Tail of a Lion

This is one of those clever phrases you can figure out with little imagination. It’s a phrase used to describe a situation where one would rather be the leader of a smaller group than a subordinate in a more popular one.

A Shaggy Dog Story

This is an expression that means a narrative that has the potential to be amusing but almost always turns out to be unreasonably long. When someone is telling a joke, this phrase is frequently used in the context of the joke having an abrupt or meaningless ending.

Hair of the Dog

In the Middle Ages, people who rabid dogs bit were advised to put the dog’s hair on the wound to help heal and prevent infection. This piece of advice has developed through time to accommodate more contemporary circumstances.

Today, the term “ the hair of the dog ” is most frequently heard in the context of advising someone who had too much to drink the night before to take the “same drink from the previous evening” (also known as “the hair of the dog”) the following day to cure their hangover.

Puppy Idioms

Everyone loves puppies. What we love even more is the chance to use them in adorable expressions.

The smile on a person’s face while they are falling for their new beaux, is the clearest indicator that they are experiencing puppy love, which might mean being smitten or referring to a form of love more common in adolescents. In all honesty, it has a mushy consistency.

Puppy Dog Eyes

My kids give me puppy dog eyes all the time. And who can say no to a puppy looking at them with those heart-melting eyes? It’s no different with children. Today, it’s a common expression people use when describing someone making an adorable face when they want something.

Pretty as a Speckled Pup

It’s an idiom used to describe someone or something incredibly cute.

Bought a Pup

It is a manner of referring to someone who has been tricked. For instance, they believed they were purchasing something significantly superior to what they obtained.

Your Dog Is Not My Dog Idiom Meaning

When you tell someone, “your god is not my dog,” it means their problem is not yours. You will commonly find it shortened to “not my dog.”

Dog Idioms to Use in Your Writing

Let sleeping dogs lie.

Let sleeping dogs lie means avoiding a situation that might cause disturbance when tackled. The expression “let sleeping dogs lie” is a gentle nudge to refrain from putting oneself in needless peril or risk. This proverb comes from the old belief that rousing a sleeping dog, particularly in a hasty manner, could result in severe consequences.

This is true even more so in the case of guard dogs, which, if awakened, are highly inclined to launch an attack. This expression is now commonly used to refer to a wide variety of scenarios in which one might prod something that would be better off not being disturbed.

The proverb “Let sleeping dogs lie” is meant to serve as a warning, either to another person or to oneself, regarding the potential risks posed by a particular action or behavior.

For instance, a buddy might use this expression to warn another person against engaging in behavior that would be better off avoided.

One further option is to simply repeat the statement out loud to themselves as a gentle reminder not to act hastily or precipitously. When trying to “wake a sleeping dog,” it is crucial to be calm and controlled.

Go to the Dogs

This expression showcases dissatisfaction with how things are proceeding, whether in politics or football teams. As an illustration, one can say, “this situation has gone to the dogs.” Greyhound racing likely is where the saying got its start.

It refers to the risks associated with gambling; a person said to have “gone to the dogs” is likely to have gambled away their entire paycheck on the dog races. Dog welfare organizations such as Dog’s Trust and the RSPCA advocate for more humane treatment of racing dogs, even though the sport may be entertaining and addicting.

His/Her Bark Is Worse Than His/Her Bite

We use this idiom when talking about someone who sounds more threatening than they are. When someone tells you their angry or hostile remarks cannot hurt you, they use the phrase “bark is worse than one’s bite.” This expression suggests that the person in question talks as if he will be vengeful or violent, but in reality, their deeds will not be as aggressive as their words.

A person whose words are more harmful than his actions may criticize you, but they will not make an effort to hurt your professional reputation or punch you in the face.

The phrase “bark is worse than one’s bite” first appeared in print about the middle of the 1600s. Its meaning refers to the notion that a dog barking at you will be too preoccupied with barking to bite you.

Dog behaviorists believe that a dog barking out of fear is not as fearless as a dog eager to bite; an aggressive dog will growl rather than bark in response to a threat.

Saying you are “dog-tired” means you are exhausted. The origin can be traced back to an old story about Alfred the Great, who is said to have sent his sons on hunting expeditions with his enormous kennels of hunting dogs.

Whichever of his sons, Athelbrod or Edwin, was successfully capturing a more significant number of the hounds would be given the right-hand side seat at the dinner table that evening by their respective fathers. They would end up “dog-tired” from these pursuits, but they would celebrate their success with joy.

The tradition was carried on for a few more generations, but following Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People, no further mention of it can be found in written sources.

In the Doghouse

Being in the doghouse means you’re in a bad situation because someone is angry with you. When partners in a relationship argue, they sometimes need some space apart from one other rather than trying to sort things out.

Taking a stroll, going for a drive, or putting someone in “the doghouse” are all possible interpretations of this phrase.

The first such mention of a spouse being sent to “the doghouse” can be traced back to J.M. Barrie’s iconic children’s book, Peter Pan, published in 1911.

You might remember from the narrative that the Darling family has a dog in the story called Nana. A kennel, also known as a doghouse, is a tiny shelter in the yard that is fashioned in the shape of a house.

This is where Nana resided back when it was the norm. When a repentant Mr. Darling realizes that he is to fault for the abduction of his children by Captain Hook, he locks himself in the kennel that Nana keeps for her dogs.

Barking up the Wrong Tree

“Barking up the wrong tree” is a commonly used idiom with more complexity behind it. It is generally used to describe a person who has chosen the wrong course of action, but the meaning can differ based on the context.

The expression “barking up the wrong tree” was used in the United States during the 19th century. It refers to raccoon hunting using a hunting dog. The dog is trained to wait at the base of the tree for its owner to return whenever a nocturnal animal climbs into a tree.

In the darkness, however, if the hunter’s dog misidentifies the tree as the one where the raccoon has taken refuge, the hunter risks losing the animal.

Dog-Eat-Dog

The expression “ dog-eat-dog ” refers to a harsh and competitive environment. The idiom can also have a more violet meaning, describing people that would harm others to get what they want.

The earliest known origin of this term derives from the Latin proverb “canis caninam non est,” which translates literally to “dog will not eat dog.” The Oxford English Dictionary documents the phrase’s reemergence in 1794, albeit without the “not.”

By the 19th century, it’d become a frequent way to refer to the cutthroat, competitive nature of the world in modern society and commerce. A dog-eat-dog world. 

Sick as a Dog

The idiom “sick as a dog” describes someone who feels very ill. The comparison of unwanted things to dogs was prevalent in the early 1700s, when the expression “sick as a dog” started. This was the period in which the phrase was first used.

This is not because people did not like dogs at the time. Instead, the rationale is that diseases like the plague were frequently transferred via animals like rats or dogs.

Growing up in rural Newfoundland, I heard this phrase used all the time. Any time someone was sick with a cold or flu, they said they were sick as a dog. Only, it was more like, “I’m sick as a dawg, m’dear”.

The expression “dog days” refers to the hottest time of the year. When people talk about dog days, it’s mainly in a context where it’s challenging to get anything done because of the heat.

When viewed from the Northern Hemisphere in late July, the “dog days” time when Sirius appeared to rise in conjunction with the sun. This occurred in ancient Greece and Rome. They believed that the combined heat from the two stars caused these days to be the hottest of the year, a time that may bring about fever or even a catastrophe.

Since the beginning of written history, people have been complaining about the weather, and the dog days of summer were a particularly significant time for everyone. In particular, the ancient Greeks and Romans had negative thoughts about Sirius because they connected it with an intolerable heat and fever epidemic.

You Can’t Teach an Old Dog New Tricks

Not being able to teach an old dog new tricks means that someone cannot learn something new. The phrase is used when someone is too stubborn in their ways and refuses to learn how to do something in a new fashion.

The phrase or adage “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” was first referenced in John Fitzherbert’s book The Book of Husbandry, released in 1534. Since then, several authors have taken the phrase or proverb and utilized it in various senses, depending on the situation.

This expression refers to a book that has pages that have dog-eared corners has been used so frequently that the page corners have been ripped off or turned down. In my line of work, it’s a blasphemous thing to do.

Every Dog Has Its Day

This idiom has a deeper meaning with a lot of historical background. It describes a person (usually of low status) living a moment of glory. This idiom dates back several thousand years, although it has not always been expressed in this particular manner in the English language.

Erasmus was able to trace the origin of the metaphor back to a Macedonian adage that discussed the passing of Euripides in 406 B.C. He was attacked and killed by his rival’s dogs.

In the early 1500s, a letter written by Queen Elizabeth had the earliest known instance of the phrase being used in the English language. In 1550, John Strype published the letter in a collection called Ecclesiastical Memorials.

Call Off the Dogs

Calling off the dogs is a figure of speech we use when someone stops criticizing another person. The dogs being referred to in this expression are those used for hunting. As a standard method of intimidation, these dogs are frequently set free. They are dismissed from their duties and returned to their kennel once they have completed their assigned tasks.

By comparison, the expression refers to a circumstance in which one is advised to quit acting violently against another person.

Someone who is not considered a favorite to win a tournament or contest is known as an underdog. It’s a term commonly used in sports and other similar competitions. As a fiction author, I see this term used a lot in the writing community. Readers always root for the underdog character.

An underdog is a term that can be applied to anyone who is at a disadvantage, whether it be in general or in a specific situation. It is customary in the world of sports to refer to the favored team coming out on the losing end as the underdog.

Around the year 1887, this term was first used in the context of dogfighting to denote a dog that had been defeated in a battle.

A heroic dog who went underdog in a cartoon from the 1960s was shown as an improbable (and unqualified) figure. The slogan for the show was “There is no reason to be afraid! Underdog is here!”

Dog-and-Pony Show

This idiom is used to describe something fancy and flashy. Marketing comes to mind when thinking about this idiom. In finance, this idiom refers to, in most cases, a seminar or presentation intended to advertise new items or services to prospective purchasers.

Apparently, the phrase originated from the itinerant circuses that toured rural areas throughout the United States and featured performing dogs and horses. It is an expression that typically has a pejorative connotation.

This expression refers to overly dramatic shows that are not fun to put on but are frequently required.

It’s a Dog’s Life

The idiom “it’s a dog’s life” refers to an unhappy existence. This phrase refers to the wretched and servile lives that dogs were forced to live during the 16th century and was initially recorded in a manuscript from that period.

Like a Dog with Two Tails

The popular phrase “like a dog with two tails” refers to someone overjoyed or joyful. It alludes to the concept that a dog wags its tail as a sign of pleasure or contentment. The idiom originated in Southern Canada.

Most publications that investigate the origins of idioms were unaware of this. They point to a magazine called American Speech from the early 20th century as the source of this term’s first recorded use. Duke University published American Speech.

A Scottish engineer named John Mactaggart traveled to Upper and Lower Canada. He was there in the early 1800s. It was decided to recruit him to assist in constructing a bridge that would cross the Ottawa River at Chaudière Falls and connect the two Canadian provinces.

After returning to England, he wrote the book Three Years in Canada, in which he made the following proclamation: “Off went the Laird, as proud as a dog with two tails.”

Final Thoughts

You can use plenty of dog phrases to enrich your vocabulary, but some of them are less known to those who aren’t native English speakers. With some of them being as old as time, it’s fun to see where these idioms originated and how we use them in everyday language.

Check out some others we covered:

• To keep a secret
• Let me know when
• Speak of the devil or Talk of the devil
• Talk a blue streak and curse a blue streak

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"The dog ate my homework, I have proof!"

Updated Aug. 28, 2024, 8:40 a.m. | By The Workzone with Elana Afrika-Bredenkamp

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We love how, finally, the infamous fib about the dog eating a child's homework makes its debut...

When we think about the age-old excuse school kids gave their teachers when they failed to do their homework , we must say it was ingenious initially.

"The dog ate my  homework " has long been a classic excuse many still find amusing. But be warned: Some have lived to tell how their dogs ate their homework. The saying stemmed from somewhere, but it turned into a fib, perhaps because people began using it too often. 

Mzansi's Greatest Family shared how their dog, Zoomie, ate their son Khosi's homework, which left him with his head in his hands. 

READ MORE:  Mom shares how Grade 1 homework is no joke

Mzansi's Greatest Family has a healthy following on TikTok and often posts videos about family dynamics. They are known for their humour and ability to bring out the lightheartedness surrounding family . 

This time, they were laying their son Khosi's homework to rest. Dad was adamant about reprimanding their pet dog, but Zumi, like a toddler, was not at all fazed by his actions. He went on to bite and tear up Khosi's homework while he was being scolded. 

Poor Khosi looked concerned and was probably trying to figure out how he would remedy this situation. He explains to his father that this was an assignment he was working on...

READ MORE:  Should kids be given homework?

Watch what happened below - courtesy of TikTok . 

@mzansisgreatestfamily Someone is going to be in big trouble at school tomorrow🙆‍♂️🙆‍♂️😢😢😂😂😂😂 ♬ original sound - Mzansis Greatest Family

It was hilarious to watch how the dad tried so hard to discipline their pet pup; these pups will get away with anything and everything, they even rank higher than your kids in this department. 

Tune in to the ' Workzone with Elana Afrika-Bredenkamp ', weekdays from 09:00 - 12:00. Stream the show live  here  or download our mobile app  here.

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Poems & Poets

My Doggy Ate My Homework

“My Doggy Ate My Homework.” © 2004 by Dave Crawley. Reprinted from If Kids Ruled the School (© 2004 by Meadowbrook Creations) with permission from Meadowbrook Press.

Source: If Kids Ruled the School (Meadowbrook Press, 2004)

April 18, 2014

Contemporary Fiction , Education

The Dog Ate My Homework

It seemed like the most plausible excuse at the time: blame the new dog for eating up my now overdue essay. But then I just had to embellish...

Karen Donley-Hayes

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The fact of the matter was, I didn’t have anyone else to blame. So I blamed Roscoe–perhaps ill-advised, him being my father’s K-9 partner-in-waiting, but I had completely forgotten my homework. I wasn’t in the habit of lying or putting blame where it didn’t belong, but I was caught off guard–daydreaming about Roscoe, in fact. My third grade teacher now loomed over my desk, expectant, her hand outstretched, fingers wiggling. And in my deer-in-the-headlights stare, with Miss Underwood frowning down at me, the words blurted out all on their own.

“Roscoe ate it.”

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“What?” Miss Underwood scowled more, if that were possible. She planted her fists against her ample hips and leaned in, hovering over me.

I blinked, swallowed a spitless lump in my throat, and having already lied, promptly repeated myself. “Roscoe ate it,” I said with slightly more conviction.

Miss Underwood stood stiff, smack dab in front of my desk, so close I should have been able to smell the little flowers on her dress. I had an overpowering impulse to move away from her, but my chair shackled me to the spot. I stared at the vibrant gladiola sprouting out from beneath Miss Underwood’s belt, and felt the entire class’s attention span shake from all else and swoop down on me.

“Mister Pike. You are not lying to me, are you?” It was more a challenge than a question.

Miss Underwood absolutely terrified me–almost as much as did the prospect of acquiring the entire class’s ridicule or getting caught in a bald-faced lie–and such terror can be a remarkable survival mechanism, because my brain spun a web and my mouth spewed it out without so much as consulting with me. I sat, breathless and rapt with the rest of the class, listening to this story unfold.

“Oh, no ma’am,” a voice–my voice–poured out of me, my brain, frenetic, only barely keeping a syllable ahead of my mouth. “I wrote my report on the metamorphosis of tadpoles into frogs,” I heard. (It was a good thing I had recently become fascinated by this amphibious process and had not only been reading about it but observing it in the natural setting of our backyard.) “And I took the paper with me to the pond so that I could look at them and draw pictures to show the stages, and Roscoe came with me, and I had a tadpole on the top of the paper so I could trace it and Roscoe saw it and before I knew what happened he jumped on it and swallowed it whole, and the paper.”

I shifted my bug-eyed gaze up the floral landscape to the teacher’s face. Miss Underwood remained completely still.

“And the rock that I had holding the paper down,” my voice said. Her eye twitched, barely perceptible. “And the pencil I was using.” Her brows drew closer together. “And then it was dark, and I couldn’t draw them again, and then I had to do my chores and it was time for bed.”

Miss Underwood frowned, unwedged one hand from her hip and pointed at my chest. “You’d better be sure to get that dog to the vet, young man.”

“Yes, ma’am.” I nodded vigorously. “We’re taking him this afternoon.”

“Good,” she said. “And re-write your report and bring it in tomorrow. Along with a report on how Roscoe did at the vet’s.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I said, and wondered if the pittance I had in the Mason jar under my bed could buy me a plane, train, or boat ticket anywhere else in the world.

That afternoon, when I slouched from the school bus, Roscoe careened down the driveway to meet me, his half-grown legs all knobs and paws flying indiscriminately; he seemed none the worse for wear for his “misadventure” of the day before. I trudged up the driveway, the pup orbiting around me, bounding and panting, pausing only to wolf down my mother’s lone remaining gladiola. While my reporting of late had been very light on honesty, there was truth to the fact that Roscoe was a one-canine mauling, gulping, devouring, completely-nondiscriminatory eating machine. The gladiolas, much to my mother’s dismay, had vanished into his maw during a single galumphing frenzy; this was shortly after Roscoe had discovered the infinite wonders that the frog pond in the backyard held. Mom had admonished my father to restrain the dog. Dad had testified that socialization was critical to Roscoe’s mental development and future as a police dog. Mom declared her flowers unfair casualties. Dad promised to build a fence for her gardens (a moot point, as Roscoe had already decimated them).

The sound of my mother’s footsteps on the porch drew my attention; I looked up to see Roscoe gleefully caprioling by her side. She had her arms crossed over her chest, and was staring at me with an expression that immediately made me slow my already lethargic trudge.

“I hear Roscoe ate your homework,” she said. There was no tone of accusation or belief–or even disbelief, for that matter–just a simple statement. I stopped and looked up at her, and for two ticks of a heartbeat I was on the verge of coming clean. I steeled myself to admit my lie, to face the consequences, and to be a better man for it. During those two ticks of a heartbeat, Roscoe splayed himself on the porch and latched onto one of the banister posts, gnawing and grunting.

“Yes ma’am,” I said, and felt the heat rise under my collar as I lied to my own mother. I looked intently at Roscoe (who supported my story with his every action) to avoid looking in my mother’s eyes. I heard her sigh.

“Well, alright then. I called Dr. Brown’s office as soon as Miss Underwood phoned me, so let’s get things together and get going. Hopefully, he’ll be fine; it’s that rock I’m worried about.”

I nodded and walked up the porch steps, head down and ashamed, and slipped past my mother, past the squirming, euphoric mass of German shepherd enthusiasm. My mother stayed on the porch while I dropped my book bag on the kitchen table. Roscoe leapt up, flung himself against her legs. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her reach down idly and rub his head. He gazed up at her adoringly, his tongue lolling out of his mouth, wood splinters flecking his lips; his tailed swished nonstop across the porch.

“Maybe the paper and rock and all just went right through him,” I said, and hoped that if a dog actually were to eat a paper and a rock, they might actually move right along. Otherwise, I was going to be busted when the vet checked the dog out and declared him devoid of foreign objects. Not that I wanted him to have a problem; I didn’t, but his clean bill of health was my sentence. Granted, it was of my own making.

“I hope so,” Mom’s voice came in from the porch. I heard her add, under her breath, “Roscoe, you’re going to be the death of me if you live long enough.”

In the vet’s waiting room, I studiously worked on my tadpole-to-frog report, shielding it from Roscoe, who my mother worked up a sweat restraining. And when it was finally his turn to go in and be examined, and I was left with silence and the weight of my own guilt, I could barely remember the details of amphibian metamorphosis, much less write about them. Mom, quiet, read a paperback. The clock on the wall ticked off five minutes, 10, 15; the smell of the waiting room mixed with the odor of wet dog, cat pee, and rodent cage litter, and I began to feel nauseous.

“How’s your paper coming?” Mom asked. I shrugged. I sweated.

I was nearly to the point of breaking down and admitting my guilt, or at least bolting from the waiting room and into the parking lot, when Dr. Brown summoned us. Mom clutched her purse, and I drooped behind her, a condemned man going to the gallows. The vet brought us into the execution chamber, and closed the door. The harsh florescent lights gleamed, ruthless and all-seeing. Roscoe was not in the room to witness my punishment.

Dr. Brown cleared his throat. I felt a prickling thrill of sweat, and stared fixedly at the poster of canine parasites on the wall. “Well, we took x-rays of Roscoe, and we don’t see your rock or your paper.”

I couldn’t help a fleeting glance at the vet; he met my eyes for a beat, then looked over at Mom. “But it’s a good thing you brought him in, because we did see something else.”

I blinked, confused.

“Oh?” my mother said.

Dr. Brown turned his back to us, popped a thick sheet of film against a panel, and turned on the light behind it. Ribs and spine and gray masses flickered to light. Dr. Brown glanced over his shoulder toward us. Both Mom and I leaned toward the glowing image. Dr. Brown cleared his throat again and pointed to something in the middle of the picture. I looked closer, squinted, and then with a sting of recognition, I understood the image on the screen. My mother realized at the same time, and she chuffed, glancing sidelong at me.

“This,” Dr. Brown said, tapping the image of my G.I. Joe, recently MIA, “needs to come out. And it won’t come out the easy way like that rock did,” he glanced down at me again. “It will snag other things he swallows, and you’re going to have a bad emergency situation, maybe a dead dog.”

My mother reached for the collar of her blouse, pressed her hand flat. “Oh, no. Oh, poor Roscoe!”

My skin prickled again, but I wasn’t worried about my guilt and punishment anymore. “Will he be okay?” My voice sounded tiny and tremulous. “He won’t really die, will he?”

Dr. Brown smiled then. “No, I think we got him in time. We’ll put him on the surgery schedule for the morning, and he should be right as rain in a month’s time.” He reached a hand out and ruffled my hair. I realized I was crying. “In a way, it’s a good thing he ate your homework, otherwise you might not have found out about this until it was too late.”

I looked up at him lamely.

That weekend, Dad fenced off what was left of Mom’s gardens, I patrolled the entire house and yard and commandeered all swallowable objects (and even some that didn’t seem swallowable), and my folks and I discussed the new obedience regimen for Roscoe. When he came home a few days later, belly shaved but none-the-worse for wear, I doted on him and chaperoned him vigilantly. After a short period of gorging withdrawal, Roscoe adjusted gleefully to his obedience training, and was already ahead of the learning curve when he officially entered his police-dog training.

I was too ashamed to ever admit to my parents my panic-induced homework fabrication. I like to think that the guilt and anxiety I experienced for that long afternoon was punishment enough, and sometimes, I also like to think that it was all part of the plan for Roscoe’s long and decorated life. I like to think that, but I don’t believe it much more than Miss Underwood believed me.

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I love reading K. Donley’s fiction & non fiction. There is always an element of curiosity and expectancy that keeps my attention and wanting to discover. Her sentences are like little paintings that color and shape the atmosphere and lend to the feeling of actually being “there.” Keep writing K. Donley!

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My Dog Ate My Homework

From the book The Biggest Burp Ever

My dog ate my homework. That mischievous pup got hold of my homework and gobbled it up.

My dog ate my homework. It’s gonna be late. I guess that the teacher will just have to wait.

My dog ate my homework. He swallowed it whole. I shouldn’t have mixed it with food in his bowl.

 — Kenn Nesbitt

Copyright © 2014. All Rights Reserved.

Reading Level: Grade 1 Topics: Animal Poems , School Poems Poetic Techniques: Irony , Narrative Poems Word Count: 60

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7. The dog ate my homework

"The dog ate my homework" is an English expression purported to be a favorite excuse made by schoolchildren explaining their failure to turn in an assignment on time. The claim of a dog eating one's homework is inherently suspect since it is both impossible for a teacher to disprove and conveniently absolves the student who gives that excuse of any blame. Although suspicious, the claim is not absolutely beyond possibility since dogs are known to eat—or at least chew on—bunches of paper. It has grown beyond the educational context, becoming a sarcastic rejoinder to a similarly glib or otherwise insufficient or implausible explanation for a failure in any context.

As an explanation for missing documents, it dates to a story about a Welsh minister first recorded in print in 1905. The Oxford English Dictionary suggests that a 1929 reference establishes that schoolchildren had at some time earlier than that offered it as an excuse to teachers.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_dog_ate_my_homework

Sometimes you do something wrong and you have to make excuses. Here are some expressions to try and get away with things.

Making excuses

- I wish I could, but I had to finish my homework. - Sorry, I can’t afford the prices in a fancy restaurant like this. - I missed the bus.

Being honest when making excuses - I couldn’t be bothered. - I didn’t feel like it. - I wasn’t in the mood. - I got bored. - I wasn’t sure what to do. - I couldn’t find the right address.

Blaming other people - I thought you were going to do it. - You said that you’d do it. - I had to take my grandma to hospital. - Samuel told me that we didn’t need to do it.

Blaming technology - Sorry, I couldn’t make it. The traffic was so heavy. - The bus broke down. - The printer ran out of ink. - The computer crashed. - The internet wasn’t working. - I couldn’t get a connection.

Blaming the weather - It was too cold. - It was too hot. - The weather was bad, and it caused road chaos.

Blaming time - I didn’t have the time. - I was too busy. - I had too much on. - I ran out of time. - I wish I could, but I’m going out of town and it’s already too late.

Blaming health - Please serve yourself. I’m on a diet and I’m not supposed to eat hot dogs. - I really want to help you out there but my doctor told me not to do any physical work. - You know I can’t help you I’m on medication. - I need to get some rest. - I woke up feeling really bad.

Making excuses for someone - He’s tired. - She isn’t usually like that. - She’s just going through a bad patch. - He’s usually quite nice. - They had too much to do.

Source: http://englishlearningbox.com/speaking/making-excuses/

Read a list of funny excuses for not doing homework .

Here you have an article on ridiculous excuses for missing work .

Can you think of excuses, ridiculous or not,

for being late?

to get out of a date?

for not going out?

for not going to school?

Write them down on a piece of paper. 

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Dog Eats Owner’s Homework, Video Leaves SA Cracking Up Over the Pet’s Mischief

• One naughty dog ate it's owner homework, and the gent took to social media to show it off
• The clip had netizens cracking up in laughter, and it captured the attention of many, gathering loads of views, likes and comments
• People enjoyed watching the man's content as they rushed to the comments with jokes and laughter

PAY ATTENTION : Follow us on Instagram - get the most important news directly in your favourite app!

One guy was in for a surprise after his dog did quite a number on him. In a video that amused many, he showed off his pet's mischievous antics.

Dog eats homework

TikTok user @mzansisgreatestfamily gave his viewers a glimpse into his life with his dog. The young man who arrived back from school was welcomed with a shock. The gent's dog ate his homework along with his project and caused a massive mess in his room.

Mzansi floored by easy going husband savagely tricking wife: "I hate pranks"

In the clip, papers are lying on the floor, and the boy's father begins to scold the dog for his behaviour. The footage became a hit on TikTok, gaining over 712K views along with thousands of likes and comments within two days of its publication.

PAY ATTENTION: stay informed and follow us on Google News!

Watch the video below:

Netizens cracked up in laughter over the dog's antics

The video entertained many people as they were amused by the dog's mischievous antics, which he displayed.

Keekeleeks cracked a joke, saying:

"The real definition of “my dog ate my homework."

MokgadiD added:

"Kgosi is just blaming poor Zoomie. The project was not even done."

Kamogelo Matlala was amused as she poked fun at the gent, saying:

"Ma’am I promise my dog ate my assignment."

K To The Second Letter shared:

"Zoomie is teething bathong."

Mzansi man’s viral video shows Potch lively at 2 am, leaving SA stunned

Wajidaali2 commented:

"Eish, now at least you can really use the line my dog ate my homework, sir."

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Has anyone's dog ACTUALLY eaten their homework ?

I mean... I'm sure a dog has actually eaten homework but how common is it actually ?

Edit: Jesus I never had a post that's been actually answered so I just come on Reddit and see hundreds of notifications-- I had to give up upvoting and reading every comment dsjdj but the take away is that: Yes. Lot's of ripping, chewing, peeing by dogs, cats, and rabbits.

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the dog ate my homework

• Thread starter prem56
• Start date Jul 4, 2011
• Jul 4, 2011

Bonjour, est-ce-que " the dog ate my homework " est une expression anglaise?? je n'en saisis pas le sens....Merci  

Senior Member

Eh, hmm, oui en quelque sorte lol... à ce que je sache, ce n'est qu'une vieille excuse à l'école quand on ne fait pas ses devoirs.. c'est devenu une fausse excuse maintenant, pour rire.. mais j'avoue, ça pourrait avoir un sens sarcastique si on voulait, mais rien de tel ne me vient à l'esprit en ce moment ^^  

Merci, KEKEPOP, pour moi aussi c'est une excuse. Amitiés