It's a Dog's Life

Q: What is the meaning and origin of it’s a dog’s life? The past generations always seem to suggest the need to accept the fact that things are hard; but in the youth of today, the idea is that dogs have it easy, and so it’s a dog’s life equates to ‘how cushy and cozy’!

A: It certainly seems that the phrase has become more ambiguous than it once was, though I’ve not come across many examples myself of its use as a description of a pampered existence. Most of our expressions that include dog are old enough to be based in times when dogs were not treated better than children, but were kept as watchdogs or hunting animals, not as pets. They often weren’t allowed in the house, but were kept in kennels, fed scraps, worked hard, and often died young. So going to the dogs, dog-tired, to die like a dog, dog’s dinner, dogsbody, dog eat dog, as sick as a dog,  and a dog’s life all refer to a state of affairs best avoided. Specifically, a dog’s life is first recorded in the sixteenth century and seems to have remained in the language with the sense of “a life of misery, or of miserable subserviency” ever since.


But take note.....

"EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY" - Everyone gets a chance eventually


(something that you say which means that everyone is successful during some period in their life)