My Friendly Pets

Some of you might have seen the entry where I talked about the expression,”dog days of summer”. I discussed how it originated and what it truly meant. Well there are many other cliches and terms we use with the word “dog” in it and we use these sayings to describe a variety of life situations.

The term “top dog” usually means to us that the person is considered the highest person or leader of the group, whatever that group might be. But why do we use it? Well, dogs are basically pack animals and “top dog” infers that there is a particular dog that is regarded as the leader. So if a person is called the “top dog”, they are distinuished and recognized as the leader or one who possesses leadership characteristics.

We have all either heard or used the expression, “sick as a dog”. To us as humans, it means that are way past not feeling well and usually means that we were throwing up or laid up ill for a long period of time. The saying originates from times gone by when people were bitten by a dog that had contracted rabies. The dog was actually very sick by that time, so they were “sick as a dog.”

One of the expressions that I had heard only a few times was that it was a “three dog night” This saying came from the fact that years ago people used to sleep with their animals to keep warm and if it was an especially cold night, there would be a need for three dogs to share the sleeping quarters with the person just so they could keep warm. So it was a “three dog night”. Clever, right??!!

Finally, how about the saying, “barking up the wrong tree”? We usually say that to someone when they are looking for a clue or answer and they are totally off the topic. The saying oringinated from an old hunter’s phrase that meant that the dog had picked up the wrong scent while it was hunting for its prey. When the dog stopped to bark at something in the tree, it probably wasn’t the oringinal prey the hunter was tracking.

It is clear to see how easily these terms become part of our language. We have incorporated dogs in most all aspects of our human lives, so putting their behaviors into terms that discuss aspects of our lives seems perfectly natural. Next time you hear a phrase, saying or cliche that uses the word dogs, think of the literal meaning and then how that phrase has become commonplace in our venacular. It is an amazing thing!!!