Why do people say, "you've been working like a dog" when dogs just sit around all day?

Answer 1

Maybe they were referring to the way human pant like dogs (after a hard day's work).... the only difference dogs pant with their tongues out.

Answer 2

You,ve been working like a dog means it shows that u are only a watcfull person without doing any work. U keep watching every thing happening around u. But U will not do any thing to do some work. Similar to that there is one more proverb stating that " a barking dog will never bite ". It also has the same meaning..

Answer 3

Maybe in your world Tito, but around here the dogs are dogs; good,hardworking, non-denominational Christian dogs, doing their bit for mankind and only pausing to lick their groin or drag their bums across the carpet.Sit around all day? Indeed! I think the saying 'pee like a racehorse' is apropos.

Answer 4

Some dogs are working dogs. eg Border Collie, or Cattle Dog. Or maybe it was the only animal that rhymed with "sleeping like a log?"

Answer 5

In the days before spoiled pampered pooches. Dogs worked, they survived on scraps. Herding, hunting, assisting on farms etc..
They would work and work in hopes from scraps from the humans. If you leave America and go to another country you will see the dogs get whats dropped and are not dressed in little outfits and treating like children (they are dogs, pack animals).

So indeed to get a bit of scrap they would work hard like a dog.

Answer 6

hey dogs dont do that ... its the cats that sit around all day ... dogs if u keep them like dogs (and not just pets) are supposed to be hard working ... they are used for guarding, retrieving, for taking care of sheeps and other live stock, guiding (nowa days for guiding blind ppl but traditionally used to guide explorers) and many other countless purposes ... dogs are not just to keep in houses and cuddle them and get entertained ... they are for a purpose too ...

so thats how the phrase "you worked like a dog".

Answer 7

Good question, i think the world changes nowadays where the dog sit all day and do nothin!

Answer 8

This was perhaps reffering to " Slave dogs " or even police dogs who were made to work around most time - making them tired...

So, perhaps this was the reason, the phrase came ot usage.

Answer 9

This Phrase has many meanings , the meaning I no means that you have been working so little (like a dog).

Answer 10

You should see them when they work a dog.