# Riding the Dog **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 1, 2017, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riding-the-dog/795248 "2017-09-01T14:53:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2017, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riding-the-dog/795248/1 "2017-09-01T14:53:35Z")
‘Riding the Dog’ has long been a way of saying one is going to ride a Greyhound Bus. No doubt many people came up with the phrase, since it’s so obvious. But do we know approximately _when_ the phrase became popular, among which demographic it was most popular, the first printed or filmed record of its use, etc.? (I have an idea it became popular in the '30s, but I’m looking for a citation.) ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2017, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riding-the-dog/795248/2 "2017-09-01T15:03:35Z")
Popular? Never heard the phrase before. As a young lad, my father was working at a job in Southern Oregon. Once a month my mother would pack up herself and 4 kids under 6 years old and we would take the bus to visit my dad. It would take the better part of 24 hours to travel from Tacoma to Grants Pass. We did this I think on 5 different occasions. The part I remember most was we had to sit in the back in the smoking section. I wanted to ride up front so I could watch the road go by. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2017, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riding-the-dog/795248/3 "2017-09-01T15:44:32Z")
Never heard it here, either. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2017, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riding-the-dog/795248/4 "2017-09-01T15:45:55Z")
Sorry, OP, what I pictured for your phrase [had nothing to do with buses.](http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2012/08/16/monkeyrodeo_wide-307fc1e70816bf01cb93296037a053f1e2977234-s900-c85.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2017, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riding-the-dog/795248/5 "2017-09-01T15:53:54Z")
Too late to ETA: Google returns only a few hits relevant to your usage of the phrase. A 2002 Washington Post column. A 2014 short story collection by Sybil Rosen. One Youtube video, which appears to be a vidcap of a 1980s PBS documentary. Stuff like that. The usage seems legit but rather rare in the Googleverse. Seriously, a monkey riding a dog is the much more relevant application of the phrase, apparently. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2017, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riding-the-dog/795248/6 "2017-09-01T16:08:48Z")
I also have never heard it, even though I traveled thousands of miles on Greyhound buses in the 1960s and 70s. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2017, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riding-the-dog/795248/7 "2017-09-01T16:13:08Z")
I haven’t heard it either, although I agree it seems like it _should_ be common. There’s a song by Harry Chapin called “Greyhound” which includes the line, “It’s a dog of a way to get around.” That’e the closest I can get, though. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2017, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riding-the-dog/795248/8 "2017-09-01T17:48:03Z")
Yeah, I didn’t know what this thread would be about either, until I opened it. There’s also a song by John Mellencamp called _Minutes To Memories_ in which he describes taking a Greyhound trip. One of the lines goes: “The rain hit the old dog in the twilight’s last gleaming.” ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2017, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riding-the-dog/795248/9 "2017-09-01T18:16:37Z")
I’m surprised the phrase seems to be little known. I’m sure I heard a version of it in a movie and/or a cartoon. ---
**Author:** ![brainstall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@brainstall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brainstall)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2017, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riding-the-dog/795248/10 "2017-09-01T19:45:20Z")
I can think of similar phrases - riding the red pony, riding shank’s mare, effing the dog, (all very different meanings) but never riding the dog. Though when you say it, it’s easy enough to guess what it means. ---
**Author:** ![mind\_the\_gap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@mind\_the\_gap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mind_the_gap)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2017, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riding-the-dog/795248/11 "2017-09-01T19:48:47Z")
Ridin’ the Dog is familiar to me. Seems I’ve mainly heard it in the south, and then mostly from black folks. Urban Dictionary draws a blank though, so maybe I dreamt the whole thing. ---
**Author:** ![icantdraw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3ec8ea/32.png) [@icantdraw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/icantdraw)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2017, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riding-the-dog/795248/12 "2017-09-01T20:56:33Z")
“Ride the Silver Dog” is a phrase that is familiar to me. I’m in Saskatchewan though, and we have all sorts of uncommon phrases. Almost time to put on my bunny hug and touque. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2017, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riding-the-dog/795248/13 "2017-09-01T21:35:19Z")
I first learned the phrase here on the 'Dope a few years ago. And have never seen nor heard it anywhere before or since until this thread. Sounds like it’s probably a regionalism or at least limited to a particular demographic. The fact the heyday of Greyhound was 50+ years ago now doesn’t help. It may well have been a phrase my parents would’ve used in the 1950s if they’d had a reason to. But they didn’t, or at least not around toddler me. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2017, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riding-the-dog/795248/14 "2017-09-01T21:56:39Z")
Another song - “Home in my Hand” by Ronnie Self - “Went down to the Greyhound station to catch an outbound dog”. It’s probably one of those usages that is more likely to be seen as colorful by writers than actually turn up in everyday speech. ---
**Author:** ![JKilez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@JKilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKilez)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2017, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riding-the-dog/795248/15 "2017-09-01T22:01:58Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > I haven’t heard it either, although I agree it seems like it _should_ be common. Exactly. The phrase just fits the situation so well. Nevertheless, I had never heard it used. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2017, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riding-the-dog/795248/16 "2017-09-01T22:47:47Z")
I believe “Riding the Grey Dog” is used in Neil Gaiman’s _American Gods_, so either an English transplant came up with it on his own or it is common enough that he found it during research. ---
**Author:** ![Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba8739/32.png) [@Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Backwater_Under_Duck)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2017, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riding-the-dog/795248/17 "2017-09-02T01:28:40Z")
I know I’ve heard it before in that context, but sorry, no cite. I go back to 1950 and have travelled Greyhound. More than once. ---
**Author:** ![Winsling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Winsling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winsling)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2017, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riding-the-dog/795248/18 "2017-09-02T01:47:44Z")
Google Ngrams shows that “[ride/riding the dog](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=ride+the+dog%2Criding+the+dog&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cride%20the%20dog%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Criding%20the%20dog%3B%2Cc0)” was never very popular. Compare to “[go by bus](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=ride+the+dog%2Criding+the+dog%2Cgo+by+bus&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cride%20the%20dog%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Criding%20the%20dog%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cgo%20by%20bus%3B%2Cc0)” ---
**Author:** ![Some\_Call\_Me.Tim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Some\_Call\_Me.Tim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Some_Call_Me.Tim)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2017, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riding-the-dog/795248/19 "2017-09-02T04:13:38Z")
Sounds familiar to me, from at least as far back as the '80s.