# What does "Don't shit where you eat" mean? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 22, 2023, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-dont-shit-where-you-eat-mean/984414 "2023-05-22T11:05:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2023, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-dont-shit-where-you-eat-mean/984414/61 "2023-05-25T17:29:40Z")
^^^ I agree with that. Both parts of the expression are used metaphorically. ---
**Author:** ![mattgg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ccd318/32.png) [@mattgg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mattgg)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2023, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-dont-shit-where-you-eat-mean/984414/62 "2023-05-25T19:17:32Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Huh, I have only heard “drinking your own champagne”. As in: An internet company that makes communication software introduced a bug, and it took longer to fix than it should have, because “we drank too much of our own champagne” and their internal messaging was down, too. (Real example from a friend who works there.) “Eating our own dog food” and “drinking our own champagne” are the same thing. The “champagne” phrasing is newer and removes the pejorative “dog food”. Your product should be better than dog food. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2023, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-dont-shit-where-you-eat-mean/984414/63 "2023-05-26T23:10:20Z")
> [@mattgg](#): > > Your product should be better than dog food. You can tell which phrase was invented by engineers and which by marketing schmucks. All products are dog food. It’s just a matter of degree. You don’t make a better product by assuming it’s champagne already. The point to eating your own dog food is that you’re exposed to all of its faults, and motivated to fix them. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2023, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-dont-shit-where-you-eat-mean/984414/64 "2023-05-27T00:07:29Z")
Dog food should be a good product. Preferably, an excellent one. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2023, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-dont-shit-where-you-eat-mean/984414/65 "2023-05-27T01:36:36Z")
Cats won’t eat if their dish is next to the litter box. Dogs don’t seem to care. I’ve seen them eat with dog piles on the kennel floor. Cats may have been the origin of the phrase. I always associated it with criminal behavior. A muggar wouldn’t attack his neighbors. A car thief typically wouldn’t steal the neighbors car. That has changed. My aunt was mowing and went inside to get some water. The mower was gone when she got back. It only took 5 minutes to disappear. She moved out shortly after. It was too creepy knowing the kind of people that lived near her. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-dont-shit-where-you-eat-mean/984414.md?page=3)