I guess the thread title pretty much says it all, but I’m mostly curious how it came to be the go-to, and then cliched, excuse that it apparently was. I haven’t been able to turn anything up.
Sub-question: Was it ever actually legitimately used as an excuse, or was it just something that Hollywood and book writers cooked up? Any older Dopers who remember using this or hearing it used in school?
I remember this in school back in the 60s, I think starting in the 2nd grade when we were first assigned homework. I imagine it was first used as an actual excuse, and could have been fabricated or genuine.
Maybe it goes very far back:
Miss Ig: Oggy, where learning bone?
I dunno, but once when I was a kid the dog actually did eat my homework. Nobody believed me.
One of our cats will shred with her teeth any paper that she finds on the floor and will occasionally steal some if she’s going through withdrawal .
We’ve mailed in bills that are half-chewed.
Google Books doesn’t give any cites earlier than 1982 with I search on “dog ate my homework.”
But if I leave off the quotes it frequently finds that phrase before then. And if you don’t confine the search to the exact words of the phrase, you can find ever earlier variations.
I’m fairly certain, that excuse, and a host of others, appeared in the novel “Up the Down Staircase” (1965). It takes place in a high school. There was a movie version a few years later.
Google Books has “I’m very sorry, but my dog’s eaten your Greek prose” in Frank Fletcher’s After Many Days: A Schoolmaster’s Memories, 1937 (p. 37).
And there seems to be another reference from 1911, but I can’t see it in full: Fire Underwriters’ Association of the Northwest - 1911 - Snippet view
Donald, on hearing the excuse, replied: “And so, Mr. Minister, the reason your sermon was brief was because a dog ate it.” “Well,” replied the minister, "yes, Mr. McPherson, that is practically true. …
“The dog went on my homework.”
St. Ciaran. Around 550AD-ish. No, really.
It seems Ciaran had befriended a wild fox. It being a very long walk to the home of Ciaran’s mentor, and he having duties around his parents home, he sometimes tied his writing tablet around the fox’s neck, who would then carry notes and tablets back and forth between the two.
When the fox grew up, however, and was tempted away (by a lady fox, presumably) he chewed off the leather strap and took off, leaving Ciaran’s homework in some unknown spot in the woods.
There being some much-quoted celebrity named “Ciaran Fox” I am unable to provide a cite, but the truth is out there.
We had a dog that did in fact chew up my sister’s homework. When the teacher didn’t believe her, my mom brought the remnants of the assignment in to prove it (not sure why my sister didn’t just bring it with her.) Not long after, the same dog did a job on one of my homework assignments as well, and I ended up turning it in with a chunk missing an an explanation. I got an eyebrow raise, but I seem to recall that she accepted that explanation (particularly since I’ve never been a good liar when it comes to covering up my own oversights. If I forgot to do something, I’ve always been up front about it.)
I don’t think St. Ciaran is relevant here. From the 1876 edition of his life by John Hogan:
I don’t know what latchets and fongs are, but the only things in common are a canid eating a non-food item. I think it’s more likely to be related to an old joke. From James Wells, Bible Addresses to the Young (1877):
I can imagine the joke being adapted to schoolkids with homework spoiling the dog.
There is also the story about the kid who was raising a pig for his 4-H project. His dog got into the pen one day and attacked the pig. The pig killed and ate the dog. This lead to the excuse that, “My homework ate my dog.”.
I found it as early as 1962 in Google News Archives. It seemed to start picking up steam in the 1970s.
I seriously used this excuse myself in the mid-70s. I thought it up all on my own, and honestly thought it would work. It didn’t.
I think the line was “My dog pead on it”
Not in the edition I checked. But that book has gone through a million editions.
A few students in the lower grades tried it at my school. One teacher required the chewed paper. The others required a note from the parent. Occasionally it was true. Dogs do destroy a lot by chewing. I think the first time this excuse would have been used was in Egypt with the use of papyrus.
I dunno, how hard were the clay tablets they used to record information on? Soft enough for a dog to chew it up maybe?
If I were a teacher, I’d let it happen maybe once (depends on the circumstances), and I’d make it very clear that it is their responsibility to keep their work in a safe place (ie: not leaving it on the floor if they have a dog or a Roomba)
At least one “Little Rascals” film.