Dog Puns

Welcome to the Punpedia entry on dog puns! 🐶 The puns in the list below play on a breed of dog, or on a dog-related concept (collar, puppy, etc.). There’s also a big list of dog-related words at the bottom of the list to help you come up with your own dog puns (please share them in the comments!).

Dog Puns List

Each item in this list describes a pun, or a set of puns which can be made by applying a rule. If you know of any puns about dogs that we’re missing, please let us know in the comments at the end of this page! Without further ado, here’s the list of dog puns:

  • Dog: There are quite a few phrases and idioms that directly use the word “dog”: “Dog eat dog” and “Barking dogs seldom bite” and “As crooked as a dog’s hind leg” and “As sick as a dog” and “Dog days” and “Dog in the manger” and “Dog tired” and “Dog’s bollocks” and “Dog’s breakfast” and “Don’t keep a dog and bark yourself” and “Every dog has her/his day” and “Give a dog a bad name” and “Hot diggety dog” and “The dog ate my homework” and “The tail wagging the dog” and “Work like a dog” and “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” and “A shaggy dog story” and “A sly dog” and “Call off the dogs” and “Everybody and their dog” and “Doggie paddle”
  • Rough → Ruff: As in “Ruff and tumble” and “Ruff around the edges” and “Diamond in the ruff” and “Ruff stuff” and “Take the ruff with the smooth” and “Ruff someone up”
  • Might → Mutt: As in “With all my mutt” and “Mutt as well” and “Mutt makes right” and “It mutt have been worse” and “Try as I mutt“
  • Massive → Mastiff: As in “It was a mastiff waste of time.” and “The queue is mastiff!”
  • Least → Leashed: As in “It’s the leashed I could do.” and “At the very leashed.” and “Last but not leashed” and “The path of leashed resistance” and “When you leashed expect it” and “Not in the leashed” and “To say the leashed“
  • Bite: As in “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you” and “Bite the big one” and “A bite to eat” and “Love bite” and “Bite someone’s head off” and “Bite back” and “Bite me”
  • Dogmatic / Dogmatism: As in “It’s this sort of dogmatism that’s tearing our country apart.”
  • Dawg → Dog: As in “What’s up dog.”
  • Puppy: “He’s one sick puppy” and “Puppy love” and “Look at these puppies” and “Puppy fat” and “Hush puppies“
  • Hound: As in “They hounded me for days before I finally gave in.” and “Hold with the hare and run with the hounds (To be hypocritical or duplicitous)”
  • Hand → Hound: As in “It wasn’t hounded to me on a silver platter” and “A bird in the hound is worth two in the bush” and “This is getting out of hound” and “We’ve got the upper hound” and “In the palm of your hound” and “Right hound man” and “Take your hound in marriage”
  • Wolf: As in “The boy who cried wolf” and “Wolf whistle” and “Wolf something down (eat fast)” and “Wolf in sheep’s clothing” and “A lone wolf” and “Hold a wolf by the ears” and “Sell wolf tickets (originally ‘woof’ tickets)” – and a related wolf-related phrase is “Alpha female/male“.
  • Pack: (In reference to a pack of wild dogs or a pack of wolves) “Leader of the pack” and “Pack a punch” and “Pack heat” and “Pack your bags” and “Six pack“
  • Donation → Dalmatian: As in “A small monthly dalmatian to a charity.”
  • ‘kay, nine → Canine: As in “‘kay, nine should be enough anyway.”
  • Collar: “Blue/white collar workers” and “Hot under the collar“
  • Husky: “He had a slow, husky voice.”
  • Has led → ‘sled: As in “This map ‘sled us down the wrong path.”
  • Patch → Pooch: As in “My business has been going through a rough pooch lately.” and “That cut looks bad but the doc will pooch it up nicely.”
  • Corny → Corgi: As in “Sorry that my dog puns are so corgi.”
  • Heel: “Archilles’ heel” and “Turn on your heel” and “Under the heel of” and “Brought to heel” and “Head over heels” and “Dig your heels in” and “They’re on our heels” and “Well-heeled” and “Cool your heels“
  • Tail: As in “To chase one’s tail” and “Heads or tails” and “Get off my tail!” and “Has the world by the tail” and “Can’t make heads or tails of it” and “With one’s tail between one’s legs” and “To work your tail off”
  • Chase: As in “Chase around after” and “Cut to the chase” and “A wild-goose chase” and “Chasing rainbows” and “Chase down”
  • Fetch: As in “You’re looking quite fetching tonight!” and “Can you fetch me a pen please?” and “All I did during my internship was fetch and carry for the manager.”
  • Bagel →Beagle: As in “I’ll just get a coffee and beagle, thanks.”
  • Boggle →Beagle: As in “It’s mind-beagle-ing.”
  • Neutral → Neuter-al: As in “I don’t really have an opinion on this – I’m neuter-al.”
  • Breed: “Hatred breeds hatred” and “A dying breed” and “A rare breed” and “Familiarity breeds contempt”
  • Mongrel: This refers to a dog which is a cross between diverse breeds (the opposite of a purebred), but if often used to describe someone in a derogatory manner: “That mongrel kid stole the pie from my window sill!”
  • Lab: This is short for Labrador, and also (obviously) to a place where scientific research is done (i.e. a “science lab”). These two meaning could be played with to create a dog pun with common phrase like “Lab report” and “Science lab“
  • Retriever: If you can use the word “retriever” in its literal sense rather than in reference to a dog breed, that might constitute a dog pun.
  • Retrieve her → Retriever: As in “She went to retriever hat, since she dropped it from the balcony by accident.”
  • Guide: A pun on guide dogs might be possible by simply using the word “guide” in the right context.
  • Sniff: “Sniff around” and “Nothing to be sniffed at” and “Sniff out something (e.g. the truth)”
  • Terror → Terrier: As in “Reign of terrier” and “Terrierism” and “A holy terrier“
  • Tear your → Terrier: As in “Don’t terrier self up about it”
  • Peg → Pug: As in “Like a square pug in a round hole” and “That took him down a pug or two” and “Don’t try to pug the blame on me!”
  • Up → Pup: As in “We got it back pup and running in no time.” and “She had an ace pup her sleeve” and “It’s not all it’s cracked pup to be” and “It doesn’t quite add pup.” and “Barking pup the wrong tree” and “I’m pup against a brick wall” and “I’m pup to my ears in (something)” and “It all blew pup in my face.” and “Bottoms pup!’
  • Pom or Iranian → Pomeranian: As in “It was an unusual accent and the line wasn’t good, but they were either a Pom or Iranian.” (Terrible! :D)
  • Bull: “Oh that’s utter bull and you know it.” and “What a load of bull“
  • Spinal → Spaniel: As in “I have to take my dog in for a spaniel cord operation on Tuesday.”
  • Border of California → Border of Colliefornia
  • Border: As in “That’s bordering on rude.”
  • Schnauzer: This sounds a bit like “schnoz” – a slang word for nose, so perhaps a puns could be made there.
  • Pincher → Pinscher
  • Pinch her → Pinscher
  • Retailer → Rottweiler: As in “Myer is a rottweiler of clothes, accessories and related products.”
  • Bark: “Their bark is worse than their bite.” and “You’re barking up the wrong tree” and “She’s barking mad”
  • Pure bread → Purebred: As in “They’re so unhealthy, they’ve got a diet that’s basically purebred.”
  • Spits → Spitz: As in “I do so much to help him and he just spitz in my face like that.”
  • Doggedly: This means “in a manner that shows tenacity and grim persistence.”
  • Bitch: This is the term often used by breeders to refer to a female dog. It has obvious slang meanings to which could be used for word play.
  • How’ll (How will) → Howl: As in “Howl we be able to make up the lost time?”
  • Well → Whelp: As in “Whelp, I guess it’s time to go home.” (the term “whelp” is a synonym for puppy.)
  • Cur-*: The term “cur” refers to an aggressive dog, or one that is not healthy. If a word starts with “cur” a pun can sometimes be made of it: cur-ently, cur-iculum, cur-ency, cur-ve, cur-tain, cur-l, cur-se.
  • Mush: This is the term used to encourage sled dogs to go, or to go faster, or to refer to a sledding journey. It also refers to “a soft, wet, pulpy mass” the the process of mashing to make such a mass.
  • Much → Mush: As in “Thank you so mush.” (Spoken with an accent)
  • Sick → Sic: To “sic” is to set a dog onto someone (especially a dog trained to attack). In the right context a pun on “sick” could probably be made. Some idioms/phrases: “You make me sic.” and “Sic to death of (something)” and “Sic to one’s stomach” and “I was worried sic.” and “They called in sic“
  • Yep → Yap: As in “Yap, I agree.”
  • Whip it → Whippet: As in “Whippet. Whippet good.”
  • Cable → Kibble: As in “Kibble TV” and “We need to bury this kibble under the lawn.”
  • Yelp: As well as referring to a dog’s bark of distress, this can refer to Yelp (the company), or to a short sharp cry from a human.
  • Flee → Flea: As in “The thief fleaed from the crime scene on foot.”
  • Fee → Flea: As in “Have you paid your annual fleas?”
  • Bad zoo → Shih Tzu: As in “Tickets of entry were nearly 50 bucks and it turned out to be a Shih Tzu“
  • Pointer: “Let me give you a few pointers” and “I need a laser pointer for my presentation.”
  • Wag: “They wagged school”
  • Applause → Appaws: As in “A round of appaws.”
  • Melancholy → Melancollie
  • Call → Collie: As in “I’ll collie you back later.”
  • Subwoofer
  • R?f* → Ruff: If a word begins with “ruf”, “ref”, “rof” or similar, it can often be turned into a silly dog puns: rufferals (referrals), ruffle (raffle), rufferee, rufference, rufferendum, ruffinement, rufflection, rufflectors, rufformation, ruffreshingly, ruffurbishment, ruffuted, ruffugee, ruffrigerator, ruffled.
  • Wine → Whine: As in “Whining and dining.”
  • Dark → Bark: As in “Come to the Bark Side, Luke.” and “It’s getting a bit bark, shall we start heading home?”
  • Thug → Pug: As in “Pug life.”
  • Puddle → Poodle: As in “Don’t step in that poodle!” and “”
  • Pop → Pup: As in “Pup-corn”
  • Pause → Paws: “Let’s paws and reflect.”
  • For → Fur: “Fur the love of god!” and “Fur real?” and “A fur effort” and “Good-fur-nothing” and “A penny fur your thoughts” and “Bat fur the other side” and “Our fur the count” and “Spoiled fur choice” and “Worse fur wear” and “Can’t see the forest fur the trees” and “Cause fur alarm” and “Different strokes fur different folks” and “Dollar fur dollar” and “Fur what it’s worth” and “Fur instance, …” and “Fur the time being” and “Asking fur trouble” and “Taken fur granted” and “Too close fur comfort” and “Fish fur a compliment” and “Fur better or for worse” and “Fur crying out loud!” and “Fur good measure” and “Fur one thing, …” and “Fur the fun of it” and “Fur your information” and “A sight fur sore eyes”
  • Poor → Paw: “Oh you paw thing.”
  • Positively → Pawsitively: “Processed and red meats have been pawsitively linked to several common cancers.”
  • Position → Pawsition: “I’m not in a pawsition to comment on that.”
  • Possible → Pawssible: “That’s simply not pawssible!”
  • Possession → Pawsession: “Charged for pawsession of narcotics.”
  • Posture → Pawsture: “I need to pay more attention to my pawsture.”
  • Posh → Pawsh: “This party is too pawsh for me.”
  • Postulate → Pawstulate: “We can only pawstulate that he escaped via the window.”
  • Posterity → Pawsterity: “The names were recorded for pawsterity.”
  • Posthumously → Pawsthumously: “He was granted the nobel prize pawsthumously.”
  • *por* → *paw*: If a word contains the “por” sound (or similar) we can usually replace it with “paw” to make a silly dog pun: airpawt, appawled, appawntment, coupawns, dispropawtionately, depawtation, downpaw (downpour), depawted, expawted, impawted, impawtance, impawssibility, passpawt, pawtal, pawtability, pawtfolio, pawtion, pawtland, pawtray, pawtrayal, pawsterior, propawtionally, purpawted, self-pawtrait, repawter, unsuppawted, suppawter, transpawting.
  • Underdog
  • Watchdog: This term is often used in a non-dog sense, for example “A government watchdog organisation to prevent corruption.”
  • Degrade → Dograde: As in “These puns are very dograding.”
  • Dignity → Dognity: As in “I’ve lost all dognity at this point.” and “I’ll at least try to make a dognified exit.”
  • *dog*: If a word contains “dig”, “dag”, “derg” or similar sounds, a very silly dog pun cans ometimes be made: indognantly (indignantly), indognation (indignation), madogascar, undograduate, pedogogical, pro-dog-al, undoground, undogone (undergone).
  • *pet*: If a word contains the “pet” sound, it may work as a silly pet pun: competitive, competitor, petri dish, parapet, petrochemical, petrol, petticoat, pipet (pipette), repetitive.
  • *fur*: If a word contains the “fur” sound (or similar), we can make silly fur puns: a-fur-mative, di-fur-ent, further, infurmation, offur, effurt, furget, furgotten, comfurt, suffur, furm (firm), furnish, furgive, comfurtable, confurm, furmly, Afurica, Oxfurd, furever, furniature, philosofur, furbidden, transfur, confurmation, diffur, furtile, furbid, confurence, confurred, uncom-fur-table, furgiven, furlorn (forelorn), confurm, furbade, confur, furnace, furocity, transfurmation, infur, infurence, defur, furthermore, furtively, furvently, cifur (cipher), furthest, biografur, affurm, furvent, furmentation, photografur, vocifurous, unfurled, afurism (aphorism), perifural (peripheral), chaufur (chauffeur).

Dog-Related Words

There are many more puns to be made than could be documented in this Punpedia entry, and so we’ve compiled a list of dog-related concepts for you to use when creating your own puns. If you come up with a new pun, please share it in the comments!

pet, puppy, hound, wolf, dachshund, great dane, ruff, poodle, man’s best friend, dalmatian, Irish wolfhound, canis, K9, canine, sled dog, husky, pack, pooch, doggie, doggy, chihuahua, corgi, guard dog, heel, tail, chase, fetch, artificial selection, bull terrier, canidae, beagle, neuter, breed, guide dog, mongrel, Labrador, golden retriever, sniff, yorkshire terrier, terrier, bloodhound, domesticated, chase after, pug, mutt, pup, dingo, mastiff, pomeranian, bulldog, spaniel, border collie, collie, english mastiff, schnauzer, dobermann, rottweiler, schipperke, pinscher, cocker spaniel, keeshond, shaggy, basset hound, mammal, purebred, bow-wow, bark, greyhound, spitz, seeing eye dog, companion, german shepard, pedigree, bull mastiff, sniffer dog, animal shelter, dog wash, doggedly, mad dog, bitch, howl, kennel, whelp, cur, sheepdog, watchdog, woof, lapdog, mush, boxer, police dog, sic, yap, dogged, dog tired, muzzle, leash, whippet, bandog, kibble, yelp, blue heeler, fleas, collar, basset hound, shih tzu, pitbull, bull terrier, jack russell, shetland sheepdog, pointer, bichon frise, st. bernard, alaskan mamalute, maltese, lhasa apso, akita, boston terrier, papillion, bernese mountain dog, bite, wag, paws, whine, bone, watchdog, underdog

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