can a dog actually eat your homework

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The Truth Behind the “Dog Ate My Homework” Excuse: Exploring Its Effectiveness and Psychological Implications

By Happy Sharer

Introduction

The “dog ate my homework” excuse has been around for decades and is one of the most popular reasons students give for not completing their assignments on time. It’s used as both an excuse and a joke, but what does it really mean? This article will explore the truth behind the “dog ate my homework” excuse, examining its effectiveness and psychological implications.

An Examination of the Effectiveness of Using the “Dog Ate My Homework” Excuse

It may seem like an obvious answer to the question of whether or not a dog actually ate your homework, but there are some important factors to consider. First, it is important to look at why students use this excuse more than others. According to a study by the University of Michigan, students who use the “dog ate my homework” excuse are often trying to avoid being held accountable for their actions. They are also more likely to be struggling academically and trying to find a way out of doing the work.

Another factor to consider is whether or not this excuse is actually effective. While it may sound like a good idea in theory, the truth is that it rarely works. In fact, research shows that teachers are more likely to believe other excuses such as forgetting or running out of time. Furthermore, using the “dog ate my homework” excuse could backfire and make the teacher less likely to believe any future excuses.

Interviewing Dog Owners on the Truth Behind This Excuse

In order to get a better understanding of the “dog ate my homework” excuse, I interviewed several dog owners to get their perspectives. One dog owner, Mary, believes that the excuse is rooted in cultural history. She says, “I think the excuse comes from a long-standing belief that dogs have a tendency to get into things they shouldn’t. So, when a student can’t do their assignment, they might just blame it on the dog to avoid getting in trouble.”

Another dog owner, John, sees the “dog ate my homework” excuse as a way to shift the blame away from the student. He explains, “It’s human nature to want to avoid being held accountable for our actions. So, if a student can’t do their assignment, they might try to blame it on the dog to avoid taking responsibility.”

Finally, I spoke with a third dog owner, Susan, who believes that the “dog ate my homework” excuse can have a negative impact on student-teacher relationships. She notes, “If a teacher hears this excuse too often, it can erode their trust in the student. And, even if the excuse is true, the teacher may become less likely to believe future excuses from that student.”

Exploring the Psychological Implications of Using This Excuse

In addition to examining the effectiveness of the “dog ate my homework” excuse, it is also important to look at its psychological implications. Lying is never a good thing and can have serious consequences, both in the short and long term. According to a study by the American Psychological Association, lying can lead to feelings of guilt, anxiety, and depression.

Furthermore, claiming a dog ate your homework can also have a negative impact on your relationship with your teacher. If the teacher finds out you lied, they may be less likely to trust you in the future. This can lead to a strained relationship and make it difficult to ask for help when you need it.

The “dog ate my homework” excuse is a popular one, but it is rarely effective and can have serious psychological implications. Not only is it unlikely to convince a teacher that you haven’t done your assignment, but it can also lead to feelings of guilt and anxiety. Furthermore, it can damage your relationship with your teacher and make it harder to ask for help in the future. Ultimately, it is best to avoid using this excuse and take responsibility for your actions.

In conclusion, the “dog ate my homework” excuse has been around for decades and is often used as a joke or an excuse. However, this article has shown that it is rarely effective and can have serious psychological implications. Therefore, it is best to avoid using this excuse and take responsibility for your actions.

Call to Action

If you are in a situation where you need to come up with an excuse for not completing your homework, try to be honest and take responsibility for your actions. Lying is never a good idea and can lead to feelings of guilt and anxiety. Furthermore, it can damage your relationships with your teachers and make it harder to ask for help in the future. So, the next time you need to come up with an excuse, be honest and take responsibility.

(Note: Is this article not meeting your expectations? Do you have knowledge or insights to share? Unlock new opportunities and expand your reach by joining our authors team. Click Registration to join us and share your expertise with our readers.)

Hi, I'm Happy Sharer and I love sharing interesting and useful knowledge with others. I have a passion for learning and enjoy explaining complex concepts in a simple way.

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Wonder of the Day #491

Do Dogs Really Eat Homework?

SCIENCE — Life Science

Have You Ever Wondered...

• Do dogs really eat homework?
• Why do dogs eat paper?
• What foods can be dangerous to dogs?
• chocolate ,
• guacamole ,
• Assignment ,
• Curiosity ,
• Veterinarian ,
• Table Scraps ,
• Theobromine ,
• Kidney Failure ,
• Macadamia Nuts ,

Today’s Wonder of the Day was inspired by Thomas. Thomas Wonders , “ Why do dogs eat homework? ” Thanks for WONDERing with us, Thomas!

You have a big, important homework assignment due tomorrow, but you're not stressed . You made good use of your study time at school and completed over half of it. When you got home, you avoided distractions, like television and video games, and worked hard until it was finished.

Then your worst nightmare happened! While you were in the kitchen making a healthy snack , your dog got hungry, too. Instead of eating his dog food, though, he made a sandwich out of your homework! Oh no! What will you do?

You know that “my dog ate my homework" is the oldest excuse in the book. Your teacher will never buy that! Or will she?

As it turns out, dogs really do eat paper from time to time. If you explain this to your teacher — and show her what scraps remain, if any — you just might get an extension to re-do that assignment. Better yet, make use of modern technology and do your homework on the computer, so you can save it and print out a copy whenever you need it!

Remember: honesty is the best policy . If you simply forget to do your homework, don't lie and blame it on your dog!

Dogs are known to be indiscriminate eaters with healthy appetites. This means that some dogs will eat just about anything if given the chance.

Why? Some scientists believe eating paper and other non-food items may just result from boredom . Most dogs are energetic animals that need plenty of exercise and distractions to keep from becoming bored.

When bored, many dogs will give in to their natural curiosity and explore new things. This exploration can often take the form of scratching, biting, and eating. If you were eating a sandwich while you were doing your homework, stray crumbs or bits of food might even make your homework tempting to a dog that's bored!

To dogs, paper is just another “thing." It's something to chew on. If it happens to be your homework, that's particularly bad for you. However, it's probably no different to your dog than chewing on newspaper or a book. To prevent your homework from becoming lunch, be sure to store it in a safe place when you're finished with it!

It might also help to make sure your dog is well-fed. Stick to food and treats recommended by your veterinarian , though. It can be dangerous to feed your dog human food in the form of table scraps.

Over the years, veterinarians have learned that there are certain foods that can harm dogs. Here are some foods that can be particularly dangerous to dogs:

• Avocado : Skip the guacamole ! Avocados contain persin, which can be toxic to dogs in large amounts.
• Caffeine : In large quantities, caffeine can be fatal for dogs. So stick to water and skip the coffee, tea, and sodas for your dog. Also avoid chocolate , which contains caffeine and another substance toxic to dogs: theobromine.
• Onions and Garlic : Dogs who eat onions or garlic regularly or in large quantities can develop a condition called anemia, which results from the destruction of red blood cells.
• Grapes and Raisins : Veterinarians don't really know why, but it's clear that grapes and raisins can cause kidney failure in dogs.
• Macadamia Nuts : As few as six macadamia nuts can make a dog ill. Larger doses can be fatal.

Wonder What's Next?

Are unicorns real? Do they live in the sea? Find out tomorrow in Wonderopolis!

Are you ready for some homework? Grab a friend or family member and try out the following activities:

• Do you or a friend or family member have a dog? What kind of trouble do dogs tend to get into? Has one ever eaten homework? What about chewing up toys? Talk about the funny stories you've heard of dogs getting into trouble. Do you think any of these stories might have been caused by dogs feeling bored?
• Have you ever forgotten to do your homework? If you do, you probably don't want to blame your forgetfulness on your dog. It's best to fess up to your forgetfulness and ask for extra time to complete your homework…and maybe an extra credit assignment to make up for it being late. Inevitably, though, some students will choose to get creative and invent wild excuses as to why they weren't able to complete their homework. What do you think? If you were a teacher, would you believe any of the following excuses? I don't have my homework, because: + My babysitter flushed it down the toilet! + My locker is jammed and my homework is trapped inside! + My dad used it to start a fire in our wood stove! + I left it at home! I thought that's where HOMEwork was supposed to stay! + My friend fell in a lake! I jumped in to rescue him, and my homework drowned!
• If you don't want your dog to eat your homework, it's best to keep Fido well-fed. What do dogs usually eat, though? Do some research to learn more about dog food. Find a bag of dry dog food and read the list of ingredients. Which ingredients do you recognize? What are the others? Search the Internet to discover what some of those oddly-named ingredients actually are. If you have a dog, put what you learned into practice by making your pooch a special treat of homemade dog food !

Wonder Sources

• http://jackinabox.hubpages.com/hub/Why-do-dogs-eat-paper
• http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/ss/slideshow-foods-your-dog-should-never-eat
• http://madtbone.tripod.com/school.htm

Did you get it?

Wonder contributors.

We’d like to thank:

Dalya and Jayden for contributing questions about today’s Wonder topic!

Keep WONDERing with us!

Wonder Words

• distraction
• indiscriminate
• veterinarian

Yikes! We hope you've come up with a solution to prevent that from happening! 

my dog tore up my homework folder in first grade and ate my homework we posted a pic online (dog shaming)

omg i agree

That's super cool, Natalia! 

Or your dogs can do your homework for you.

You're welcome, Savannah.

Thanks for being our Wonder Friend, duncan!

well thats sad that ur dog ate ur homework

It would be very sad if that happened! Do you have any pet dogs, Caitlyn?

Thanks for sharing, Lucas B! We hope that your dog hasn't eaten your homework!!

You have a very nice dog, peyton! Also, check out  Wonder 1499: When Was the Great War? for more information about World War I!

Camden Riley Justice

Hi, Camden! If you have a video of your dog eating your homework, we think that there is a good chance that your teacher would believe you! Hopefully your dog has never eaten your homework, though!! ?

C j/CamdenJustice

my dog broke my computer and NOW i have a new one AND MAKE SHURE YOU NEVER FED A DOG CHOKELET

That's right, Cj! We even have a Wonder about why you shouldn't give chocolate to dogs:   Wonder 1522: Why Can't Dogs Eat Chocolate?

Uh-oh! ?

maby you don't have any toys thats what made our dog stop dolng that.

Thanks for joining the conversation, camden!!

Thanks for sharing, jayden! It sounds like your dog pixie lived a great, long life!! We don't recommend chocolate for dogs, though.  If you are concerned about Nada's eating habits, you may want to make an appointment to see a veterinarian.  Sometimes, though, dogs eat things like paper because they are bored! 

Great question, Zehra! Dogs can eat things they're not supposed to when they're bored!

my dog eat some of my moms brownies

Uh, oh! We hope not too many, because dogs shouldn't eat chocolate!  Wonder 1522: Why Can't Dogs Eat Chocolate? will explain why!!

Thanks for your concern for our canine friends, joshua! We actually have a Wonder about this topic, as well! Check out  Wonder 1522: Why Can't Dogs Eat Chocolate?

? Thanks, Amara!! We are SO happy to have you WONDERing with us!!

good job wonderopolis

? Thanks!! We love having you as our Wonder Friend!!

? Thanks for WONDERing with us, Aiden!!

Hi, Paige! Dogs may tend to eat anything in sight due to boredom, not stupidity! We hope this helps!!

Hi, Paige! Thanks for WONDERing with us!

Thanks for stopping by, Wendy!

Hello!! We are WONDERing about how dogs can eat homework!! What are you WONDERing about??

? Oh, no!! We're so sorry to hear that, Patricia! We hope that you were able to get an extension!

We're happy to help and that you're researching this information before you get a dog, Eloise!!! What type of dog are you planning to get?

Thanks for letting us know, Brady!! 

No way I never knew that dogs are crazy and I am in 5th grade.

Thanks for joining the discussion, Wendy!

It sounds like you know this from experience, Max!! Do you have a dog?

i dowt that the dog ate your book

Thanks for sharing, Mark!! Dogs do sometimes eat paper, and this can be due to boredom.  We hope that the library book didn't cost too much to replace!!

they eat paper from time to time

You're right, mya!! Thanks for sharing!!

I do too because some of my friend's dogs ate there homework.

I like to chew paper from time to time

That's cool, James--but we recommend making sure it's clean paper!

Dogs do sometimes eat paper, so it is a possibility! ?

Did a dog ever eat your homework, bob?? ?

Isabel the monster

That's awesome, Isabel!! What are your dogs names?? Have they ever tried to eat YOUR homework?? Thanks for WONDERing with us!!!

? Thanks, franklin! 

We're sorry to hear about your birds, alexis.  Have your dogs ever eaten your homework? (Or your chickens or bunny??)

? That is very unlucky! Hopefully she was able to reprint the paper, or get an extension!!

My sister did get an extension on her homework. Because she brought the rest of the rip up papers:\

Whew! That's good news! We're glad she was able to get the extension, though hopefully she didn't have to make up too much extra work!

That is WONDERful to hear, A.K.!!! We're thrilled that you're learning with us!!

Thank you so much for sharing, Taylor! We love learning new things here at Wonderopolis, and we're thrilled that you do, too!!  Wonder #1149: Can Wolves Be Tamed? sounds like a perfect Wonder for you to check out!

? So sorry to hear that, Emily! Do any of your friends have dogs?

Dogs are awesome but there a lot of work

That is absolutely true, James! Some of the work can be fun, like playing with them. But, cleaning up poop isn't fun, that's for sure! 

Ha Ha I don't think that is the reason.:)

Me either!!

Well, Ally, having a dog certainly does come with its own set of responsibilities. Some people think its worth it for the companionship. Other people prefer cats. Which do you like better: dogs, or cats?

No problem, charlotte. Your friends are probably just jealous of how awesome you and your dogs are! But keep those avocados out of reach, just to be safe.

Heehee, that gave us a laugh, Boi! Thank you for WONDERing with us!

We are glad you finally found the answer, Isaac!

Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us, jordan! We're glad you are WONDERing and learning with us! ?

i eat my homework too:)

You all are funny, Boi! Homework seems like it'd be a bit on the bland side! ?

mecer i know you eat homwork

We bet that doesn't taste too good, jordan! ?

That's interesting, mercer! We hope you spit the paper out! :P

Thanks for commenting, Amaris! Here's a related Wonder that you may like: Wonder #577. :)

Wonder Friend

my dog ate my homework too i had to email my teacher or she woudn,t believe me.

That stinks, Wonder Friend! We hope it didn't impact your grade too much!

Oh my, hoi man! We bet your friend was frustrated! Thanks for sharing your connection to this Wonder. :)

Thanks for commenting, Ava! Have you seen Wonder #1113? It's all about autocorrect! :)

my name is Shayna! pronounced sh-ae-nu

Hey there, Shayna! We're glad you are WONDERing with us! :)

Thank you for asking, Shaelyn! We are doing well! How are you? We hope great!! :)

Hello there, michhele! We sure are glad you visited Wonderopolis! :)

Hi, karina! We're glad you liked this Wonder! It's always GREAT when we learn something new! Keep an eye on your dog when he's around books! Hehe! :)

Ava Gelinas

Hi, Ava! It's definitely possible for dogs to eat your homework! We're glad you liked this Wonder! :)

nicole mack

Thalia woof.

Me too I want a dog but I have a baby

Thanks for joining the discussion, Thalia! :)

Hi, maanya! That would be AWESOME! We hope you get to have a dog one day, too! :)

Thanks for being a supportive Wonder Friend! We appreciate you joining the discussion! :)

Hi, nicole! Puppies are adorable! Dogs are WONDERful pets! :)

amanda.grant

Hi, amanda! Sounds like you're good friends! Check out Wonder #1238: What Does It Mean To Be a Good Friend? Have fun WONDERing! :)

We do, too, amanda! Dogs are WONDERful animals and great companions! :)

i dont i do my homework. i like pizza (Off Topic)

Thanks for joining the discussion, Wonder Friend! It's important to do your homework so you can practice what you're learning in school. We also like pizza! We encourage you to use the search box to find Wonders about pizza to explore! :)

Thanks for sharing your opinion, angel! Have a WONDERful week! :)

Hi, Wonder Friend! We're not sure if this would work! Better to be safe than sorry and do your homework! :)

what is the author name?

Great question! Thanks for asking! Wonderopolis is brought to you by the National Center for Families Learning. They would be the author of the Wonders! :)

We're THRILLED you liked this Wonder, jacques! Thanks for visiting Wonderopolis and leaving a comment! :)

Welcome, Adsur! Dogs are WONDERful pets. However, we don't want them to eat your homework! That wouldn't be good! :)

But then how would you be graded on it, Nicola? Better stick with kibble! ;-)

Hi, Kasey! We're glad this Wonder reinforced something you already knew. That's GREAT! Thanks for WONDERing with us! :)

Hello, Josie! We hope you had fun exploring this Wonder. Thanks for stopping by Wonderopolis! :)

Hi, Skeley! We don't know. Every dog is different. To be safe we would keep our homework in a very safe place! :)

That's good to hear! Thanks for leaving a comment. Keep up the GREAT enthusiasm for WONDERing! :)

Oh no, roxie! But, then you wouldn't have it to turn in after doing all that work! :)

Alex Oczkus

We're glad you enjoyed WONDERing with us, Alex! We hope you have an awesome day! :)

Good point, ayden! Puppies sometimes chew things they aren't supposed to because they don't know any better. You're right! It's important to always put your homework in a safe place, just in case! :)

i hate that puppy cant eat my homework!!!!

Why would you want your puppy to eat your homework?? Then you wouldn't have it to show off your hard work! :)

Hi, gunnar! Dogs can eat broccoli, but it's always important to check with your vet and to remember to only feed them human foods in moderation. Every dog's diet is different. It's great you're checking to see if it is good for them before feeding them, but be sure to always ask your vet first! :)

Can that dog eat my h.w

Hi, WONDER friend! It is a possibility, so be sure to put it in a very safe place! Thanks for joining the discussion! :)

Wonderopolis

Welcome, Darksaber! According to Pet WebMD , chocolate can be poisonous to dogs if consumed in a large enough amounts. Other times, it simply may just make your dog sick. There is no way to know for sure how your dog will react, so you must be very cautious when dogs are around chocolate. Thanks for sharing this information with our WONDER friends! :)

Jumpin' Jordan and Jo

You're welcome, Jumpin' Jordan and Jo! We're glad to hear you learned some new things with us! Your fun name reminded us of a few Wonders of the Day! :) :) We hope you'll enjoy these: #703 Who Jumps the Highest? #1093 Do You Double Dutch?

Thanks for stopping by Wonderopolis and sharing your questions, Abigail S.! There have been a couple times our dog (and once even our cat!) has nibbled a bit on our homework! But fortunately, we caught it before he ate the whole thing! Have you had a pet take some bites out of your homework? ;)

kirrily Johnson

We're sorry to hear that you have LOTS of homework, Kirrily! We do know that homework is important for learning. :( We are SUPER glad to have you WONDERing with us today! :D

Oh no, Graham. It sounds like all that "people food" may hurt your dog's stomach. We think it is best to stick with the dog food. Thanks for sharing with us today! :-)

We're glad you enjoyed it, Nicole! Thanks for WONDERing with us today! :-)

Oh no, Morgan! Paper is not good for dogs. Be sure to read the Wonder article, especially the list of foods that are dangerous to dogs. It is always best to feed your dog only food and treats recommended by your vet. Thanks for WONDERing with us today! :-)

Absolutely, Cora. That looked like a mess! We are so glad that you enjoyed this Wonder. Thanks for WONDERing with us! :-)

WONDERful guess, Ann! Check back tomorrow to find out if your Wonder Prediction was correct! Keep WONDERing! :-)

That would be nice, Bryce! Thanks for WONDERing with us! Keep WONDERing! :)

Mrs. LaLonde's Class

WOOHOO, we're so glad you enjoyed this woof-tastic Wonder, Mrs. LaLonde's Class! We want to keep our pets nice and healthy, so we're glad to learn that dogs shouldn't eat chocolate (even if they want to)! However, they sure do like peanut butter... and paper, too! Thanks for sharing your WONDERful comment today! :)

Thanks so much, Erin! We're so excited that you visited today! We hope your dog doesn't get a hold of your homework! :)

Very cool, Wonder Friend N! We're so glad you are visiting us today to learn about dogs and their love of homework! We Wonder what your project covers? :)

Hey there, Momo! We are glad you're doing your homework, and we hope your dog doesn't mistake your work for a tasty treat! We have lots of awesome topics to Wonder about here at Wonderopolis! You can check out our categories section and search by topic, or you can visit us every day for a brand new Wonder! :)

Girls 4 ever

Hey there, Girls 4 ever! We are glad you're WONDERing with us today! We know that things happen from time to time, but excuses are not as WONDERful as the truth. We Wonder if you have ever had your dog eat your homework? YIKES! Thanks for sharing your comment today! :)

We think that's an excellent word to describe the dog in the Wonder video, Patrick! That is one energetic dog! We Wonder if homework tastes good to dogs, or if they would prefer to eat some dog food instead? Thanks for sharing your comment with us today! :)

Thanks so much, Brad! We're glad to hear it! :)

We don't think homework would taste very good, that's for sure, Brad! We know that some dogs, especially our four-legged friends here at Wonderopolis, sometimes eat things that don't taste the best. This includes furniture... homework... and even old sneakers! We know that dogs are great, but we have to keep important things, like homework and shoes, far away from them! :)

Hi there Tanner, thanks for sharing your story with us! We are glad your friend was able to turn in another copy of his homework-- his dogs must have been very hungry! We hope you have a SUPER day! :)

Thanks for sharing your personal connection to this Wonder, Noel! We think teachers might hear "the dog ate my homework" a lot! :-)

YIKES! We don't think that's a very healthy habit for your dog OR your grades, Eipco! Thank you for sharing your comment with us today...we appreciate it! :-)

That's a really great guess, Janelle! Thanks so much for hanging out in Wonderopolis with us today! :-)

Moa fahlstedt

You've got THAT right, Moa! We thought it was cute to see the little puppy try to play tug of war and tear up the girl's homework. We hope she didn't have to do her homework again because her dog tried to eat it! :-)

awesome Mackenzie ttyl

We're not sure, Mackenzie! We think maybe they see it as something their owners were playing with (or working on), so maybe they think it's a toy and they want to play with it, too? We're sure there are other reasons why dogs eat homework, so it's fun to WONDER about that! :-)

Hi, Emily! Thanks for letting us know you like cheese. Have you visited any of these CHEESY Wonders? Wonder #52 - Why Is Cheddar Cheese Orange? https://www.wonderopolis.org/wonder/why-is-cheddar-cheese-orange/ Wonder #322 - Why Are Some Cheeses Stinky? https://www.wonderopolis.org/wonder/why-are-some-cheeses-stinky/ Happy WONDERing! :-)

Team Mcneil22

Those are really creative excuses, Team McNeil 22! We hope none of our smart, amazing, clever Wonder Friends ever have to use any of them, though! We hope everyone's homework gets done and handed in on time! That would be WONDERful, wouldn't it? Thanks so much for sharing your comment with everyone in Wonderopolis today! :-)

Team McNeil #4

We're SO GLAD to hear the new information and word you learned by exploring this Wonder, Team McNeil #4! We think there are toxins that dogs react to inside grapes. Since raisins are dried grapes, it makes sense that they would be harmful to dogs, also. Good luck trying to change the habit of feeding your dog table scraps! We know from experience that it is a tough habit to break! :-)

Team Unger 10

We think it's SUPER cool that you searched for a topic you were interested in to see what Wonders would pop up, Team Unger 10! Way to go! Dogs who ingest avocados can become very, very sick because of the toxin, "persin," that is found in the avocados. Thanks so much for WONDERing even MORE about this Wonder after you explored it! :-)

We hope her teacher believes her, too, Team McNeil 22! That dog was so cute...it must REALLY like homework a LOT! :-)

Thanks for visiting Wonderopolis today and sharing about your dog, Star! We'd say it might be a good idea to keep him or her away from your homework! :-)

Well one time a person at my Spanish class said her dog ate her homework and the teacher asked for proof.The next day the student brought a bag of paper shreads

Oh no, Cam! That probably wasn't very pretty! Thanks for sharing your story! :)

We think that's a good thing, Skelekian! Thanks for leaving us this comment today! :-)

Hi, Zoe! Thanks for sharing your thoughts about dogs today! We appreciate your comment! :-)

Team wilch 5

We're glad to see you are exploring different Wonders in Wonderopolis today, Team Wilch 5! We bet your teachers will appreciate you NOT using the "my dog ate my homework" excuse! :-)

Happy Monday, Annie! Thanks so much for visiting this Wonder of the Day® and for letting us know you thought it was COOL! :-)

andrew hattenbach

That sounds like a really good idea, Andrew! Thank you for telling us that you liked this Wonder and that you learned a few new facts about something you've always WONDERed! Have a WONDERful day! :-)

That's a GREAT question, Britney! We're not sure how paper would digest inside a dog (or even a human)! That is something we will BOTH have to do a bit more WONDERing about! :-)

Thanks so much for sharing your personal connection to this Wonder of the Day®, Britney! We're sorry your dog ate your homework before...we hope he/she doesn't do it anymore! :-)

Hi, CR1 Eric! You have to put the colon symbol ":" right beside the end parenthesis symbol ")" to make a smiley face. So, : PLUS ) EQUALS :)! :-)

Jessie Leigh

Thanks for sharing about Pugsly, Jessie! She is a really lucky dog to have such an AWESOME owner like you who loves and cares for her so very much! :-)

sassycat923

That puppy certainly WAS cute, SassyCat923! Thanks for sharing your comment with everyone in Wonderopolis today! :-)

Thanks for letting us know what you thought about the video for this Wonder of the Day®, Marion! We appreciate your comment! :-)

Hello, Michael! It's so great to hear from you today! Thank you for visiting Wonderopolis! :-)

Thanks for sharing a story about what happened to your homework, Clayton! We hope your teacher still accepted it when you tried to turn it in! :-)

Hi, Audrey! We don't think it would be a good idea to teach your dog to eat your homework...he might think other important papers (like certificates or money) are homework and eat them, too! YIKES! :-)

We like that creative excuse, Hannah! So, what you would actually be telling your teacher is that YOU ate YOUR OWN homework! Thanks for making us smile today...you're a GREAT Wonder Friend! :-)

Hello, Kimberly! Thanks so much for this GREAT comment! We hope your dog doesn't eat your homework tonight, either! Thanks for WONDERing what tomorrow's Wonder might be about. We WONDER that every day, too! :-)

That's a clever excuse, Jordan! We hope your neighbor's cat doesn't really do that to your homework! That would be a less-than-PURRRRfect situation! :-)

You're RIGHT, Ashlyn! We have all seen the proof in the video for this Wonder! Wasn't that puppy super cute? :-)

Thanks for letting us know you liked today's Wonder and the video for it, too, Chloe! We know from experience how badly hitting your "funny bone" can hurt...it's not very funny when it first happens!

Miriam and Ruthie and Jami

Happy Wednesday, Miriam, Ruthie and Jami! Thanks so much for leaving us this enthusiastic comment and for letting us know you liked the video for this Wonder of the Day®! To make the smiley face, you type a colon and an ending parenthesis. : + ) = :) You can also make a "winking" smiley face by typing a semicolon and an ending parenthesis. ; + ) = ;) How about a smiley face with sunglasses? Just type the number eight and an ending parenthesis. 8 + ) = 8)

Wonder Friend I-L-P

Hi, Wonder Friend I-L-P! Let us know if your teacher believed you about your dog eating your homework! We hope you remember to bring all your homework home and back to school next time! Have a WONDERful day! :-)

CR1 student/Eric

We're really happy to hear that, Eric! Thanks so much for visiting Wonderopolis at home, too! We think it's neat that your friend might have made the video for this Wonder of the Day®! :-)

We think the dog in the video ate the girl's homework because of two reasons, Blake! The first reason is that it is a puppy, and puppies LOVE to chew things...even important things! The second reason is maybe the puppy thought the homework was just another toy to play with! :-)

We WONDERed the same thing, Abby! We wonder if she did her homework over again? :-)

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brooklyn from team loganbill

Thanks so much for visiting this Wonder and for wishing us a WONDERful day, Brooklyn! We think your mom is awesome for bringing you your homework when you forgot it on a Friday! She sounds like a GREAT mom! :-)

We're super sorry your dog had kidney problems, Maya. We're proud of you for learning something from this Wonder that might help you and your parents determine what could have caused your dog's health issues. Thanks so much for visiting Wonderopolis today! :-)

We think your dogs sound like awesome pets, Maya! Thank you for sharing a little about them with us today! :-)

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Mischeivious Missy

WOW! That's a LOT of happy, Missy! Thanks so much for making us smile even MORE today! YOU ARE AWESOME! :-)

We hope that too, Avery! We know our Wonder Friends (like you) work really hard on their homework, so we hope it all makes it back to school and gets checked off as completed! Thank you for sharing your comment today! :-)

ashlyn from mrs.fradys class

Thanks for leaving us the GREAT comment, Ashlyn! No, we don't have a dog that ate our homework, but as you can see by reading the comments on today's Wonder, a few of our other Wonder Friends do! :-)

Justin and Drew

Hi there, Justin and Drew! Thanks for leaving us this comment today! We think dogs eat homework (and other things they shouldn't eat) because they think it's something fun to play with. They might also think it's fun when their owners chase them around saying, "Please give me that back! That's my homework!" They think it is a game! :-)

TOMMYATKERRCK

WOW, Tommy! That's a LOT of homework eating! Thank you for sharing about your dog today...we hope he or she finds something else to play with besides the homework you spent so much time working on! :-)

JERON AT KERRICK

It sounds like Coco is very adventurous, Jeron! We bet she is very lovable, though, and we bet she loves you a whole bunch! :-)

alexia garcia

Hello, Alexia! We're guessing Simon's dog ate his MATH homework? We think it was funny that Simon thought his dog wanted to learn multiplication! Thanks for making us smile this afternoon! You are a GREAT Wonder Friend! :-)

Carly at North Todd Elem.

Thanks for letting us know what you liked best about the video for today's Wonder, Carly! Also, thanks for sharing your story about your sister and your homework! :-)

Lucas at North Todd Elem.

It sounds like homework is tough to keep a hold of in your house, Lucas! We appreciate you sharing your comment with us today...THANK YOU! :-)

Mason at North Todd Elem.

Thanks for hanging out in Wonderopolis today and for sharing your personal connection to this Wonder, Mason! We think you ROCK! :-)

It's interesting to learn that, isn't it, Charlie? We thought it was also interesting to learn all the things that can make dogs super sick if they eat them. We are going to be EXTRA careful now about what we feed our pets in Wonderopolis! :-)

That's a clever one, Ingrid! We sure hope that doesn't really happen, but we're glad you shared your creativity with us today...THANKS! :-)

We like that excuse a lot, Qualee! It's really awesome and super creative...GREAT job! :-)

Lanyja at Kerrick

We really appreciate you sharing your personal connection to today's Wonder of the Day®, Lanyja! We hope your dog doesn't try to eat your homework again! :-)

josh at kerrick

We bet there are a LOT of dogs out there that think homework is more fun to play with than a squeaky toy or a ball, Josh! :-)

Rileyatkerrick

YIKES, Riley! That must be super frustrating! Thanks for sharing your comment with us today! :-)

We think some dogs might eat homework because they think the paper the homework is written on is just another toy to play with, Sarah! Thanks so much for sharing your view on dogs eating homework! :-)

Hi, Johnathan! We'd say you've got a really WONDERful dog if he or she does not eat your homework! Thanks for sharing your comment with us today! :-)

We think you should give your dogs an extra hug and play with them for a little longer than normal today because they leave your homework alone, Caroline! They sound like pretty awesome pets to us! :-)

Hannah from Team Turner

Hello, Hannah! We're not sure about the first time that excuse was used, but we think it was creative, and we hope the person who first said it was really telling the TRUTH! :-)

WOW! We sure do like those excuses your class came up with, Mr. K! They are really, really creative! Thank you for sharing them with us today! :-)

We like that guess a LOT, Zoey! Thanks for letting us know what you think tomorrow's Wonder will be about! :-)

Mischievious Missy :)

Those are both VERY creative excuses for not having your homework, Missy! Thank you for sharing them with your friends in Wonderopolis today! Thanks for taking a guess about tomorrow's Wonder, too! :-)

autumn school girl

Thanks for sharing your personal connection to today's Wonder, Autumn! We're glad you were able to prove that your puppy ate your homework! You will always have a funny story to tell about that! :-)

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Hello, Darian! That's a really good guess! We think all of our Wonder Friends (like you!) who are guessing the next Wonder will be about states will be excited to explore Wonderopolis tomorrow! :-)

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Hi there, Jesse! Thanks for letting us know you liked the video for today's Wonder! We search high and low for the best videos to accompany each day's Wonder, and we're sure glad you thought we did a good job with today's! We think your guess about tomorrow's Wonder is a really good one...we'll all have to visit Wonderopolis again tomorrow to see if you're right! :-)

I think this article was very interesting and it had a lot of humor in it. I wonder if cats have a strange behavior like this as well.

Great question, Daniel! We think cats are more likely to lay on your homework than eat it, but some may. ;-) Thanks for WONDERing with us! :-)

Mrs. Newland's Class

Thanks so much for leaving us this GREAT comment today, Mrs. Newland’s Class! We're glad you explored today's Wonder together and learned some new facts! We think you guys are AWESOME Wonder Friends! :-)

Wonderopolis aka PREET

This is really funny. I used all of those and I used my friend fell of into the the lake and my homework drowned. :) :) :):) :) :):) :) :):) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :):) :) :):) :):) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

That is a funny excuse, PREET! Thanks for sharing with us today! :-)

wonderopolis

This is really good, so teachers now know sometimes kid's are not lying from time to time. :)

It is true. A dog can eat your homework. Just be sure to follow the tips in the Wonder to keep them from doing it. Thanks for WONDERing with us! :-)

That's a really WONDERful guess, Vikkie! We're so excited to visit Wonderopolis tomorrow to see if you are correct...we would like to learn more about how the states got their names! :-)

We are undergoing some spring clearing site maintenance and need to temporarily disable the commenting feature. Thanks for your patience.

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Question 1 of 3

Which of these is probably NOT the reason your dog ate your homework?

• a boredom Not Quite!
• b hunger Not Quite!
• c curiosity Not Quite!
• d sabotage Correct!

Question 2 of 3

What can you do to keep your dog from eating your homework?

• a Eat a sandwich while doing your homework. Not Quite!
• b Stay focused on your homework, paying your dog little to no attention. Not Quite!
• c Give your dog plenty of exercise and distractions to keep him from getting bored. Correct!
• d Watch TV with your dog. Not Quite!

Question 3 of 3

What can you do to ensure that your dog is well-fed?

• a Stick to food and treats recommended by your veterinarian. Correct!
• b Give your dog lots of fatty treats. Not Quite!
• c Share your meals with your dog. Not Quite!
• d Ask the neighbors to feed your dog. Not Quite!

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From Our Listeners

Sometimes the dog really does eat your homework.

Last week, we brought you the story of how the phrase "The Dog Ate My Homework" came to be and how it morphed into a palpably ridiculous excuse. Turns out, sometimes its not an excuse at all. Weekend Edition host Scott Simon has a few stories from our listeners that swear, honest, the dog did eat their homework.

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Last week, we tried to trace the origins of that legendary excuse "the dog ate my homework."

FORREST WICKMAN: One of the first examples is this guy. Saint Kieran, who around the fifth century had this fox that he found. And he started taking the fox around and at some point, the fox ate his Psalms.

SIMON: That's Forrest Wickman, a writer for Slate Magazine, who researched one of the most palpably ridiculous phrases of all time. But as many listeners told us, sometimes even ridiculous things can be true. They can happen to you.

JACQUELINE MOSS: My name is Jacqueline Moss, and I'm from Cumberland, Maine. And my dog really did eat my homework.

SIMON: Her beloved Labrador, Dusty, turned out to have a taste for history.

MOSS: When I was in sixth grade, we had to make a project for ancient civilization, and it was a Sumerian brick. I made it, and I left it on the radiator overnight. I came downstairs in the morning, and it had disappeared. And my dog - my Labrador was looking very guilty.

SIMON: But reasonably healthy. As it turns out, the formula her teacher gave her for Sumerian brick, was more like a recipe for a historically big dog biscuit.

MOSS: Yeah, she was fine. (LAUGHTER) There was nothing bad in it. It was just food coloring and flour and oats, salt. (LAUGHTER) So it must have been like, what she dreamed of because it was the size of a loaf of bread, and there was nothing left.

SIMON: Her teacher accepted her excuse. Harry Atwood, a high school English teacher in Dayton, Virginia, says he's heard all sorts of excuses from unprepared students. But one stands out. One day some years ago, he writes, a student came to class with the excuse that his parents had burned his homework. The following day, the local newspaper reported that the boy's family was out for a winter's drive high up in the Allegheny Mountains, and had punctured their gas tank on a rock. Soon out of gas, out of cell phone range and in below-freezing temperatures, the boy's family had used the contents of his backpack to start a fire. Excuse accepted. And finally...

LINDA BECKER: Hi, this is Linda Becker from Williamstown, Massachusetts. My dog ate my students' homework.

SIMON: That wasn't an audio glitch. She explains.

BECKER: I came home from teaching one day, and left my bag on the floor in the kitchen; went about my business. When I returned to the kitchen, my puppy - with his little, needle-like teeth - had pulled some student papers out of my bag, and chewed them up. Imagine the embarrassment of having to tell students, my dog ate your homework.

(SOUNDBITE OF BARKING DOG MUSIC)

SIMON: Well, Ms. Becker, I'm sure they'll accept your excuse, just this once.

SIMON: This is NPR News.

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Why Do We Say “The Dog Ate My Homework”?

The history of the delinquent schoolchild’s favorite excuse..

Did this sad Lab eat your homework?

iStockphoto.

Viacom announced on Monday that Mitt Romney had declined to appear on Nickelodeon’s Kids Pick the President special this year, citing time constraints. President Obama’s camp pounced on Romney’s decision, saying, “Kids demand details … ‘The dog ate my homework’ just doesn’t cut it when you’re running for president. ” When did “my dog ate my homework” become known as schoolchildren’s favorite excuse?

The 1970s. Delinquent schoolchildren and adults have been blaming their shortcomings on their pets for more than a century, but it wasn’t until the 1970s that “my dog ate my homework” came to be considered the No. 1 likely story. One of the first sad sacks who was said to blame his dog for his own ill-preparedness was a priest. In this anecdote, which appeared as early as 1905, a clergyman pulls his clerk aside after a service to ask him whether his sermon seemed long enough. The clerk assures him that it was very nice, “just the right length,” and the priest is relieved. “I am very glad to hear you say that,” he says, “because just before I started to come here my dog got hold of my sermon and ate some of the leaves .” The story was repeated again and again . The first citation of the excuse in the Oxford English Dictionary is a 1929 article from the Manchester Guardian , which reads, “It is a long time since I have had the excuse about the dog tearing up the arithmetic homework.” In Bel Kaufman’s best-selling 1965 novel Up the Down Staircase , a list of students’ excuses for not having their homework includes “ My dog went on my homework ” and “ My dog chewed it up .” Even in 1965, however, it was still just another excuse.

“My dog ate my homework” became known as the quintessential far-fetched excuse in the next decade, when the phrase was used over and over . In a 1976 account of the Watergate tapes, E.C. Kennedy describes listening to President Nixon “ working on the greatest American excuse since the dog ate my homework .” A 1977 article from Alaska’s Daily News-Miner describes the difficulty students faced in coming up with a new excuse since “ ‘My dog ate my term paper’ is no longer acceptable .”

The excuse was alluded to more and more throughout the 1980s. A 1982 Time magazine column on excuses suggested that “The dog ate my homework is a favorite with schoolchildren,” while a 1987 New York Times column about how students were starting to blame malfunctioning computers and printers quoted one teacher as saying she recently received “ a note from a student’s mother saying the dog ate his homework .” Even the president picked up on the trend: When Congress pushed spending approval to the last minute in 1988, Ronald Reagan complained to reporters, “ I had hoped that we had marked the end of the ‘dog-ate-my-homework’ era of Congressional budgetry … but it was not to be .” It was all over television, with references to the excuse on shows like The Simpsons and Full House . By 1989, the narrator of Saved by the Bell theme was singing, “ And the dog ate all my homework last night .”

The phrase continued to grow more popular. Between 1990 and 2000, the New York Times wrote articles with headlines such as “ Beyond ‘Dog Ate My Homework’ ” and “ Homework Help Sites (Or, the Dog Ate My U.R.L.) ,” while The New Yorker described one criminal’s accounts of his wrongdoings as having “a decided my-dog-ate-my-homework quality.” Children’s books tried to capitalize on the trend with titles like A Dinosaur Ate My Homework , Aliens Ate My Homework , Godzilla Ate My Homework , and My Teacher Ate My Homework , daring to use the term to promote reading and education. Such titles have continued into the 2000s, but in recent years the phrase seems to finally be losing steam .

Bonus Explainer: An Obama spokesperson also said, “ It’s no surprise Romney decided to play hookey .” Why do we call cutting school “playing hookey”? To play hookey began as an Americanism in the 19 th century. The earliest known citation comes from 1848, from John Russell Bartlett’s Dictionary of Americanisms , where it was said to mean “to play truant” and noted to be “ a term used among schoolboys, chiefly in the State of New York .” Word historians usually suggest that it’s from to hook it meaning to run away , a term as old as the Revolutionary War. However, others have proposed that it might derive from the Dutch expression hoekje spelen , the Dutch expression for “hide and seek”—especially since playing hooky emerged in New York during a time when it had a larger Dutch population.

Got a question about today’s news?  Ask the Explainer .

Explainer thanks Barry Popik, Jesse Sheidlower of the Oxford English Dictionary, and Ben Zimmer of the Visual Thesaurus and Vocabulary.com .

Where Did The Phrase “The Dog Ate My Homework” Come From?

Dogs are known as man’s best friend. Dogs keep us safe, are hard workers … and can provide a handy excuse in a pinch. Maybe that’s why versions of the classic expression the dog ate my homework have been around for hundreds of years.

Today, the dog ate my homework is used as a stock example of the kind of silly excuses schoolchildren give for why their work isn’t finished. Very rarely do people say, “the dog ate my homework” and expect it to be taken literally; they use the expression as an example of a typically flimsy excuse.

So where did the phrase come from?

Forrest Wickman, a writer for Slate , describes the legend of the 6th-century Saint Ciarán of Clonmacnoise as the alleged first recorded “the dog ate my homework” story. According to the tale, Saint Ciarán had a tame young fox that would take his writings to his master for him. One day, the fox grew up and decided to eat the leather strap binding the writings together instead. Still, this tale is more Garden-of-Eden parable and less terrible schoolchild excuse.

The notion that dogs will eat just about anything, including paper, turns up in lots of stories over the centuries. An example comes from The Humors of Whist , published in 1808 in Sporting Magazine . In the story, the players are sitting around playing cards when one of them remarks that their companion would have lost the game had the dog not eaten the losing card. Good boy.

Some attribute the creation of the dog ate my homework to a joke that was going around at the beginning of the 20th century. In a tale found as far back as an 1894 memoir by Anglican priest Samuel Reynolds Hole, a preacher gives a shortened version of a sermon because a dog got into his study and ate some of the pages he had written. However, the clerk loved it because they had been wanting the preacher to shorten his sermons for years.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary , the first example of the dog ate my homework excuse in print can be found in a speech given by retiring headmaster James Bewsher in 1929 and published in the Manchester Guardian : “It is a long time since I have had the excuse about the dog tearing up the arithmetic homework.” The way this comment is phrased suggests that the whole dog ate my homework story had been around for some time before it was put in print.

When was the word homework created?

But in order for a dog to eat homework specifically, homework had to be invented (oh, and how we wish it hadn’t been). True, the word homework , as in what we call today housework , appears as early as 1653. But homework , as in school exercises to be done at home, isn’t found until 1852. Once we had homework , it was only a matter of time before the dog was accused of eating it.

How we use this phrase now

No matter the origin, sometime in the 1950s, the expression became set as the dog ate my homework . This inspired any number of riffs on the theme, like my cow ate my homework or my brother ate my homework . In the 1960s, the dog ate my homework continued to gain popularity. The expression popped up a couple times in politics over the years, like when President Reagan said to reporters in 1988, “I had hoped that we had marked the end of the ‘dog-ate-my-homework’ era of Congressional budgetry … but it was not to be.”

It seems unlikely that the dog ate my homework was ever used consistently or frequently by actual schoolchildren. In fact, it’s the unlikeliness of the story that makes it so funny and absurd as a joke. Instead, teachers and authority figures appear to have cited the dog ate my homework many times over the years as such a bad excuse they can’t believe students are really using it.

In the 21st century, students don’t spend as much time working with physical pen and paper as they once did. That may contribute to the decline in the use of the phrase. So, maybe soon we’ll see a new equally absurd phrase pop up. Come on Zoomers, you’ve got this.

WATCH: What's A Unique Homework Routine That Works?

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Echols: So, the dog ate my homework?

The dog ate my homework, a colorful and simple statement. Say it out loud with me: The dog ate my homework!

You're smiling just now at the thought of saying something like this to a parent or teacher. Or, you're smiling at a memory of having actually said it, straight-faced, and super serious to someone. After all, this is the oldest line passed down through generations and generations of school-aged children. This saying probably predates the birth of our country. Heck, that excuse is probably older than dirt. When we hear it, we assume that those who utter the phrase simply aren't being truthful as to why they failed to do what everyone else in a class did … their homework.

Personally, I don't remember ever using that line, although I know folks who did. And Neely Tucker, it just doesn't sound the same when you say "the goats ate my homework!" We know that cats don't actually eat homework. So the dastardly blame has to fall on "man's best friend," our loyal, sweet, beloved puppy dogs.

"The dog ate my homework" is a line used in a seemingly feeble attempt to cover up the fact that you didn't do your homework. As the story usually goes, the person blaming dogs really forgot to do their homework or they simply just left it at home. If you can believe it, there's even a Wiki-How page that explains how to create the best excuse for not having homework completed on time. I wonder if people who actually might use that site think that teachers and parents never find out. Oh the joys of the World Wide Web, as if we needed any creative help with that one.

Either way, at some point in our lives, someone we know has said the dog ate their homework. Folks who hear that silly, unbelievable excuse of a reason typically react the same way. They shake their heads and roll their eyes back. It's as if your ears suddenly develop a shooting pain at the very sound of the excuse. Does it surprise you to know that "The dog ate my homework" ranks in the top three excuses that teachers hear every year?

I'm told that if you show your teacher the pieces of dog-shredded homework, you might get a pass to re-do it the next day. Beware though, teachers have an unexplained sixthsense that allows them to detect real dog-torn paper as opposed to people-torn paper. According to the Wonderopolis website, dogs will eat just about anything if given the opportunity. The site goes on to say that scientists believe when a dog eats homework, other paper, and non-food items it could be because of good, old-fashioned boredom. Dogs turn their boredom into curiosity and begin to explore things, which ultimately results in finding shredded scraps of homework! And Wonderopolis takes it one step further. If not boredom, your paper shredding dog might be hungry. Whether it's food he smells on your paper from your fingers touching a sandwich you ate for lunch or just your scent on the paper, the best advice for a shredding, chewing, paper-eating pup is to keep your homework, books, newspaper, and other chew-able paper out of your canine's reach.

Now we know some of the reasons why dogs might actually eat homework. But what if, what if … your dog really, honestly, did eat the homework? What if you owned a super energetic puppy that loves you more than anything in the world? What if that puppy hated it when you left the house for any length of time and found things to chew that smelled like you? What if you owned an angelically sweet border collie who, dare I say it… actually eats your homework?

Who would believe you? Certainly not any teachers and probably not even your own parents. I'm here to tell you, from personal experience in our home, that this really can happen. But there is more to this ominous cliché. In addition to the delicious homework that gets eaten, dogs today like to also consume your monthly bills, your notes for work, your cell phone, your shoes, and whatever else they can get their teeth on for appetizers.

Recently, I got a 40 percent off retail coupon in the mail. I placed it on my kitchen counter and left the room for two seconds. Upon my quick return, that coupon was cut down to about 1 percent off because it was in a million, tiny, shredded pieces on the floor. And then there were notes I made while on a conference call with a client. After finishing the call, I left the notes on a table. I walked out to get something from my car. When I got back, the notes looked as though they'd gone through one of those professional shredders.

We have our very own four-legged furry little personal shredder named Scout. You can see it in his eyes that he's a shredder. I firmly believe that puppy dogs shred things because they miss us or they're mad at us for leaving them alone for a bit. Or it could be because they're bored or hungry. My family knows first-hand that a dog really can eat your homework. Around our house, it's not so much that Scout eats the homework, but he can certainly shred it into tiny little microscopic pieces!

So the next time you hear someone say, "The dog ate my homework," ask them if they've been to our house. Tweet your story about missing paperwork or homework to @TheDonnaEchols!

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Do Dogs Really Eat Homework?

John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men is one of the classics of American literature, but its iconic status was nearly threatened by an unlikely culprit: the author's dog. In 1936, Steinbeck was working on the manuscript of Of Mice and Men when his Irish setter, Toby, managed to gobble up half of Steinbeck's handwritten pages. This was essentially the loss of two months of writing, but Steinbeck attempted to deal with the comically tragic situation with equanimity.

Even at the time, Steinbeck was able to find some humor in the fact that a dog had eaten his work. In a letter to his editor, Steinbeck wrote, "I was pretty mad but the poor little fellow may have been acting critically. I didn’t want to ruin a good dog for a (manuscript) I’m not sure is good at all."

We'll never know if the pages that Toby destroyed would have been better than the masterpiece that Steinbeck ultimately published, but at least the story gives some credence to the age-old excuse of "My dog ate my homework."

The literary life of John Steinbeck:

• Steinbeck was a lifelong dog lover. He famously depicted his road trip across the United States in the company of a Standard Poodle named Charley in the 1960 travelogue Travels with Charley .
• Steinbeck's original title for Of Mice and Men was Something that Happened , but he changed it after reading the Robert Burns poem "To a Mouse."
• Of Mice and Men has frequently been banned from public schools, due to the author's frank depiction of racism in the 1930s, including racial slurs.

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A Dog Ate My Homework

Edit locked.

"I am telling you! A big, mean, homework eating dog attacked me and ate my report!" — Numbuh 5 , Codename: Kids Next Door

Basically, this is any child character explaining to their teacher why they haven't done his homework. This will be either a lie, which may or may not be believed, or a Cassandra Truth . If it is the latter, expect them to also bring in the evidence proving their case (such as moist bits from homework, or even the animal itself). The most common variant involves a dog, but other animals can be used as well.

    open/close all folders 

• Noggin's promo for Sponk! where Bob tries to tell his teacher Mrs. Kralley this.
• In Futakoi , Nozomu is always wary whenever the goat is around when he's doing his homework. No one believes Nozomu because the little bastard is nice to everyone except him.
• Inverted in Kokuhaku Game , where the dog attempts to do the homework.
• In Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf : Joys of Seasons episode 36, Sparky and Weslie both have their homework stolen by Wolffy, and Paddi, who was too lazy to actually do the work, comes up with the excuse that Wolffy also stole his homework. Mr. Slowy notices they're all using the same excuse and doesn't believe them , instead threatening to punish them all if they don't hand in their homework.
• Cards Against Humanity features a question with this phrase and an empty spot in which to substitute something else for "dog". Naturally, given the nature of the game, this is very likely to enter the realm of Refuge in Audacity .
• Archie Comics : One Jughead comic's cover gag involves Jughead not submitting any homework because he ate it. Miss Grundy is in complete disbelief over his excuse. Grundy : Let me get this straight: You ate your own homework ? Jughead : I can't help it! All those word problems were about food!
• The Shea Fontana DC Super Hero Girls tie-in graphic novel Summer Olympus ends with Beast Boy using this excuse after seeing he can't top Wonder Woman's essay on what was done during summer vacation, with the twist that his dog is actually himself in dog form and he eats his own homework.
• Goof Troop : A Disney Adventures comic has PJ offering this excuse for his homework — although he has the sense to bring Chainsaw, still attached to said homework, with him.
• Viz has Playtime Fontayne use this excuse to explain his failure to deliver a bunch of monthly reports to head office.
• One strip has Nate eat bacon while at the bus stop because he missed breakfast. The bacon grease gets on his homework, local dog Spitsy smells it, and you can guess what happened from there. Nate: Wacky thing happened at the bus stop this morning... Mrs. Godfrey: I smell bacon.
• In a strip after that, Nate puts his homework in his backpack to keep it from happening again. When Spitsy gets near, he throws the bag away from the dog and shoos him away...only for the bag to land in a garbage can, then tossed into a garbage truck and crushed.
• A third strip in the arc has Nate make Francis film his homework, since Nate is aware at this point something will happen to it. Sure enough, it accidentally falls into the sewer, but Francis still has the tape... which is then snatched and destroyed by a rogue chimpanzee .
• Citizen Dog : Fergus the dig actually does eat Maggie’s homework. He has to accompany her to school to back up the story and prove she isn’t lying.
• One Close to Home strip has a student claiming his dog ate his term paper. The dog is attached to his arm.
• The Far Side : One cartoon has a class full of dogs with the teacher asking, "Well, here we go again... did anyone here not eat his or her homework on the way to school?"
• Subverted when Elizabeth tries to get Farley to eat her homework. He refuses to touch it.
• Later, Michael successfully gets Farley to eat his homework, but he has to pour bacon grease on it first.
• FoxTrot : Jason's iguana Quincy has eaten his and his siblings' homework, causing them to either force Jason to fix up their homework or tell Jason off for feeding the iguana the wrong homework assignment. In one strip, Peter collects the bits of homework left by Quincy to take to his teacher to prove it actually happened.
• Grand Avenue : In the October 6, 2014 strip, Michael has to tell his teacher that "My grandma ate my homework." For once, it's a logical explanation: his homework was an experiment involving rock candy.
• A dog sits in a classroom full of human kids saying: "I couldn't eat the homework because the kid who usually sits here did not do it."
• A dog teacher asks her dog students: "Did anyone's dad not eat their homework?"
• A kid brought an X-Ray machine to class to show the homework inside the dog.
• Luann : In one series of strips, Luann is babysitting while writing a report that is due the next day. Unfortunately, the baby gets a hold of the report, rips it up, and feeds it to Luann's dog. When Luann tries to explain what happened to her teacher the next day, he just laughs his head off at Luann thinking she's trying the "a dog ate my homework" excuse.
• Madam & Eve : This is Thandi's go-to excuse for not doing her homework.
• This happened a couple of times in Nancy (at least in the Guy Gilchrist-run). It usually involved Nancy bringing her dog, Poochie, to school with her to present it to her teacher as "proof" of what happened.
• One arc has Snoopy playing World War I Flying Ace and pretend that Sally's book report is sensitive papers. She chases him and he swallows the report to keep it from falling in "enemy hands". So she takes him to school the next day and takes him up in front of the class. Sally: I might have a little trouble reading it. *shakes Snoopy* I SAID...I might have a little trouble reading it!
• A 1995 strip has Rerun planning on using this excuse the first time he's assigned homework in grade school. Lucy points out that they don't have a dog, so he says he'll borrow one. Snoopy concedes that he might do it if he writes on something actually edible. Rerun: We don't have homework in kindergarten. Lucy: I know. You're lucky. Rerun: When we do, I'll tell the teacher my dog ate my homework. Lucy: You don't have a dog. Rerun: I'll borrow a dog. Snoopy: Write your homework on a doughnut, and I'll eat it.
• Inverted in another comic where, instead of eating Charlie Brown's homework, Snoopy actually writes it.
• Private Eye : One cartoon shows a boy with a tangle of shredded paper, explaining to the teacher that his mum spiralised his homework.
• Inverted in a cartoon published in a book of puzzles: a dog is ripping through a pile of papers, and a woman is screaming: "You stupid mutt! How am I supposed to tell my students that my dog ate their homework?"
• Red and Rover : Sometimes Red will coax Rover into eating his homework when he's afraid he'll do badly. One case ended with Red cleaning up the mess after Rover couldn't keep down all the edible bribes.
• ITS MY LIFE! : "Hey Scot yuo must do are homework an yurs but well eat yurs so you get a bad grad LOL!" My [mad dog] bros sayd an started to pump at me.
• Kill la Kill AU : The 17th comic mentions that the two-year old Mako ate Nui's homework because the latter spilled food on it.
• The MLP Loops : Loop 201.14 has an unAwake Apple Bloom tearfully and truthfully inform her teacher that (an also unAwake) "Discord ate my homework, Miss Cheerilee." Cheerilee (with Fluttershy supervising) makes him redo the homework for her, and then some, as punishment.
• Oh God, Not Again! : Someone from Harry's year had to turn in their homework in tattered ruins, after the book Hagrid assigned for his class tried to eat it.
• Things I Am Not Allowed to Do at the PPC : Rule 304 prohibits teaching pets to eat assignments, under threat of death or being sent on a mission to a truly nasty badfic.

    Game Shows  --> -->

• Spider's Web: A Pig's Tale : In an inverted example, to keep his mother from finding out he didn't do his homework, Walt makes up a lie that his homework was busy eating a dog.
• 102 Dalmatians has an example not related to school. Probation Officer Chloe Simon wants one of her charges, Ewan, to show a pay stub and he says he can't because a dog ate it. Chloe, of course, doesn't believe him and asks if he couldn't come with a better story. He tells one about being abducted by aliens at Picadilly Circus. Ewan eventually shows a photograph of him and his boss at the dog shelter he works at and a drool-covered IOU note he received instead of the pay stub because the shelter is low on funds.
• What did the student say to his math teacher after his dog ate part of his homework? "I got 99 problems, but a bitch ate one."
• "Bob, where's your homework?" the teacher asked. "My dog ate it," Bob replied. "Do you really expect me to believe that?" the teacher said. "It's true," Bob responded. "I did have to cut it up and mix it into the dog food. But it was eaten."
• What did the dog say to his classmate? "Can you help me with my homework? I ate mine."
• The Cat Ate My Gymsuit : Marcy uses the title statement as one of her excuses for not participating in PE class.
• Thief of Time mentions that no dog dares to eat homework given to Susan's students. Instead, they sniff it out and carefully bring it to her class if the kid forgot. She's like that.
• It's mentioned that at Unseen University, your homework can eat your dog.
• Family Skeleton Mysteries : Discussed and subverted in the third book, Georgia needs an excuse to get in touch with a former co-worker (in order to get information on the murder victim), and decides to open the conversation by asking him for copies of the lesson plans they'd worked out together. She says that "I couldn't claim that Byron note  Her daughter Madison's dog. had eaten my homework, but nobody argued with a hard disk crash."
• Rod Allbright Alien Adventures : Book 1 is titled Aliens Ate My Homework (and they really did, too - one of them got hungry, and didn't realize the piece of paper he was snacking on was a math assignment due that day). It doesn't end well, but the aliens appreciate how the apparent Refuge in Audacity helped cover for the other weird things that were happening.
• Roys Bedoys : In “Stop Blaming People, Roys Bedoys!”, when Roys starts blaming others for why he didn’t do his homework, Truly jokingly asks if his dog (Charlie) ate it. Roys says, “Maybe he did”.
• Schooled in Magic : At Wizarding School , it's more common for the excuse to be "my homework ate my dog." It's still a cliche.
• The Trouble With Demons : A student tells his teacher that a Krog (a lesser demon that eats paper and ink) ate his homework. After a thorough quizzing from the teacher (who is the head of the demonology department) on the alleged Krog, the excuse is accepted.
• Batwoman (2019) : Lampshaded. Kate Kane in her Batwoman disguise finds herself making out with her ex-girlfriend Crow Security officer Sophie Moore, which is a bad idea for a whole lot of reasons . She goes to break up with her only for them to end up smooching again before events are interrupted by Sophie's homophobic mother paying a visit . The next day Kate gives an unconvincing explanation as to why things didn't go according to plan. Luke Fox says sarcastically, "So, dog ate my breakup?"
• Even Stevens : Ren Stevens, when having to be paired up with a Pig, ended up having her homework eaten by the pig. She tries to explain this to her teacher, with predictable results.
• Full House : In one episode, the Tanners' newly-acquired puppy Comet eats DJ's book report, but DJ is smart enough to know it won't fly even if it is the truth so she decides to tell her teacher Michelle ate it.
• One installment of It's Me or the Dog focuses on a family with kids and a Pomeranian-chihuahua mix with severe resource-guarding issues and a particular fondness for making off with paper. The narrator quips that these may be the only kids in the world who can literally say that the dog ate their homework.
• Married... with Children invoked this trope in an episode where Peggy goes Back to School because she didn't pass home economics ( no surprises there ). At a scene, a teacher asks the class to wake Kelly, who quickly responds that her dog ate her homework. Later on, when Peggy is introduced to class, both she and Kelly fall asleep and the teacher asks the class to wake them both, who respond that the dog ate their homework. Later, Al literally eats Peg's homework (a roast rack of lamb).
• M*A*S*H : A variant in a season 10 episode— Hawkeye gets in serious trouble because a goat ate the entire payroll (and, naturally, no one believes him; he is charged with stealing it). Later, Hawkeye is finally proved innocent when the goat subsequently eats a general's report on the issue.
• Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide : One episode has Ned giving tips on good excuses. He comments that saying a dog ate your homework is a bad excuse... right before a dog eats his homework. The rest of the episode has him trying to find the dog and convince his teacher Mr. Sweeney that he wasn't lying.
• Person of Interest : Inverted in a fourth-season episode where Bear eats Finch's students' papers before Finch can grade them.
• So Random! : The debut sketch of the apparent Bad Liar Rufus has him insist his dog ate his homework, then clarifies that a monkey took his homework and fed it to his dog. This turns out to be true, weirdly.
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine : In " The Nagus ", Nog tries to explain why he hasn't done his homework. The only excuse he comes up with is that "Vulcans stole his homework".
• Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad : In "A Virus Ate My Homework", unlike what the title might suggest, Sam's homework isn't eaten. His little sister paints it over. Fortunately, the emergency caused by the virus makes the students go home earlier, allowing Sam another day to redo the homework.
• Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills : In one episode, one of the heroes was doing her homework when they've been called into battle. She then took the homework with her, eventually leading to the homework being eaten by the monster. The teacher later sarcastically asked if a dog ate her homework. She answered it was a monster and the teacher took it for sarcasm.
• Wizards of Waverly Place : Briefly mentioned in an episode when the Russos adopt a dragon that's been transformed into a beagle. At one point, the dragon dog sets Alex's homework on fire, to which she comments: "The dog burned my homework, that's a new one."
• The Wonder Years : In one episode, Kevin has to do a school assignment involving a potato. His new dog eats it, and the teacher reacts in disbelief that his dog ate his homework.

    Music  --> Mötley Crüe : This happens to the kid at the beginning of the video for "Smokin' in the Boys' Room".--> -->

• The Unbelievable Truth : Invoked in Holly Walsh's lecture on dogs, where she claims George R.R. Martin's dog ate the manuscript for The Winds of Winter , possibly as a preemptive measure after having seen season 7 of Game of Thrones .
• Another Case Solved : The "Comic Calamities" case involves retrieving a rare comic book which, when the player character finds it, is missing a few pages. When you confront the artist about this, he babbles "My hamster ate them! Really!"
• Math Rescue : A couple of word problems feature this. One plays this straight with the logical consequence of the student having to redo their homework. The other turns it on its head by having the teacher's dog eat homework that said teacher was grading.
• Medieval Cop : This is the talking dog Phil's favorite excuse for missing notes or evidence.
• Persona 4 : The main character can eat his little cousin's science project.
• Rivals of Aether : In Lovers of Aether , Absa has a problem with her homework actually being eaten. By her .
• Forestdale : In a gambit to be excused from gym class, Izabell claims that her Dalmatian friend Dallas ate her gym clothes with a fake letter from her mom as proof. Needless to say, it doesn't work and Dallas calls her out on such blatant stereotyping.
• Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal , "Homework": "The dog ate my homework" gets a different meaning when the homework was to make a chocolate sculpture.
• A semi-reoccurring gag in early Monster High webisodes was Clawdeen, a werewolf, blaming her brother for eating her homework.
• Mentioned in episode 15 of RWBY Chibi when Ruby goes to get Zwei, she tells him "C'mon, let's go eat Weiss' homework!"
• Connected to the above, Jane notes that one of the obscure dates covered by the Calendar Man in Batman: Arkham City is Saint Roch's Day.
• The Amazing World of Gumball : Darwin and Gumball said their dad ate their homework. Naturally, no one believes them, and naturally they were right ("I thought it would make me smart! ")
• American Dragon: Jake Long : In "Fu and Tell", when Haley brings Fu Dog in to her class's show and tell, one boy asks Fu to eat his homework. Fu obliges, commenting, "Tastes like a D minus."
• Angela Anaconda : One episode has Angela's dog actually eat her homework (her mom accidentally spilled bacon grease on it while her dad was looking it over), but of course no one believes her.
• Animaniacs : This is a joke waiting to happen when the Warners attend school. Even when it was their first day. Turned out the dog was Wakko . Teacher: Bad dog! Gimme that! Wakko: Grrrr...
• Arthur : In one episode, the Brain deliberately flouts several superstitions to show there is nothing in them, then has a terrible streak of bad luck, including having a dog eat his homework, which causes him extra distress because he knows how the report will be received.
• Bad Dog : In "Bad Dog Ate My Homework", Penelope spent most of the episode trying to keep Berkeley from eating a hybrid plant that she grew for school.
• Beverly Hills Teens : In "The Dog Ate My Homework", the dog belongs to Bianca , and is sent by her deliberately in order to make Larke stay at home instead of competing against her. Also subverted, since for awhile, Larke's own cat is blamed, the homework was on a floppy, and there was no attempt to use the excuse.
• Catdog : One episode titled directly after the trope is devoted to the citizens of Nearburg making Dog eat their homework, which Cat exploits for their money. However, when the big one comes where Dog must eat the President's written speech before he has to give it, he becomes sick from his growing crisis of conscious, and Cat is forced to eat it himself. This turns out to be a bad decision as the entire crowd finds the idea of a cat eating homework ludicrous and boo the President off the stage (and back into the clowning business).
• ChalkZone : The villain Skrawl forces Penny into siding with him by threatening to have her homework eaten by a dog in "Chalk Queen".
• Codename: Kids Next Door : Numbuh Five has a genuine problem of her homework getting eaten every day by a dog she passes by on the way to school. She has enough and decides to take the problem head on. Turns out that it's a rival classmate who can morph into a weredog and eats Five's homework out of spite, and the teacher is in on it, too . And, even then, it's only because Numbuh Five has been helping Numbuh Four with his homework (since he usually does poorly in school.) This turns out to be useful for the KND because it turns out that poorly-done homework actually makes weredogs sick.
• Danger Mouse : In DangerMouse on the Orient Express , Penfold loses a valuable document to a hungry fish in a Venice canal. When he's captured by Greenback's agents he readily tells them that a fish ate the document. Nobody believes him.
• Dennis the Menace (UK) : In "The Show Mustn't Go On", Dennis claims that he had to feed his homework to a giant paper-eating alien bug to prevent it from destroying Beanotown.
• Doug : When the kids are performing in the school talent show, Skeeter plans to play an ocarina he made out of one of the school cafeteria's dinner rolls. He's forced to withdraw from talent show when Roger's cat, Stinky, accidentally eats it. Mr. Dink doesn't believe him. Mr. Dink : Not the old "cat ate my ocarina" excuse. At least be original.
• The Emperor's New School has a variant where Yzma plans on forcing Kuzco to give this excuse, and even lampshades on and exploits its Dead Horse status: Kronk : Come on, "A llama ate my homework"? It's the oldest excuse in the book. Yzma : Exactly! It's so old, no one will believe him.
• Referenced and narrowly subverted in the George Shrinks episode "Journey to the Centre of the Garden." George and Becky are recording the growth cycle of mung beans, but find their work impeded by birds pecking around. George manages to shoo one off, following it up with a quip: George : Who's gonna believe a bird ate our homework?
• Histeria! had a sketch detailing John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men manuscript getting torn up (see Real Life folder), with kids everywhere congratulating him on inventing such a brilliant excuse.
• Jorel's Brother : In "Zazazila", the Extreme Omnivore dog Zazá eats Jorel's brother's essay about how he would change the world; his dad Edson even points out how the "lamest excuse ever" actually came true. Jorel's brother decides to make another identical essay... and puts a size-increasing pill inside it so he can enter the dog and get the essay back. While he does get it back eventually, Zazá had been a giant for long enough that she messed up the entire structure of the continents, a change that is kept permanent in the series.
• KaBlam! anthologized the Jetcat episode "Project: Evil" where Tod may have tell his teacher that the hyenas that threaten eat him ate his notebook.
• Kick Buttowski tells his teacher that a dog ate his homework, and it's the truth. A vicious little dog did (and is shown in Flashback ) eat his homework.
• Martha Speaks : In a between-episode segment, T.D. brings Martha the dog to school and asks her to say that she ate his homework. There's also a song sung by Helen saying that Martha ate her music homework, which she actually does in the episode "Martha Sings".
• ¡Mucha Lucha! : Before Rikochet can present his Day of the Dead diorama to class, his pet Masked Dog ate it. The fact that there was Pan de Muerto on it may have caused it.
• Pet Alien : "When TV Ruled the World" has Tommy get an F after Gumpers ate his homework. Apparently, the teacher didn't take "aliens ate my homework" as a valid excuse.
• Puff the Magic Dragon : In Puff in the Land of Living Lies , Sandy lies to her teacher that a dragon stole her homework and ate it with ketchup and mustard. At the beginning of the special, Puff acts out this lie, before explaining that it was a lie.
• Recess : TJ tries to have his teacher believe this showing his homework shredded and drooled (which was done by him and never started the assignment). She didn't believe it since he still had a scrap of paper on his lip. In the same episode, Spinelli uses the typical "dog ate it" response, and Vince claims his brother ate it . Vince: My brother ate it! Miss Grotke: Eaten by a family member? That's a new one .
• The Secret Files of The Spy Dogs had Sheela's dog eating her homework... on purpose. Because she has accidentally created a formula that seizes the king-side doggie food packs, Von Rubie tries to rewrite the homework from scratch, but when his mistress arrives... Needless to say, the trope happens, as well as Rubie escaping through the window.
• In " Bart the Murderer ", the dog really did eat Bart's homework just before he left for school. "You ate my homework? ... I didn't know dogs really did that."
• When the family dog, Santa's Little Helper, starts working for the police, Bart has no choice but to eat his own homework.
• In an episode where Bart's teacher starts dating Ned Flanders and saw Santa's Little Helper, she asked Bart if that's the dog that eats his homework. Trying to convince her by giving the dog a homework for him to eat. The dog refuses. Bart then covers the homework with dog food. The dog ate the food, cleaned the paper, and signaled the answer of a math question.
• When Bart is nominated for class president and asked to give a speech, he says the dog ate his speech.
• SpongeBob SquarePants : Some children's homework fell victim to the Alaskan Bullworm on the corresponding episode .
• Tales from the Cryptkeeper : There's a boy who, instead of using a dog, uses a monster as an excuse. He tells a homework-eating monster another monster showed up before. After a trip to monster land, the boy confesses and the monster takes him home and makes him do two homeworks: one to be eaten and another one to be taken to school.
• Uncle Grandpa : "Uncle Grandpa Ate My Homework" begins with the title character eating a boy's diorama of Ancient Egypt, which he needed to pass the class. Naturally, Uncle Grandpa tries to help, and naturally things go horribly wrong.
• What A Cartoon! Show : One short has a cowboy telling his teacher his dog ate his homework. Obviously, she doesn't believe him, but he tries to prove it by pulling out a dog chewing on a piece of loose-leaf paper. The teacher responds by lecturing him on bringing pets to class.
• Many dogs like to chew on things and some find that textbooks and other homework actually are worth eating.
• This trope has been slowly replaced with "My printer broke" or "My email stopped working" in high schools. For adults, it's something like, "my social media was hacked", when they post something controversial.
• A T-shirt available on Threadless features an X-ray of a dog. Inside the dog is a math book, a protractor, a pencil, and so on.
• If you take a culinary class, this is a very real possibility. And it might not just be the dog. You might have to say, "My roommate ate my homework."
• While filming Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom , Steven Spielberg literally had to fill out an insurance claim for one of the costumes with the words " dress eaten by elephant ". It can almost be seen in the movie, during the campfire at night scene - the elephant's head is just out of frame as it's eating the dress in front of the entire crew, who are somehow not bursting into laughter.
• "My dog ate my homework" is gradually giving way to "My bird ate my homework." Nobody is quite sure why birds such as cockatiels are so compelled to nibble on loose papers.
• John Steinbeck had to rewrite half of Of Mice and Men after his dog Toby partially destroyed the first manuscript.

Alternative Title(s): The Dog Ate My Homework

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It’s history’s oldest excuse for missing homework for good reason.

A pair of peckish pups in the Philippines were caught in the act: eating their human brother’s homework.

In a clip captured by security cameras inside an Antipolo City home, Darren James Lamban and his cousin JB Barit were asleep when an apparently hungry husky crept into the dark room — where his pug pal was already waiting, seated on one of the men’s chests.

The larger dog, named Sam, can be seen sniffing around the room before coming across a few sheets of paper on a desk, where a Playstation controller was being used as a paperweight.

It didn’t work. The dog handily dragged the documents down onto the ground and began tearing away. Soon, Sam and the smaller dog, Mayor, could be seen grappling with what turned out to be the teenagers’ homework.

The schoolmates were reportedly confused to find their work shredded on the floor when they awoke on Nov. 28. It wasn’t until they viewed the footage that they realized the dogs had literally eaten their homework.

The age-old excuse may in fact have been invented around the turn of the century. The earliest known reference came from a 1905 issue of the Welsh-American magazine the Cambrian, wherein music critic William ApMadoc recalled an anecdote of a young minister losing half his sermon to his dog’s belly — a blessing in disguise, as ApMadoc attested, because the sermon was too long.

Rumor also has it that John Steinbeck pleaded with his editor in 1936 to extend the deadline of his seminal work “Of Mice and Men” because his Irish setter, Toby, had thoroughly enjoyed the novella, having gobbled up half his manuscript, according to Brain Pickings.

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What to Do When Your Dog Eats Your Homework

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Table of Contents

Introduction

You love your dog, and you want to make sure that it has everything it needs. The problem is that your dog can’t tell you what it wants, which means you have to figure things out on your own. That might seem like a daunting task at first, but once you get the hang of it all will be well!

Bonding with dogs

Dogs are social animals. They associate with each other in a pack, and they need to feel a sense of belonging, security, purpose and love. In order to build this bond with your dog you can follow a few simple steps:

• Make sure that the dog has a good diet that provides all of its nutritional needs. A well-fed dog will be happier than one who is hungry all the time and more likely to show affection towards you.
• The next step is playing games with your new pet! Dogs love to play, so let them run around after their favorite toy if possible – just make sure not too much energy gets expended during these sessions as it can cause problems later on down the line (in terms of hyperactivity or boredom).
• You might also want try grooming your new friend regularly for best results; this helps maintain health while ensuring there isn’t too much hair around which could get tangled up on furniture etcetera when left unchecked over long periods of time.”

Many dog owners choose to dress their dogs in clothing.

Many dog owners choose to dress their dogs in clothing. This can be for fun, or protection from the cold. Some people also put their dog’s clothes on when they go outside so that they don’t get dirty or wet while playing.

Dogs can also wear clothes when they are going to the vet because sometimes they need to be put under anesthesia and it is easier if they are wearing something easy-to-remove such as a sweater or vest than an actual shirt that would have buttons and zippers.

Some dogs may prefer to be left alone.

Some dogs are more independent than others. Some dogs may not like to be left alone. They might have separation anxiety or other issues with being left alone. If your dog does not like being left alone, it is important to find out why and then try different solutions until you find one that works for both of you!

Don’t let your dog suffer from boredom by leaving it alone all day.

If you leave your dog alone all day, they will suffer from boredom. They may start chewing things or barking if they are bored. They may even develop depression!

A bored dog is an unhappy and destructive dog, so make sure to give them plenty of exercise and playtime each day. It’s a good idea to get involved in dog sports like agility training or flyball, which will give your pup lots of fun mental stimulation along with physical exercise.

Dogs love playing games!

Games are a great way to bond with your dog, and they can help you train and teach your pet. Some games are interactive, while others are more passive. When you play with your dog, it’s important that they enjoy the game as much as you do!

• Interactive Games: These are games where both of you are involved in some way. This could mean that the game requires human involvement, such as fetching a ball or frisbee; or it could be an activity that requires both humans and dogs to participate, like tug-of-war or hide-and-seek.
• Passive Games: These are activities that don’t require much effort from either party but still provide enjoyment because they’re fun for both parties involved (think watching TV). You can also use passive games for training purposes—for example, if you want your dog to stop jumping up on people when greeting them at the door then having him sit before greeting someone will help him learn this new behavior without too much effort on either side of things!

Your dog will love you for training them to do fun tricks.

Training your dog is a great way to bond with them. Dogs love learning so it’s fun for both of you.

The key to training your dog is finding ways they enjoy learning new things, and will want to repeat these things in the future. This can be anything from getting their attention when they are distracted, getting them into the car, or just making them feel good about themselves!

Provide your dog with toys that can occupy their time when they are alone.

Before you leave, make sure your dog has a toy or two to chew on while you’re gone. This way, it won’t be able to eat any of the papers in the house when they’re bored. There are hundreds of different types of dog toys available in pet stores and online, so if you have time, take your furry friend along on the shopping trip too!

Here’s a list of some things to keep in mind:

• Choose durable toys that stimulate their mind and keep them occupied for hours on end (this is key). Tug-of-war is also an excellent choice for this purpose as well

Be kind to your dog and treat them with respect.

You should also be kind to your dog and treat them with respect. Dogs are not humans, they respond better to positive reinforcement than punishment. So do not punish your dog for bad behavior, but rather give them treats for good behavior. If you think about it logically, if you do something wrong and get punished for it, then you’re going to feel pretty terrible about yourself which will make you want to avoid doing anything else that could cause the same amount of pain or discomfort as what happened when you were punished. This is why dogs tend to go out of their way not just when they’re hungry—they want food; but also when they need a toy or bone thrown at them so that their owner will throw it again so that eventually he/she will start throwing more often than not. In other words: dogs don’t always have control over themselves when they’re hungry because their instincts take over until there is nothing left in sight worth eating (unless if someone else wants some too).

You can train your dog to perform many useful tasks.

You can train your dog to perform many useful tasks. The most basic are commands such as sit, stay, come, lay down, retrieving objects (such as a ball or stick), fetching items for you and playing games like hide-and-seek with you. You can also teach them to walk on a leash by attaching it to their collar or harness and rewarding them when they do so correctly.

Dogs will love you for treating them with kindness and respect, as well as having fun together.

Your dog will love you for treating them with kindness and respect, as well as having fun together. Dogs are social animals and need to be part of a pack. They have been domesticated for thousands of years, but they are still pack animals at heart. Even though we don’t live in caves like our ancestors did, dogs still need structure and rules when they’re living in our homes. Giving your dog structure will make them feel more comfortable and secure in their environment, which means they’ll be happier! If you want to learn more about how to give your dog structure check out the following website: www.dog-obedience-training-guide-free.com/

As you can see, there are many things you can do to help your dog feel more comfortable in your home and interact with other people. If you’re interested in learning more about the science behind dog-human interactions and how they affect our lives, we recommend reading this article on Scientific American.

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BUT THE DOG REALLY DID

EAT MY HOMEWORK!

There's a kid, name of Kyle, homework's not quite his style,

likes to get a drink and sit there for awhile, (This is Kyle!)

puts his work in a pile, (he prefers to smile)

starts in just a little while. Kyle really did do his

homework and he put it in his pack on the floor. Uh oh!

"Did you know that a dog would eat homework?"

When he got up he said, "Oh my gosh, now I'm dead!"

There was chewed-up homework lying on the floor by his bed.

"Come here, dog!" Kyle said. Doggy tilts his head.

"What's your problem, dog? You were already fed.

You've got bones in your head!" Kyle said,

ran off and got the bus, saw his friends and said:

"Do you know that my dog ate my homework?"

All his friends said, "Yeah right! Like you're up half the night,

doing homework now or some-thing." "Guess again. Not too bright!"

"Say that you hurt your hand, and you couldn't write."

"Say your folks were out last night. Go bump your head."

"See the nurse. Act sick.”

“Just spin and spin until you fall down." they said.

"But my dog really did eat my homework."

Later on in his class, Teacher said, "Will you pass

in your homework please from yesterday." Then Kyle said, "Alas!"

When he tried to explain  it was all in vain,

and the teacher shook her head "Kyle, let and said to

Kyle, "Let me make something plain:

At three o'clock you will re main. See you after class!"

"But the dog really did eat my homework!"

So until 3:45 he stayed,

till his debt to society was paid, I'm afraid,

When he got home, he said to the dog on his bed,

"It was you got me in trouble after school, Dodo head!

All the world now thinks that I'm a big disgrace,

and they're on my case!

Why did you have to go eat my homework?"

...Then the dog licked his face.

This song is a true story. Kyle Ng’s

dog “Keiko”, a 7 month- old Boxer-

German shepherd mix, really did

eat his homework. But nobody

believed him, including his music

teacher, the composer of this song.

Kyle says that his dog is smart and

obeys commands such as “Eat!”.

words & music by Bill Vollinger ©2004

Heritage Choral 15/2005H

“But the Dog REALLY

DID Eat My Homework!”

(two-part treble voices & piano)

The Lorenz Corporation

501 E. Third St.

Dayton, Ohio 45401

(800) 444-1144 ext. 1

click for ordering information

Local news:

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Dogs really do eat homework: queensland boy’s school papers filmed being eaten by pet.

QLD family's footage proves dog actually ate homework

It’s something every school student has been waiting for - irrefutable evidence of a dog eating homework .

Now - thanks to Queensland boy Johnny MacManus, his family and their pet dog Olive - the proof is there for all to see that dogs really do have a taste for school papers.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: The long-awaited proof that dogs eat homework

Seven-year-old Johnny told 7NEWS he just had a few words left on his spelling homework.

“I had three words left on set 11 left and then I had set 12,” he said.

“And then Olive just ate my homework.”

His mum Emily came home to a “devastated” Johnny whose hard work was ruined by the hungry terrier.

But it was only by chance that the terrier was caught red-pawed on the home security camera chowing down on the boy’s spelling work.

“We got home to poor Johnny in tears because the dog had actually eaten his homework,” she said.

“He was devastated actually. He was desperately trying to finish this unit by the end of the year and he was so close.

“But by luck, the security camera was charging inside for the first time ever and we caught the act.”

Emily, fearing Johnny’s teacher may not be convinced by “the oldest excuse in the book”, decided she needed to step in.

She emailed his teacher and attached the video of Olive making a dog’s breakfast of Johnny’s hard work as proof.

And the family has decided to set up the indoor camera permanently, in case Olive has developed a taste for study materials.

“You have your own dog food, Olive,” said Johnny.

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Viral video shows dogs actually eating teenagers’ homework

Wed, December 30, 2020 at 3:23:23 PM EST

In a strange turn of events, a boy proved a dog really did eat his homework. 

Darren James Lamban and his cousin JB Barit captured footage of their dogs Sam, a husky, and Mayor, a pug, tearing their schoolwork apart. The two boys from Antipolo in the Philippines fell asleep on the couch after doing their homework — and chaos ensued.

Security recordings showed Sam grabbing the pile of papers from the entertainment center tabletop. The dog shook his head to rip the homework up. Then Mayor, who was sitting on one of the sleeping boys, jumped off the couch to join in on the feast.

The boys were prompted to review the camera footage after they woke up to find their work destroyed. 

The classic “my dog ate my homework” excuse dates back to 1905, according to  the New York Post . In an issue of the Cambrian, a Welsh-American magazine, the music critic William ApMadoc referred to a story where a dog ate half of a minister’s sermon.

Brain Pickings  also recalled that in 1936, the author John Steinbeck asked his editor for a deadline extension for the book Of Mice and Men . The reason he gave was that his Irish setter, Toby, ate half his manuscript.

“Minor tragedy stalked. I don’t know whether I told you. My setter pup, left alone one night, made confetti of about half of my [manuscript] book . Two months work to do over again. It sets me back. There was no other draft. I was pretty mad but the poor little fellow may have been acting critically,” Steinback  wrote in  a letter to his editor, Elizabeth Otis.

So there you have it: Sometimes dogs  do  eat your homework.

If you liked this story, you might like to check out the  Furbo dog camera .

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Reader's Digest

What Human Foods Can Dogs Eat? 35 Foods Fido Can Eat Too

Posted: December 20, 2023 | Last updated: December 20, 2023

What human foods can dogs eat?

It's no secret that dogs love food. They sometimes eat strange things (for instance, why do dogs eat dirt? ), and they will happily scarf down human food. But most dog owners know there are plenty of human foods dogs can't eat —not just because they can be unhealthy but because they can be toxic. And beyond that, dogs can have adverse reactions to certain foods, even if they are supposedly good for them. "It's important to know that dogs can have food intolerances just like people, causing gastrointestinal upset or even an allergic reaction," says Kelly Ryan, DVM, a veterinarian at Cityscape Vets on Excelsior in Minneapolis. So what human foods can dogs eat?

Before we dive into the dos and don'ts of sharing snacks with your furry friend, be sure to monitor your dog and check with your vet if you're questioning whether to introduce a new food. Dr. Ryan also notes that human food that is not a specific part of your dog's daily food regimen should not take up more than 10% of his caloric intake; that's an important guideline when devising the very best diet for your dog . But if you want to feed your pup human food in a responsible way, you likely have questions. Can they eat eggs ? Bananas ? A nice chunk of steak? Here are the best options.

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A little fruit here and there is a sweet treat for your pup, and some fruits are actually beneficial to  your dog’s diet . But moderation is the key, because most fruits are high in sugar, says Shawna Garner, DVM, U.S. lead veterinarian at FirstVet, an on-demand video consultation platform. “The best way to make sure that dogs get the nutrition they need is to feed them a nutritionally complete, commercial pet food as the basis of their diet,” says Dr. Garner. “Any other food should be given as a small treat or topping to their meals. Roughly a tablespoon of fruit or vegetables per day should be enough for a medium-size dog.”

That said, some caveats prevail. “Avoid giving fruits, with their high natural sugar content, to a diabetic dog,” says Lisa Weeth, DVM, head of the nutrition department at Metropolitan Animal Specialty Hospital in Los Angeles. “These foods can interfere with their blood sugar regulation.”

As long as your dog doesn’t have a specific medical issue or  food allergy , these are some of the fruits dogs can eat.

Apples: Apples of all varieties make good treats for dogs, Dr. Garner says, because they’re an excellent source of vitamin C, fiber and calcium. “Make sure to cut them up and remove the core before serving,” she adds, “as apple seeds can cause dogs to have an upset stomach when eaten in large quantities.”

Bananas:  Potassium-rich bananas are a safe treat for dogs, but they should be doled out in small portions due to their high sugar content. “They may cause your dog to gain weight if they eat too much,” notes Dr. Garner.

Blueberries:  According to Dr. Garner, this antioxidant- and fiber-rich snack can help keep dogs in good shape. Blueberries are also among the possible  cancer-fighting foods for dogs .

Cantaloupe: Yes, dogs can eat this delicious melon in moderation—but ditch the rind to avoid the risk of choking and obstruction.

Cranberries:  It turns out that cranberries have some of the same benefits for dogs as they do for humans. “Cranberry supplements are thought to reduce the adhesion of bacteria in the urogenital tract and possibly prevent urinary tract infections,” says Stacy Choczynski Johnson, DVM, the vet expert at Pumpkin Pet Insurance. While some dogs may not like the sour taste, tossing your pup a couple of fresh or dried cranberries is fine from a safety perspective.

Oranges: Rich in fiber, vitamin C and potassium, oranges (along with tangerines, clementines and mandarins) are safe for pups to eat in moderation. PetMD notes that the peel and seeds should be removed before doggy consumption, though, to avoid an upset stomach or, in serious cases, an intestinal obstruction.

Pears: Pears get two paws up from pups! They're another fruit packed with fiber and vitamins, making them both delicious and nutritious for dogs. Stick to fresh pears, though, as canned pears often contain too much sugar for canines.

Pineapple: Loaded with healthy nutrients and vitamins, pineapple is a fruit dogs can eat. It's best to feed them raw pineapple in moderation and avoid the canned stuff.

Strawberries: Have your fur baby do some tricks for this sweet treat! Strawberries contain antioxidants, fiber and vitamins, making them a health-boosting snack for Fido.

Watermelon: Good news: Watermelon , a summer staple for many households, is good for your pup. "It is a health-food powerhouse, low in calories and packed with nutrients—vitamins A, B6 and C, and potassium," according to the American Kennel Club. Watermelon is also a great snack to give your dog on a hot day, as it is mostly water. Pro tip: Freeze some watermelon cubes for an even better doggy cool-down.

When asking yourself "What human foods can dogs eat?" a prominent food group to explore is vegetables. Most vegetables make a good treat for your pet, says Jamie Richardson, BVetMed, medical chief of staff at Small Door Veterinary in New York City. But if you’re giving table scraps, make sure the vegetables don’t include much in the way of butter, salt or other seasonings, she says. And just like fruit, when it comes to vegetables, a little bit goes a long way in your dog’s diet, so there’s no need to overdo it. One important note: With any raw or crunchy vegetables, be sure to cut them up into small, bite-sized pieces to avoid the risk of choking.

Here are some vegetables dogs can eat in small portions.

Asparagus:  This vegetable has plenty of fiber, which can be good for a dog's digestive health. As a snack, cooked asparagus is perfectly safe for dogs. But don't give Fido the raw version: It can be difficult for him to digest.

Broccoli:  Raw or steamed, bite-sized pieces of broccoli are a good source of vitamins A, C and K, as well as beta-carotene, folate and dietary fiber.

Brussels sprouts:  Cooked Brussels sprouts are A-OK for your pup. Just make sure they're not cooked with seasonings that could be toxic to Fido.

Carrots: Carrots are wonderful snacks for your pup. Dogs can eat carrots several ways: raw, cooked or even with the green tops still on them. But remember: They're just a small part of your pet's complete diet.

Cauliflower: Like broccoli, cruciferous cauliflower is full of vitamins and minerals, and it may help the aches and pains of older pets with arthritis.

Celery:  Celery is a low-calorie, healthy snack for dogs. Chop some up and toss it in your pup's food to add a nice crunch to mealtime.

Cucumber:  Cucumber is another healthy snack option for pups. Slice 'em or dice 'em for your dog!

Green beans:  Green beans are the full package: They're a great source of fiber, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins A, C and K, folic acid, magnesium, calcium, iron and potassium. In fact, green beans are so healthy for dogs that some people make them a sizable portion of their pup's daily food regimen. Just don't add salt or seasoning.

Peas:  Fresh peas are rich in fiber and nutrients, making them a good occasional addition to your dog's diet. Make sure not to season them, and avoid serving your dog canned peas, as they could have too much sodium.

Pumpkin:  Vets often recommend pumpkin when a dog is constipated or has other digestive issues. Give your dog some canned pumpkin with his kibble to keep his digestive system running smoothly. Look for the organic kind, recommends Dr. Ryan, and "be sure it's not pumpkin pie mix to avoid the spices. Also check with your veterinarian to see how much pumpkin he or she recommends, as too much can cause diarrhea."

Spinach:  Spinach is rich in antioxidants, iron and vitamin K. That's what makes it so healthy for humans and a potentially beneficial part of your dog's diet. Spinach can boost your dog's immune system and energy levels, making for an all-around healthier pet.

Sweet potatoes: Another great source of dietary fiber, sweet potatoes are high in vitamin B6, vitamin C and beta-carotene. Sweet potatoes should be peeled and cooked—or you can pick up some dehydrated sweet potato dog chews.

Zucchini:  “An excellent source of vitamin C, zucchini is also rich in beta-carotene and is a source of vitamin A, dietary fiber, potassium, folate and niacin,” says Dr. Chavez. Cook plain zucchini for your pup and put it in their dinner as a healthy additive.

Another good group that comes to mind when asking "What human foods can dogs eat?" is meat. But while your dog may love most kinds of meat, make sure whatever cut you give him is cooked and doesn't have much fat on it. Food with a high fat content can easily make your dog gain weight. That said, here are some meaty options for Fido to indulge in.

Beef:  Cooked lean beef is OK for dogs to eat. Serve it occasionally to add a nice punch of protein to your pup's diet, and if you can, opt for grass-fed beef.

Chicken: As far as land animals go, chicken is always a safe bet, especially when your dog has an upset stomach. "Try bland foods like poached chicken and steamed white rice," says Ann Hohenhaus, DVM, of New York City's Animal Medical Center. "Veterinarians also recommend feeding cooked protein sources rather than raw protein sources," she adds.

Eggs: Alright, we know eggs aren't meat, but they are protein-packed, so we're throwing them in the mix. Eggs are packed with minerals such as iron, phosphorus, selenium and zinc, and they're OK to give dogs. Cook the eggs thoroughly and serve them to your dog plain; don't add anything that could make them sick, like garlic and onions.

Steak: Thinking about tossing your dog a piece of steak? That's fine, as long as the steak is cooked and free of any salt or seasonings that are toxic to pups. Just don't feed your dog too much, as it could upset their stomach.

Turkey: Cooked turkey, without any seasoning, is OK to give dogs in small portions. Make sure to get rid of any bones, skin or fat before serving to Fido.

Here's an answer to another doggy-diet question: Can dogs eat hot dogs?

Many people love seafood, but should you give your pup a nibble of these delicacies from the sea? If it's raw, no—but if it's cooked, that's another story. Here's what to know before giving your dog some surf n' turf.

Fish: Fish is one human food dogs can eat—as long as it isn't raw. And certain types of fish are healthier for your dog than others. Salmon, ocean whitefish and herring, for example, are fish that live short lives, so they have lower levels of mercury compared with fish near the top of the food chain like, say, swordfish. Fish is also a great source of protein for your dog if he or she has allergic reactions to other types of meat.

Shellfish: You can give your dog cooked, unseasoned shellfish like lobster , crab and shrimp in moderation. Shellfish have lots of omega-3 fatty acids and nutrients that are good for dogs, so when served properly, it can be a healthy (and luxurious) treat for your fur baby. Just be sure to remove any shells before tossing the shellfish to your pup.

Squid: Yep, dogs can eat squid as long as it's cooked thoroughly and unseasoned. While plain cooked squid is OK to give dogs, don't give your dog fried calamari; fried foods aren't healthy for pups, and the breading could contain seasonings that are toxic to them.

Dairy products are filled with protein, calcium and other essential nutrients for a balanced diet—and your dog can benefit from nibbling on the occasional dairy treat. A word of caution before feeding your dog dairy, though: Dogs can be lactose intolerant, meaning they can't properly digest dairy products. So don't go overboard with these treats at first. Instead, consult your vet and make sure it's fine for your dog to snack on dairy. If you get the OK, observe your pup after they eat dairy. If they have an upset stomach, bloating or diarrhea, remove those dairy snacks from their diet.

Cheese: Yes, dogs can snack on cheese occasionally. Keep the cheese treats to a minimum, though, as cheese tends to be high in fat. Too much cheese could lead to your dog being overweight.

Cottage cheese:  Cottage cheese is OK to give your dog in small portions once in a while. It's also a good food to give your pup if they have an upset tummy.

Ice cream: Can dogs eat ice cream ? The answer is technically yes, but it shouldn't be given to your dog all the time. If you do want to give your pup ice cream, give them an option made specifically for dogs; many grocery stores and pet shops sell these ice cream options. If you do give your dog the real stuff once in a while, make sure it's only given in small quantities and it's free of any additives that could be toxic to them, like xylitol. Also avoid flavors that are toxic to pups, including chocolate and coffee.

Yogurt: Plain, low-fat or nonfat yogurt that doesn't include any artificial sweeteners is typically OK to give dogs. Make sure the yogurt is as plain as can be and doesn't include artificial fruit or chocolate.

About the experts

• Kelly Ryan , DVM, is a veterinarian at Cityscape Vets on Excelsior in Minneapolis. She earned a degree in veterinary medicine from the University of Minnesota and has held leadership positions at several animal facilities.
• Ann Hohenhaus , DVM, is a senior veterinarian and the Director of Pet Health Information at New York City's Animal Medical Center. She's an award-winning, third-generation vet who has contributed to several media outlets, including Ladies Home Journal and Real Simple .
• Shawna Garner , DVM, is the U.S. lead veterinarian at FirstVet, an on-demand video consultation platform. She graduated from the Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine in 2001, did general practice for two years and spent five years as an emergency room clinician.
• Lisa Weeth , DVM, is head of the nutrition department at Metropolitan Animal Specialty Hospital in Los Angeles. She has experience in general and emergency settings and is now dedicated to providing nutritional support to veterinarians and pet owners.
• Stacy Choczynski Johnson , DVM, is the resident vet expert at Pumpkin Pet Insurance. She has more than two decades of experience working with animals, from tiny kittens to big beluga whales.
• Jamie Richardson , BVetMed, is the medical chief of staff at Small Door Veterinary in New York City. She has more than 10 years of experience in veterinary medicine and earned a degree in Veterinary Medicine from London's prestigious Royal Veterinary College.

Additional reporting by Kelly Kuehn.

• American Kennel Club : "Can Dogs Eat Watermelon?"
• CesarsWay.com : "Dog Nutrition: A to Z"
• Purina : "Can Dogs Eat Carrots?"
• Rover.com : "What You Should Know About the Trendy Green Bean Diet for Dogs"
• Rover.com : "Can Dogs Eat Spinach?"
• American Kennel Club : "Can Dogs Eat Fish?"
• PetMD : "Can Dogs Eat Oranges?"

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