The dog ate my homework

"The dog ate my homework", or "my dog ate my homework", is an expression which carries the suggestion of being a common, poorly fabricated excuse made by children to explain why they have failed to turn in an assignment on time. The phrase is also referenced outside of an academic context, as a sarcastic response to any similarly insufficient or implausible explanation for failure.

The claim of a dog eating one's homework is inherently suspect since it is both nearly impossible for a teacher to disprove and conveniently absolves the student of any blame. However, the claim is not absolutely beyond possibility, since dogs are known to eat or chew on paper; John Steinbeck was once forced to ask his editor for additional time due to half the manuscript of Of Mice and Men having been eaten by his Irish Setter.

As an explanation for missing documents, it dates to a story about a Welsh minister first recorded in print in 1905. The Oxford English Dictionary suggests that a 1929 reference establishes that schoolchildren had at some time earlier than that offered it as an excuse to teachers. It was used multiple times in the 1964 bestselling novel Up the Down Staircase, and became known as a stereotypical dubious excuse, particularly in American culture, both in school and out, in the 1970s. American presidents from Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama have used it to criticize political opponents, and it has been a source of humor for various comic strips and television shows, such as The Simpsons.