A dictionary of Confusable Phrases: More Than 10,000 Idioms and Collocations

dog man • hot dog man
dog man —
1
. a man in charge of dogs: It is an error of mod-
ern dog men to wean puppies too soon. 2. (also: dog person) a
man who is characterized by a preference or liking for dogs: I
do not particularly care for cats — more of a dog man.
hot dog man— a man selling hot sausages (enclosed in a
bread roll): The hot dog man parked his cart outside the school
at lunch time.
Note: 
The expression does not correlate in meaning with the
compound hotdogger—(sl.) a person who performs showy, often
dangerous stunts in a sport: We noticed that almost every wave
carried a hot-dogger performing tricks.
dog salmon • dogfish
dog salmon —a salmon of Western North America (On-
corhynchus keta): The meat of the dog salmon is palatable when
fresh or smoked.
dogfish —
1
. various small sharks, chiefly of the family Squal-
idae, of Atlantic and Pacific coastal waters: The spiny dogfish
shark travels in packs. 2. a bony freshwater fish (Amia calva)
of central and eastern North America: The fish known to be
called a dogfish does not occur in these northern waters.
dog show • dog’s show
dog show— a display of dogs: There has been a mania for
shows; we have had dog shows, donkey shows, and last, not
least, horse shows.
dog’s show —(coll., usually negat.) the poorest chance: Ana-
lysts will discover whether or not this coup has even a dog’s
show of succeeding.
doggone • gone to the dogs
doggone —(coll.)
1
. extremely (used as an intensifier): You
don’t expect these tools to be perfect … but the price is dog-
gone good! 2. (in the phrase “I’ll be doggone”) used as an excla-
mation of annoyance: I’ll be doggone if I am going to stand
in the path of small businesses.
gone to the dogs —(coll.) ruined or in very poor condition: If
politicians are allowed to decide what is right, the future of
science is gone to the dogs.