dog-child

plural dog-children

1. A feral child who lives as a dog, outside human society.
2. humorousoftenA dog, treated as if a child of the owner.

   Remove the pan and slice cookies into bars or squares, depending on the mouth size of your dog-child.

   1993 December 15, “PICKY DOGS NEED YULE TREATS, TOO”, in The Charlotte Observer

   4 more examples

   Never tell my dog-child Vivien that she is not Irish. She says she is Irish and we believe her. Being well-mannered, nicely reared humans, we would never contradict her.

   2004 March 13, “Best Irish Blessing Is An Irish Dog”, in Free Lance-Star

   By drawing parallels between child development and dog development, Ms. King allows us, the human parent, to better understand why our "dog-children" do what they do.

   2005, The Latham letter, volumes 26-29, Latham Foundation

   […] more than ever, many of those conversations require me to interject for the sake of clarification: "Wait, are you talking about your human child or your dog child?"

   2009 May 21, “Pet parents and the dog children that bite them”, in Deseret News, alt Lake City, UT

   To honor my dog-child, here's a little doggy profile. Feel free to fill it out about your four-legged kid in the comments!

   2011 August 26, “Today is National Dog Day”, in Columbus Ledger-Enquirer