Every Dog Has Its Day

52 beautiful and quirky watercolour drawings of pooches and a canine colloquialism for every week of the year

From ‘let sleeping dogs lie’ to ‘hair of the dog’ our language is utterly overrun with our four-legged friends. But have you ever stopped to wonder where these beloved expressions actually came from?

In this charming and beautifully illustrated compendium, celebrated artist and nature writer Matt Sewell turns his distinctive, much-loved painterly eye to the weird, wonderful and occasionally baffling world of dog phrases. With wit, warmth and characteristic curiosity, Sewell doggedly unpacks the surprising stories and forgotten histories behind dozens of our most familiar canine expressions, revealing the remarkable dogs, people and moments that gave birth to the words we use every day without a second thought.

Packed with Sewell's gorgeous, characterful illustrations — bringing to life everything from determined underdogs to wayward strays — this is a book to treasure, to dip into and to share. Whether you're a devoted dog lover, a hopeless phrase fanatic or simply someone who has always wondered why we call a rambling tale a ‘shaggy dog story’ this delightful compendium will have you yelping with delight.

Guaranteed to be dog-eared.

Reviews

Praise for the work of Matt Sewell…

'An offbeat book featuring 52 charming characterful illustrations of our best-loved British birds' BBC Wildlife

About the author

Matt Sewell is an avid nature-lover and author of the bestselling books Our Garden Birds, Owls, A Charm of Goldfinches and the Atlas of Amazing Birds. His range of children's books includes Dinosaurs and Forgotten Beasts. He has illustrated for the Guardian, the National Trust, Barbour, the V&A, and Levis and painted walls for Greenpeace, the BBC’s Springwatch and Countryfile, Helly Hansen, Puma and the RSPB. His artwork has been exhibited in London, New York, Tokyo and Paris. He lives in Shrewsbury with his wife and two children.