dog in the hunt

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

dog in the hunt (plural dogs in the hunt)

1. (idiomatic) Something that may lead to gain, depending on the outcome; a position for which to campaign or cheer.

   Synonyms: dog in the fight, dog in the race, horse in the race

   A national political party is unlikely to feel it has a particular dog in the hunt for a typical small town mayoral race.

   • 2005, Alan R. Andreasen, Social marketing in the 21st century, Sage, →ISBN, retrieved 2009-09-01, page 50:

     The ideal solution is to find individuals or agencies without what is often called "a dog in the hunt." Governmental monitoring organizations […] and the World Health Organization (WHO), are probably the most reliable sources of raw data [for this issue]

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see dog,‎ hunt.

Usage notes

• Sometimes used to indicate that one has no stake in the outcome. As such this may be a bastardization of two Southern idioms: "no dog in the fight," and "that dog won't hunt.” (The latter indicates something is a bad idea or prone to fail.)

See also

• skin in the game