Earlier today while discussing a business that may soon be closing I used the phrase "until the last dog is hung",meaning I intended to stay with it until the end. We briefly wondered how the saying had originated,now I hope to fill in those blanks. I found two different possible explanations. The first was a reference to the phrase taken from a 1902 novel "The Blazed Trail" where it referred to vigilante lynchings,the dogs in this case were the human variety. The second seems a likely source for the phrase used in the novel,or at least that was my take on it. The Seneca Indian tribe used to celebrate the New Year by sacrificing a white dog and hanging it from a pole on the fifth day of the celebration (I can't help but wonder if the dog for this ritual was actually a white wolf,a wolf being a better fit with Indian lore). Fortunately neither practice is in use today.
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