eat one's own dog food

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Also seen as: eat your own dog food

Sense 1

Meaning · English

To use or test one's own product or service

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

sử dụng hoặc thử nghiệm sản phẩm hoặc dịch vụ của mình

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: consuming food intended for dogs
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

The company's employees are encouraged to eat their own dog food by using the new software

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.

Sense 2

Meaning · English

English proverb; full definition pending editorial review.

Sources & notes

Listed on English Wikiquote “English proverbs” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).

Common questions

What does “eat one's own dog food” mean?

To use or test one's own product or service Literally: consuming food intended for dogs

Is “eat one's own dog food” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.