How to Use attack dog in a Sentence

attack dog

noun
  • The charges against the candidate were made by one of the governor's attack dogs.
  • Turns out, juking an attack dog might not be such a great idea.
    — Jacob Feldman, SI.com, 6 Apr. 2018
  • Viciousness is the attack dog who has not eaten in three days.
    — Arielle Angel, Vulture, 30 Apr. 2025
  • White blood cells, the attack dogs of the immune system, arise from stem cells in the bone marrow.
    — Gina Kolata, New York Times, 29 Jan. 2018
  • Secondly, there was no reason for an attack dog to be in that apartment.
    — ABC News, 9 Sep. 2022
  • Dispatch sends out a report of an aggressive attack dog on the loose.
    — Olivia McCormack, Washington Post, 6 Apr. 2023
  • Neither dog was injured, and the owner of the attacking dog was warned to keep it on a leash.
    — cleveland, 16 Apr. 2020
  • The 63-year-old male owner of the attacking dog was cited for dogs at large.
    — cleveland, 10 Oct. 2019
  • Viciousness is the attack dog that hasn’t eaten in a week, and is drooling and barking and snarling.
    — Merve Emre, The New York Review of Books, 30 Jan. 2024
  • Freedman has always seen himself as the attack dog for the underdogs.
    — Gary Baum, The Hollywood Reporter, 21 Feb. 2025
  • Animal Services said the attacking dogs were in the care of a dog walker hired through an app.
    — Houston Chronicle, 10 May 2018
  • Some species have been bred so much and for so long to as combat attack dogs that adapting to being child's pet can have tragic results.
    — John Havelock, Alaska Dispatch News, 17 Aug. 2017
  • On the down side, Kelly’s biggest flaw could be his lack of chops as a political attack dog.
    — Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News, 3 Aug. 2024
  • The plan, according to Barrett, is to bring in sniffer and attack dogs and to increase the ranger force.
    — Tristan McConnell, GQ, 16 Apr. 2018
  • Heckler tries to get us into the mind of Mike, who was born into this world and raised as the Klan's attack dog.
    — Elizabeth Montgomery, azcentral, 5 Mar. 2020
  • Yes, this was a kindler, gentler Vance, not the rabid attack dog so visible on the campaign trail.
    — Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019
  • For example, coyotes are present in many areas in the Chicago region and have been known to attack dogs.
    — Tim Johnson, Chicago Tribune, 14 May 2023
  • Reed then backed Bottoms in the 2017 election, serving as her attack dog.
    — Ernie Suggs, ajc, 1 Dec. 2021
  • Zelizer said both Walz and Vance will look to carry out their roles of attack dogs for their respective campaigns.
    — Joey Garrison, USA TODAY, 1 Oct. 2024
  • Even his attack dog and closest adviser, Melissa De Rosa, jumped ship.
    — Alex Shephard, The New Republic, 10 Aug. 2021
  • Why is one of the greatest attack dogs in the history of the Congress saying, don't talk about impeachment?
    — Fox News, 29 Apr. 2018
  • Even his attack dog and closest adviser, Melissa DeRosa, jumped ship.
    — Walter Shapiro, The New Republic, 12 Aug. 2021
  • When a suspect surrenders, on the ground, kneeling, with hands above his head and a vicious attack dog is then unleashed to maul him, that is horrendous.
    — Anjeanette Damon, USA TODAY, 20 Sep. 2017
  • Poilievre, for years the party’s go-to attack dog, is a firebrand populist who blamed Canada’s cost-of-living crisis on Trudeau.
    — Rob Gillies, Los Angeles Times, 8 Jan. 2025
  • Now a kidnapper is after the little sister of the dead men and she’s saved by Alice and Rex, who are not attack dogs but can still inflict pain.
    — Mary Ann Grossmann, Twin Cities, 8 Mar. 2026
  • There is still time for Biden to fine-tune his policies and choose a running mate who can play the traditional role of attack dog, charged with arousing the party faithful.
    — Bruce Bartlett, The New Republic, 1 June 2020
  • During his four years as Bevin's chief of staff in Kentucky, Brickman was known as a fierce defender of his boss and attack dog against his critics.
    — Joe Sonka, The Courier-Journal, 23 Oct. 2020
  • Instead, the attacking dog’s owner took a green, tennis ball-launching dog toy and used it to strike the owner of the other dog in the face, the victim told the sheriff’s office.
    — Jared Gilmour, miamiherald, 14 Mar. 2018
  • Lisey Landon calls professor Dashmiel and orders him to call off his attack dog Jim Dooley.
    — Brian Tallerico, Vulture, 4 June 2021
  • Clinton's name is like a Pavlovian trigger to get the Republican attack dogs rallied around the White House.
    — Jack Holmes, Esquire, 11 Jan. 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'attack dog.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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