"It's a dog's life". Is that good or bad?

A miserable, unhappy existence.

A life of indolence where the individual may do as he or she pleases, just like a pampered dog.

Usage notes:
Originally the term referred to the hard life of the working dog: sleeping in a damp barn, chasing rats and other intruders, living on scraps, etc. Today, however, it has in some circles acquired the completely opposite connotation indicated in sense 2.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dog%27s_life

http://www.bartleby.com/61/52/D0325200.html

(Slang) A miserably unhappy existence.

A miserably unhappy existence, as in He's been leading a dog's life since his wife left him. This expression was first recorded in a 16th-century manuscript and alludes to the miserable subservient existence of dogs during this era. By the 1660s there was a proverb: "It's a dog's life, hunger and ease."

http://www.answers.com/topic/dog-s-life

For my dog it`s a very good life, when he was a homeless puppy this life was bad to him.And the same to people- depence on which dog to compere...

1) The expression is old and used to mean a hard life, so it would be rather bad.

However, many pet dogs in some advanced countries seem to have a rather good life nowadays. So it could also be good.


2) "Those of us over 50 seem to use to suggest the need to accept the existential fact that things are hard; but in the under-50 set, the idea is that dogs have it easy, and so it’s a dog’s life equates to ‘how cushy’!”"

"Specifically, a dog’s life is first recorded in the sixteenth century and seems to have remained in the language with the sense of “a life of misery, or of miserable subserviency” ever since."
Source:
http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-its1.htm


3) "dog's life

A miserable, unhappy existence.
A life of indolence where the individual may do as he or she pleases, just like a pampered dog.

Usage notes
Originally the term referred to the hard life of the working dog: sleeping in a damp barn, chasing rats and other intruders, living on scraps, etc. Today, however, it has in some circles acquired the completely opposite connotation indicated in sense 2."
Source:
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dog%27s_life

Look also at this:
http://www.itsadogslife.ca/

GOOD...if you're the "BIG DOG"!

Great.

my 2 spoilt dogs say its great !!! woof

Depends on who's saying it!

Also good if your a working dog!!!!!!!