In the language of the American West, a dogie is a motherless calf. The origin of the word is unknown, but author Ramon F. Adams suggested it might have originated in the 1880s, when a series of harsh winters left large numbers of orphaned calves. The little calves, weaned too early, were unable to digest coarse range grass, and their swollen bellies "very much resembled a batch of sourdough carried in a sack." Such a calf was referred to as dough-guts. The term, altered to dogie according to Adams, "has been used ever since throughout cattleland to refer to a pot-gutted orphan calf." ?Another possibility is that dogie is an alteration of Spanish dogal, "lariat." Still another is that it is simply a variant pronunciation of doggie.

As I went a-walkin' one mornin' for pleasure,
I spied a cowpuncher come ridin' along;
His hat was thrown back, and his spurs were a-jinglin'
And as he approached, he was singin' this song.

Chorus:
Whoopee ti yi yo, git along, little dogies,
It's your misfortune and none of my own;
Whoopee ti yi yo, git along, little dogies,
You know that Wyoming will be your new home.

It's early in spring that we round up the dogies,
And mark 'em and brand 'em and bob off their tails;
We round up our horses and load the chuckwagon,
And then throw them dogies out onto the trail.

Repeat Chorus

It's whoopin' and yellinn and a-drivin' them dogies,
Oh, lord, how I wish that you would go on;
It's a-whoopin' and punchin' and go on-a, little dogies,
Cause you know that Wyoming is to be your new home.

Repeat Chorus

Some cowboys go up the trail just for the pleasure,
But that's where they always go gettin' it wrong,
For nobody knows just what trouble they give us,
As we start a-drivin' them all the way home.

Repeat Chorus