Wiktionary
call off the dogs
vb. 1 (context idiomatic English) To ease up on after inflicting great punishment. 2 (context sports idiomatic English) During a one-sided sports contest, to remove the first-string unit of a team from the game after dominating the opponent.
Usage examples of "call off the dogs".
He remembered seeing the chauffeur use it to call off the dogs several hours earlier.