What is "going to the dogs"

vb. (present participle of go to the dogs English)

Going to the Dogs is a 1986 play by Dutch writer, artist, and television director Wim T. Schippers. It premiered on 19 September to a sell-out audience in the Stadsschouwburg in Amsterdam, with six German Shepherds, allegedly trained as actors by the Amsterdam police, as the performers. The play provoked national and international attention, and even drew protest from an animal rights group.