Hang'dog` adjective Low; sneaking; ashamed. « The poor colonel went out of the room with a hangdog look.» Thackeray. Found on http://www.encyclo.co.uk/webster/H/12
A hangdog or hang-dog is a low, despicable, degraded person or a sneaking shamefaced person, fit only to hang a dog or to be hanged like a dog - hence the term. The term hang-dog was a fairly popular term of insult from the 17th to the 19th century. Found on http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com/browse/CXH.HTM