Scapegoating: Kick the cat or dog
Kick the cat (or kick the dog[1]) is a metaphor used to describe how a relatively high-ranking person in an organization or family displaces his or her frustrations by abusing a lower-ranking person, who may in turn take it out on his or her own subordinate.
Scapegoating is similar, but the dog is believed to deserve it.
source:
$link[host]
Read Original Source