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Dicen que ayer tuvimos un día de perros en la montaña.

Dicen que ayer tuvimos un día de perros en la montaña.
They say that yesterday we had a miserable day on the mountain.
From Lesson 488:Extreme noun intensification·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about Dicen que ayer tuvimos un día de perros en la montaña.

How does un día de perros mean "a miserable day"?
Literally, it translates to "a day of dogs." In Spanish, the structure un/una + [noun] + de + [noun] is often used to intensely describe or exaggerate a noun's quality. Here, de perros acts as an extreme adjective meaning awful, miserable, or terrible. It's a common idiom similar to having "a hell of a day" in English.
Could I just say un día muy malo instead?
Yes, un día muy malo is perfectly correct. However, using un día de perros adds much more color and emotional intensity. At a B2 level, using this un + [noun] + de + [noun] structure makes your Spanish sound much more native and expressive than just relying on muy + [adjective].
Who is the "they" in Dicen que?
There is no specific "they" here. This is the impersonal use of the third-person plural, much like when we say "They say it's going to rain" or "People say..." in English. It's used to state a rumor, a general opinion, or information you heard without specifying who exactly said it.
Why use the preterite tuvimos rather than the imperfect teníamos?
Even though you are describing the quality of the day, the word ayer (yesterday) frames the day as a completed, closed time period in the past. Because you are summarizing a completed event that had a clear beginning and end, the preterite tuvimos is the required choice here.

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