Sitting on my back deck while sipping a tall glass of sweet tea (nod to you Southern folk), I scratch the fluffy ears of Deuce, our one-year-old Brittany pup. He sits beside me in the small patch of shade that looms ever larger with the golden setting sun. Even he feels drained of energy from the scorching white, hot heat of day.
“Go play boy,” I nudge him forward with painted toes.
His puppy tongue hangs long from his mouth, panting; and he looks at me like I must be crazy. This puppy, that has more energy than twenty dogs does not want to move. The very pup that runs wild, at a break neck pace in his large back yard, sits unmoving at my side. He steals a sideways glance at me now and then, as if urging me to hurry the last rays of the sun.
“It won’t be long now boy,” I say as I ruffle his ears.
We both feel it. The heated induced energy slump so common these days, these Dog Days of Summer, that is. It is a time of year marked by inactivity and stagnation.
It got me thinking about the term: The Dog Days of Summer. Ever wonder how it got its name?
At first thought, you might think the term refers to summer days so hot, that even dogs feels too tired to move. And you’d be right—kind of.
The term is commonly used to refer to the hottest time of summer, but it has nothing to do with dogs.
The name is actually related to the heliacal rising of Sirius, the Dog Star. Sirius is the largest and brightest star of the Canis Major constellation. Canis Major is also known as the Big Dog constellation and thus, likely the reason Sirius was named the Dog Star. Sirius can easily be seen with the naked eye. It is seen as a large, twinkling star with different changing colors.
Each year, Canis Major appears in the Northern Hemisphere in early July and remains visible well into September. And coincidently, this also happens to be the hottest time of year.
In ancient times, civilizations looked to the skies for the coming of Sirius, the Dog Star. Astrologers used the constellations to mark the changing of the seasons and to navigate the seas. Egyptians marked the coming Nile River floods with the rise of Sirius, and Ancient Greeks offered sacrifices to the star. Ancient coins have been found that were engraved with sunrays, stars and dogs, thought to be a sign of significance. Yes indeed, Sirius the Dog Star had profound meaning for those ancient civilizations.
So, there you have it. The Dog Days of summer may have originated from a complex astrological past, but have since taken on a more simplistic meaning in our modern times.
Me? I like to think that dogs like Deuce have it all figured out. Unlike their human counterparts, they have the good sense to lay low in the heat of day, and reserve their energy for the cooler hours. Like, now.
Brushstrokes of pink and gold paint the western sky, as daylight takes her leave, and bids a fond adieu. A single raindrop falls upon is puppy nose and instantly, he is alive with electricity. His ears perk up and muscles tense, and then, his is off.
Off to run and sniff. To dig in cool wet earth. To roll upon the wet, green grass.
I smile as I look at him and wish I could harness his energy as my own. And then like any Brittany pup, he is getting into something that he shouldn’t….”Deuce,” I holler, “Let it go, boy. Get back here.”
Ah, the Dog Days of summer. Enjoy em while they last.
Rita Aguilar 