DOG DAYS?!

Whenever I am walking Gloria, my black standard poodle, on the grounds of Topsmead, I feel a kinship with Miss Edith.  There was always a variety of farm dogs at Topsmead, but her favorite was Jacque, her small black poodle.  He was a very special companion to Miss Edith...so special that she had a portrait done of him that hangs in her office and a car booster seat made for him to accompany her on her driveabouts in her Packard.  
 
As the summer calendar moves beyond my late July birthday into August, I find myself moving my morning Topsmead walkabouts with Gloria earlier and earlier in order to beat the heat that inevitably builds up as the day progresses.  I am noticing that plenty of other Topsmead walkers are also out early with their dogs to beat the heat.  According to Bob Orintas, the son of Miss Edith's chauffeur, one of Miss Edith's strategies to beat the summer heat was drinking Topsmead Iced Tea--freshly brewed tea, iced, with orange juice and a sprig of spearmint. 
 
Heat.  Dogs.  August.  The Farmers' Almanac and Wikipedia call these hot, sultry days that occur generally from mid-July to mid-August the "dog days."  So how did they come to be called the "dog days"?  The Farmers' Almanac explains that the phrase refers to Sirius, the Dog Star.  During dog days, the sun occupies the same region of the sky as Sirius, the brightest star, so named because it is part of the constellation Canis Major, the Greater Dog.  The Romans believed that the brightness of Sirius added to the heat of the sun and thus augmented the already sultry summer weather. 
 
Wikipedia regales us with negative perceptions of the dog days throughout Western culture.  Hellenistic astrology connected the dog days with heat, drought, sudden thunderstorms, lethargy, fever, mad dogs, and bad luck.  Writing in about the 8th Century BCE, Homer uses a metaphor in The Iliad to connect the brightness and bad luck associated with Sirius to emphasize the destructive power of Achilles' sword:  "A single point of light on Troy's dusty plain..../Orion's dog they called it, brightest/Of all, but an evil portent, bringing heat/And fevers to suffering humanity./Achilles bronze gleamed like this." 
 
In his Natural History, Roman author Pliny notes an increase in attacks by dogs during July and August and advises feeding them chicken manure to curb the tendency.   Somewhat more recently, in 1729, the British Husbandman's Practice warned about the heat this time of year and advised men to "abstain all this time from women" and to "take heed of feeding violently."
 
As a dog lover, woman, and star-gazer, I resent that poor Sirius has to suffer the injustice of having such unpleasant natural and human behaviors attributed to it rather than to the real culprit--weather.  I admit, however, that as a reader, I relish the appropriateness of Homer's comparison of Achilles' sword to the bright star of Sirius.  Furthermore, I have a feeling that Miss Edith, also a woman, dog lover, reader, and quite possibly star-gazer, would agree with me.
 
 
Margaret Hunt
BlogMistress