Dog Days

"Dog Days" is the name for the most sultry period of summer, from about July 3 to August 11. Named in early times by observers in countries bordering the Mediterranean, the period extended from 20 days before to 20 days after the conjunction of Sirius, the Dog Star and the sun. In the latitude of the Mediterranean region this period coincided with hot days that were plagued with disease and discomfort.

Dog Days were popularly believed to be an evil time "the Sea boiled, the Wine turned sour, Dogs grew mad, and all other creatures became languid; causing to man, among other diseases, burning fevers, hysterics, and phrensies." according to Brady’s 1813 Clavis Calendaria or a Compendious Analysis of the Calendar: illustrated with ecclesiastical, historical, and classical anecdotes.  

A must read this summer?

We belong

Chief Seattle, a Duwamish chief, wrote a letter to President Franklin Pierce in December of 1854, following the U.S government’s offer to buy two million acres of Native American land in the Pacific North West.
Here is a quote from the letter which is relevant in our relationship with dogs: "What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, men would die from great loneliness of spirit, for whatever happens to the beast also happens to the man".

It's raining cats and dogs

Why “cats and dogs”?
In 1738, Jonathan Swift published his “Complete Collection of Genteel and Ingenious Conversation,” a satire on the conversations of the upper classes. One of his characters fears that it will “rain cats and dogs.” Whether Swift coined the phrase or was using a cliché, his satire was likely the beginning of the phrase’s popularity.
Etymologists have suggested a variety of mythological and literal explanations for why people say “it’s raining cats and dogs” to describe a heavy downpour. Here are some of the popular theories:
1. Odin, the Norse god of storms, was often pictured with dogs and wolves, which were symbols of wind. Witches, who supposedly rode their brooms during storms, were often pictured with black cats, which became signs of heavy rain for sailors. Therefore, “raining cats and dogs” may refer to a storm with wind (dogs) and heavy rain (cats).
2. “Cats and dogs” may come from the Greek expression cata doxa, which means “contrary to experience or belief.” If it is raining cats and dogs, it is raining unusually or unbelievably hard.
3. “Cats and dogs” may be a perversion of the now obsolete word catadupe. In old English, catadupe meant a cataract or waterfall.
4. A false theory stated that cats and dogs used to cuddle into thatch roofs during storms and then be washed out during heavy rains. However, a properly maintained thatch roof is naturally water resistant and slanted to allow water to run off. In order to slip off the roof, the animals would have to be lying on the outside—an unlikely place for an animal to seek shelter during a storm.
5. Swift also wrote a poem, “City Shower” (1710), that described floods that occurred after heavy rains. The floods left dead animals in the streets, and may have led locals to describe the weather as “raining cats and dogs.”