Are the Dog Days over yet? Actually, the Dog Days of summer are about used up! At least that’s what the calendar says.
Dog Days is this time of sweltering, sultry weather, but I’ve seen no sign the heat is almost over here. I’m not sure how someone named this hot time – I thought dog days were every day, every season. It is unnaturally hot here lately – we usually don’t get nineties often, up here in the foothills of the Rockies.
Maybe it is named for us panting and looking for shade, for when our tongue hits the ground!
DOG DAYS IN THE STARS
In fact, right now the sun is in the same area of the sky as Sirius, a very bright star and part of the constellation Canis Major, the Greater Dog. Sirius is called the Dog Star.
In the summer, Sirius rises and sets with the Sun. Because the star is so bright, the ancient Romans believed it actually gave off heat and added to the Sun’s warmth, accounting for the long stretch of sultry weather. So they called this time diēs caniculārēs, or “dog days.” But the heat is just the result of the Earth’s tilt.
Thus, the term Dog Days of Summer came to mean the 20 days before and 20 days after this alignment of Sirius with the Sun—July 3 to August 11 each year. 
There you have it. A lesson in weather, astronomy and canine lore, all in one! And a reason to go wade in the creek and ponder it all, maybe even at night while you consider dog-like stars.
