The Smaller Dog

I just learned that "the dog days of summer" are not, in fact, named after a dog. The name comes from some dude in Rome who thought he was clever when he noticed that it got really hot when the star constellation Canis Major, or "The Larger Dog," rose and set with the sun.

I must admit my disappointment that the name doesn't come from how miserable the heat makes me feel. Still, it's cool that there's a constellation named after us canines.

Actually, there's more than one. Another is Canis Minor, or "The Smaller Dog." Both constellations are said to be the two dogs following behind Orion, the hunter.

Of the two constellations, I'm partial to the latter, and not just because I'm a smaller dog. (Well, smaller than a Great Dane, at least. I'm still working on that diet.) I think it's interesting that a two-star constellation could evoke the image of a dog in the minds of early astronomers. It shows the pervasiveness of our puppy-dog reach into the collective imagination of the humans and reassures me that a dog becoming mayor of Anoka is not only possible, it's inevitable.