Dog star

“ It was believed that the Earth was created in the spring; and towards the end of April this group rises a little before the Sun and precedes him in his course, ‘shedding sweet influences.’ The ancients believed that the good or evil influences of the stars were exercised not in the night but during the day, when their rays mingled with those of the Sun. The pernicious influence of the Dog-star is mentioned by Latin writers as being most pronounced during the dog-days, at the end of summer and commencement of autumn, the time of the heliacal rising of this star. ”

“ Yet, this Dog star, to which I call your attention, is so distant from us that it requires something like 16 years for a ray of light to reach us from that distant and splendid sun; and from the familiar Pole star, it requires 40 years for a ray of light to reach our earth. ”

“ Of the stars, one of the most brilliant is Sirius, or the Dog-star, which it is calculated gives just one-twenty-millionth part of the light of the sun, or about as much as that of a farthing rushlight. ”

“ See, the eminent astronomer of the present day, asserts that eighteen hundred years ago Sirius was red. There is a reference in Festus to the effect that the Roman farmers sacrificed ruddy or fawn-coloured dogs to save the fruits on account of the Dog Star, and Dr. See says there is no reason why the Romans should sacrifice red dogs except that Sirius was red, and dogs of the same colour must be offered up to the Dog in the sky. There can be no doubt that many of the ancients looked upon red stars as angry deities. ”

“ The brightest stars in them everybody can see and admire—Sirius, the Bigger Dog, and Procyon, the Smaller Dog.
Every one ought to know Sirius, because he is the brightest star of all. (Of course, he is not so bright as Venus and Jupiter, but they are planets.) To find him, draw a line from the eye of the Bull through the belt of Orion and extend it toward the southeast about twenty degrees. They call him the Dog star because he follows the heels of Orion. ”

“ Long banished from the social rainbow, it now avenges itself for years of neglect, and, as every dog must have his day, we will say that the yellow dog is now to have his, and that the dog-star of this coming August will certainly be of his color. ”

“ The Silent Call presents the most beautiful of all male stars now appearing in the films. In intelligence, also, his rank seems high. The picture is built around Strongheart, a magnificent police dog. There are, to be sure, minor two-legged persons in his support, but practically all the heavy emotional scenes are reserved for Strongheart.
The dog star has virtues which are all his own. Any man of such glorious physique could hardly fail to betray self-consciousness. ”

“ Canine madness is fatal to man during the heat of the Dog-star, and proves so in consequence of those who are bitten having a deadly horror of water. For this reason, during the thirty days that the star exerts its influence, we try to prevent the disease in dogs ”

“ Prof. Young describes "the Greater Dog" as one "who sits up watching his master Orion, but with an eye out for Lepus."
Aratos referring to Canis Major writes: "His body is dark but a star on his jaw sparkles with more life than any other star." This is of course a reference to Sirius, the brightest of all the fixed stars, and probably the star which has attracted the most universal attention of all the heavenly hosts.
In the early histories and inscriptions we find many astronomical references to "the Dog," but it is uncertain whether the constellation or the star Sirius is intended. ”

“ Although mythology connects this star group with the dog of Orion, Sirius, the brightest star in the constellation, seems to have been associated with the idea of a dog even among nations unacquainted with the myth of Orion. ”

“ From the dog of Colophon to the dog of Bairnsdale, man’s four-footed friend has been found capable of the supreme sacrifice which one living creature can make for another. Even in the dim dawnings of civilisation this animal was chosen as the symbol of watchful attendance and untiring subordination. The bright star Sirius, owing to its close waiting on the ‘giant’ of the skies, was from the earliest time known as the ‘dog of Orion.’ A brace of hounds typified to the ardent imagination 60of the Vedic poets the inseparable association with the sun of the morning and evening twilight. ”

“ That day’s star feature was to be the “all breeds” dog-show, to be held in the Agricultural Building.
A gratifying number of dogs was benched in the main hall of the ramshackle structure; early on the morning of the show. Two stewards were busy receiving the fast-arriving entrants, assigning to them their places in the double aisles of wire-partitioned and straw-littered “benches,” and assessing late-comers the usual extra fees for “post-entries.” ”

“ In these two constellations of the Greater and Lesser Dogs, we have very good examples of the practical use the stars played in the everyday life of the ancients, and in a measure we see a reason for some of the names of the constellations, which in so many cases seem absurd and irrelevant. ”

“ Ah! Doggy, don't you think you should very faithful be,
For having such a loving friend to comfort you as me?
And when your leg is better, and you can run and play,
We'll have a scamper in the fields and see them making hay.
But, Doggy, you must promise (and mind your word you keep)
Not once to tease the little lambs, or run among the sheep;
And then the little yellow chicks that play upon the grass,
You must not even wag your tail to scare them as you pass.
Pussy sits beside the fire—
How can she be fair?
In comes little puppy-dog:
"Pussy, are you there? ”

“ It was made blue special for this show. It’s the only blue dog in the world. Folks’ll be comin’ from all over the world to see this blue dog—an’ thrown in in a penny show! If it was in the Zoo you’d have to pay a shilling to see it, I bet. It’s—it’s jus’ luck for you it’s here. I guess the folks at the Zoo wish they’d got it. Tain’t many shows have blue dogs. Brown an’ black an’ white—but not blue. Why, folks pay money jus’ to see shows of ornery dogs—so you’re jus’ lucky to see a blue dog an’ a dead bear from Russia an’ a giant, an’ a wild cat, an’ a China rat for jus’ one penny. ”

“ The same dogs must encounter them over and over again, as they trudge along in their off-minutes behind the legs of the show and beside the drum; but all dogs seem to suspect their frills and jackets, and to sniff at them as if they thought those articles of personal adornment an eruption—a something in the nature of mange, perhaps. From this Covent-garden window of mine I noticed a country dog only the other day, who had come up to Covent Garden Market under a cart, and had broken his cord, an end of which he still trailed along with him. ”

“ One hears little of the dogs which run away with a circus, and yet there is a set formula about the menagerie, a question asked almost daily:
“Shall we watch for a mutt to-day?”
Because there is hardly a day in which some dog does not attempt to “join out,” and through his own efforts, seek to attach himself to the show. For all of it there is a reason. If there is one thing that a dog loves, it is horses. If there is another, it is the sound of a band. And if there is a third, it is a general air of excitement and hurly-burly. ”

“ Fancy, studded, bebelled, and beribboned collars look about as well on a terrier as diamonds on a bellboy.
The showing of dogs is rapidly becoming one of our most popular sports. The number of shows increases wonderfully each year, and every season the entries become more and more numerous. Daily, there are recruits enlisting in the army of dog fanciers. There is no denying the potency of the charm woven by the dog show. The confirmed fancier fairly loves the barking roar of the benched dogs; that peculiarly distinctive smell—a strange mixture of dog, disinfectant, and sawdust ”

“ A thoroughly vagabond dog, accustomed to low company and public-houses; a terrific dog to sheep, ready at a whistle to scamper over their backs and tear out mouthfuls of their wool; but an educated, improved, developed dog who has been taught his duties and knows how to discharge them. He and Jo listen to the music, probably with much the same amount of animal satisfaction; likewise as to awakened association, aspiration, or regret, melancholy or joyful reference to things beyond the senses, they are probably upon a par. But, otherwise, how far above the human listener is the brute! ”

“ Sharp and shrill the farmer’s whistle pierces the keen mountain air, and ever and anon, as though by magic, the little white dots begin to move and converge towards a common center. In response to one signal the sound of the dog’s answering bark can be heard; another signal and he drops as though shot, and is as silent as the grave. In the dim distance a few small dots can be seen; they are some stragglers that have been overlooked; a whistle galvanizes them also into motion, but in the wrong direction ”

“ The puppy growled an invitation for a romp, which the artist accepted; and a great time they had, sliding over rugs, banging against the walls, behind tapestries, over sofas and chairs and divans, till at last Forbes, dizzy and breathless, subsided upon a divan. The tireless puppy jumped up beside him and licked his face. He was a very valuable dog. ”

“ To dream of a dog-show, is indicative of many and varied favors from fortune.
To hear the barking of dogs, foretells news of a depressing nature. Difficulties are more than likely to follow. To see dogs on the chase of foxes, and other large game, denotes an unusual briskness in all affairs. ”

“ It is not a bark, loud, open, and free, As an honest old watch-dog's bark should be; It is not a yelp, it is not a growl, But a something between a whine and a howl; And, hark!—a sound from the window high Responds to the watch-dog's pitiful cry: It is not a moan, It is not a groan; It comes from a nose,—but is not what a nose Produces in healthy and sound repose. Yet Sir Thopas the Vicar is fast asleep, And his respirations are heavy and deep! ”

“ And then, from the lower left darkness, sprouted one of the very finest noises which ever fell on human ears—the noise of a little dog with floppy ears who was tearing after something on very short legs and carrying his very fuzzy tail straight up in the air as he tore; a little dog who was busier than he was wise, louder than he was big; a red-tongued, foolish, breathless, intent little dog with black eyes and a great smile and woolly paws—which noise, conceived and executed by The Lobster, sent The Enormous Room into an absolute and incurable hysteria. ”

“ It appears like descending from the sublime to the ridiculous to mention the Greyhound as a show dog, after the many brilliant performances that have been recorded of him in the leash, but there are many dogs elegant in outline with fine muscular development that are to be seen in the judging ring. Mr. George Raper's Roasting Hot is one of the most prominent winners of the day; he is a fawn and white, as handsome as a peacock and, moreover, is a good dog in the field. ”

“ Maida used to grin; why not Hector?
With these three lovers of the canine race must be grouped a fourth, the good physician, Doctor John Brown of Edinburgh. He has written about dogs as only Landseer has painted them—sympathetically, lovingly, with intuitive comprehension of dog-nature. “Rab and his Friends” is an idyl that brings tears for sole applause; “Our Dogs” is a Shakespearean comedy, over which we smile or softly laugh. We remember them as we remember only the intensely alive. ”

“ Charm against Dogs.
On the 22d of November the sun enters Sagittarius. According to an old magical manuscript of the fourteenth century, an aspect of "Sagittary" seems to have dominion over dogs. "When you wish to enter where there are dogs, that they may not hinder you, make a tin image of a dog, whose head is erected towards his tail, under the first face of Sagittary, and say over it, 'I bind all dogs by this image, [Pg 333] that they do not raise their heads or bark;' and enter where you please."—Fosbroke. ”

“ I was sitting at the front of the cage, and when he looked at me I stood up and wagged my tail and then I grinned.
“See! See!” cried the man, and he caught the woman by the arm. “It is he! The one we want. His eyes, so full of intelligence! And that smile, for it is a smile. There is our clown dog. Just the one we want!”
He turned and snapped his fingers, and called to the shopman in a quick, sharp voice. ”

“ And then, for the first time, we noticed on the hearthrug a bull-dog. A dog with a more thoughtfully ferocious expression—a dog with, apparently, a heart more dead to all ennobling and civilizing sentiments—I have never seen. As George said, he looked more like some heathen idol than a happy English dog. ”

“ The captain of a vessel informed me that he had once picked up a dog in mid-channel between Brighton and Calais, swimming boldly and strongly towards the French coast. If this dog was endeavouring to make his way back to a beloved master, it was an extraordinary instance of affection.
A few years ago some hounds were embarked at Liverpool for Ireland, and were safely delivered at a kennel far up in that country. ”

“ The studio pet one year was an asthmatic small dog, who had thrown himself upon the artist’s compassion—a grateful, subdued, unassuming object, which, after each spasm of coughing, would look around with a deprecatory expression, as if to apologize for the disturbance. Some intelligent cats, and another small dog, [168] in this instance possessed of vivacious health and spirits, keep the artist’s home lively, and compete with one another for his favor. ”