Dog Days of Summer
The ancient Greeks thought of the constellation Canis Major as a dog, with the star Sirius as its nose, who chased the hare Lepus. Dog days occurred when Sirius appeared to rise just before the sun, in late July. These days were the hottest time of the year, and could cause fever, drought, sudden thunderstorms, bad luck, or other catastrophes.
In modern times, we no longer believe that dog days are times of misfortune. But Picasso and Audrey are re-inventing the meaning of dog days in our new house. It is a time to show off their latest tricks, much to the dismay of their pet parents. Picasso showed us that he can sit just out of reach under the stairs of the back deck. Treats don't coax him out of hiding. He only responds to "Road trip!" I'm afraid that he'll eventually figure out that we're lying, and we won't see him again til next spring.
Audrey's new trick is even more annoying. The bedrooms in the new house are carpeted. Audrey can smell out old history, so she leaves her pee marks in the exact same spots as the previous owners' dogs to express her annoyance when her daddy doesn't share his food with her. I treat and steam vac the same spots over and over, and Audrey just laughs at me. The best solution we found so far is to close the bedroom doors. We bought a super-duper deep clean steam vac yesterday, so today I'll try to remove the smell -- again (if I can figure out how to put the silly thing together). I'm hoping that new technology and time will win, and as she settles down into our new home, she'll abandon this trick and find something else to make us tear our hair out.
Keep your fingers crossed for us.
