Have you ever come across a term or phrase you have heard many times before, understand what it is referring to, but then find yourself wondering where exactly this choice of words comes from? A friend of mine wrote to me over the summer and mentioned how she was, despite the associated heat, enjoying these «dog days of summer». I looked up and over at our dogʼs beanbag, where she can often be found gently snoring, and thought, but why «dog days»? What is it that the dogs are
doing that means we name a whole bunch of days after them?

A quick flurry of research firstly revealed what I already knew: the «dog days» refer to the later part of summer when the daylight hours are many and the heat that accumulates hardly seems to ease. Energy is sapped and laziness prevails. Well this fits so far to the favourite pastime of my own hound, curled up neatly and only occasionally summoning up enough strength to open one eye, maybe even raise her head, if she hears someone open the cheese box.

Sheʼll sometimes stand pointedly by the balcony door, waiting for us to lay out a rug in a sunny spot; and after a few, sweltering minutes sunbathing, returns indoors to seek the comparative coolness of the parquet floor. And dogs have indeed got it right; letʼs not do more than we need to when the mercuryʼs up and you break into a sweat just bending to get up from the sofa.

But thereʼs more to it than the wisdom of manʼs best friend. Further rooting about in search engine results informed me that this hot phase of long days around the end of July coincides with the rising of the star Sirius before the sun appears in the sky (Harry Potter fans amongst us may have just experienced a small moment of enlightenment, like I did).

Sirius is known as the dog star due to its proximity to the Greater Dog Constellation, Canis Major. The sultry summer days were initially referred to by Romans and Ancient Greeks as those of the dog star, and have over time simply become known as the «dog daysʼ of summer». Itʼs a happy coincidence, then, that our furry friends are also the ones who know how best to get through them: get up and out early, keep off the tarmac* and then lie flopped on your side for the rest of the day.

And dog owners of Höngg, like an unofficial tribe, are the ones to be found – amongst the odd sports person or exhausted parent sent out for a spin with little one in the buggy – treading the comfortably shady paths in the forests of Hönggerberg behind the Schützenhaus and beyond Restaurant Grünwald, or otherwise for a cooling splash along the river Limmat as it flows through our part of town.

We know which routes to take to ensure we come across a spot with drinking water for the two- and four-legged alike, and there are nods of understanding as we pass each other on our early morning expeditions. Höngg caters excellently to the needs of dogs, and indeed to anyone seeking relief from the summerʼs intensity; there is a lot of leafy cover in the extensive woodlands, a great number of Zürichʼs over 1200 historical and beautifully sculpted stone and wooden fountains, and a whole community of canine friends who know only too well the best way to spend these dog days of summer.

*If you cannot comfortably hold the back of your hand on tarmac for at least five seconds, the surface is too dangerous for a dogʼs paws.