‘Now came the dog days—day after day of hot, still summer, when for hours at a time light seemed the only thing that moved…’ A narrative of peace from Richard Adams’ 1972 novel: ‘Watership Down’ during the interval when Hazel and his fellow rabbits were settling into their new home.

Some Greeks believed that the dog days of summer began when the Dog Star Sirius, thus the name, popped into the night sky on the 19^th of July each year. Homer grimly stated that the appearance of the star ‘brought evil portent, …heat and fevers.’

The Old Farmer’s Almanac places the dog days from 3 July through August 11. Others put them from 23 July through 23 August.

Source: Watership Down by Richard Adams, 1972. Iliad by Homer. The Old Farmer’s Almanac. Graphic: Dog Days, AI generated, 2024.