…not the normal meaning of the phrase, however. By “dog days” I mean what happens in Alaska every year, beginning often in Anchorage, in February and March – dog sled races. Today was day 1 of the Fur Rendezvous, which is a big annual celebration that is about much more than dogs, but it does have a dog race each of three days, starting downtown and wending its way out around the edge of town and back. Today, (there not being much bird activity) after living here for three years, I finally made it downtown to watch them start the races. It was a beautiful crisp sunny day.
Downtown, near the start of the race, the streets were closed off, trucks full of noisy dogs were parked up and down the snowy street, and people were wandering everywhere. Due to our recent snow, I expect they did not have to haul in snow onto the streets as is sometimes the case so that the dogs can haul the sleds. I was there about an hour early and wandered around looking at and listening to the dogs that sound very much like our husky-mix, Caster. The dogs were all leaner however, clearly fine-tuned machines.
As the noon hour start time approached, I found a sunny spot down the race-route a half a block away from the starting point, and watched the various teams approach, one-by-one. It was wonderful to watch them – I love dogs!
Lynn Barber's Birding Blog 