The Dog Days of Summer

As the summer heats up and becomes unbearably hot for some of us, I was wondering about the expression "dog days of summer". What exactly are the "dog days"?

The phrase "dog days of summer" describes the period of time between July 3 and August 11 each year. Though some people attribute the origin of the phrase to the fact that the hot days cause dogs to go crazy, the name is actually a reference to the fact that, during this time, the Sun occupies the same region of the sky as Sirius, the "Dog Star". It was once believed that the star somehow conspired with the Sun to make the days hotter.