Dog days at The Barrel. Four-legged contestants and their humans gather on The Barrel’s beer garden patio Sunday for a Dog Days of Summer pageant. About a dozen dogs competed for prizes in categories including best dressed, best trick, best rescue story, cutest puppy and best voice. Credit: Patti Brown / Estes Valley Voice

The dog days of summer went to the dogs Sunday at The Barrel.

Ingrid and Lou Bush, owners of The Barrel, invited four-legged friends and their humans to celebrate the waning days of summer with an afternoon of canine competition on the beer garden’s patio.

About a dozen dogs strutted, barked, and showed off for a juried pageant, competing for prizes in categories including best dressed, best trick, best rescue story, cutest puppy, and best voice.

Some contestants relied on talent. Others relied on a great outfit, an irresistible face, or a bark that demanded the judges’ attention.

Dry Dock Brewing, Left Hand Brewing, and Bootstrap Brewing sponsored the event, and the Estes Valley Voice got in on the fun by sponsoring the best dog voice for the dog who could howl, sing, or bark the best, with a gift certificate to Estes Park Pet Supply. The competition in every category was dog-eat-dog.

And although “dog days” might sound like the perfect excuse for a canine party, the phrase has been around for thousands of years.

The dog days traditionally refer to the hottest stretch of summer. According to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, they run from July 3 through Aug. 11 each year in the Northern Hemisphere.

The expression has its roots in ancient skywatching and Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky. Known as the “Dog Star” because it is part of the constellation Canis Major, or Greater Dog, Sirius once appeared to rise in the eastern sky just before the sun during the hottest part of summer.

The “Dog Days” traditionally refer to the 40-day period from July 3 through Aug. 11, when Sirius — the “Dog Star” and brightest star in the night sky — rises around the same time as the sun. Sirius is part of Canis Major, or the Greater Dog, a constellation whose appearance in the early morning sky has been associated with summer’s hottest days since ancient times. Nearby is Messier 41, or M41, a bright open star cluster visible to the naked eye under dark skies. It lies about four degrees south of Sirius, adding another notable feature to this region of the summer sky. Credit: Photo illustration/Estes Valley Voice

Ancient civilizations associated the star’s appearance with the season’s oppressive heat and believed its brilliance intensified the sun’s heat — hence the “dog days” of summer.

Sirius, however, isn’t responsible for the heat.

Summer temperatures are driven by the Earth’s axial tilt, and the hottest weather typically arrives after the summer solstice because of a phenomenon known as thermal lag. Land, and especially oceans, take time to absorb the sun’s energy and then release that heat, pushing peak summer temperatures into July and August.

But on Sunday afternoon at The Barrel, no one needed an astronomy lesson to know why they were called the dog days. For a dozen Estes Park pooches, it really was their day. And each one was a star.