astronomy buffs and/or animal behaviorist help needed

[havocmom]

OK, I am a tad worried about this. (Especially after watching the movie Good Boy two or three times)

From my inbox this week:

Space Weather News for April 21, 2004
http://spaceweather.com
Earth is passing through a stream of dusty debris from Comet Thatcher, the
source of the annual Lyrid meteor shower. The best time to look is during
the hours before dawn on Thursday, April 22nd, when the shower peaks.
Lyrids appear to stream from the vicinity of the bright blue star Vega in
the constellation Lyra high in the northern sky. This is not an intense
shower, but some years it is pretty: northern sky watchers typically see
between 5 and 25 meteors per hour.

While I would have liked to check this out, an allergy attack from hell and the benedryl required to live through it rendered me, well, unable to look up, and very sleepy.

Went to bed a bit earlier than usual. During the night, the #$)%*#&*##! dog woke me up 4 times to let him outside. After the third time, I watched (as best I could) out the window for a few minutes, thinking perhaps he was ill.

He was just sitting out there, looking up.

So, is he reading my email?

[Bill McBlueState]

1. it was cloudy here...

Does your dog normally react to things in the sky?

5 to 25 meteors an hour wouldn't usually get anyone's attention unless they knew what to look for. Who knows for dogs...

[havocmom]

2. He is a retriever and when he was a puppy, confused about the honking

sounds of geese flying over, he finally resorted to looking up. It was pretty funny. He looed everywhere in the yard to try and find the source of the noise and was getting pretty pissed off, growling and grumbling and looking really annoyed. He finally looked up and some bit of doggie genetic behavior was truned on. He does tend to look up where most dogs don't.

But, how did he know about the show in the sky unless he is reading my meails?. That is what really worries me, cuz I often write funny stories about his antics and send to friends.

Guess I may have to program the mail to require password.... I dont' think he can type. (but the cat does...)

[havocmom]

3. Where in the sky is Sirius, 'the dog star'?

and could my mutt know something NASA doesn't?

[Bill McBlueState]

4. you can show it to him tonight!

It sets pretty early, but it's the brightest star in the southwestern sky in the evening. (The bright one in the west/northwest is Venus.)