Lyra

    This article is about my dog, Lyra. Her name is used in the name of this blog.

Lyra sitting on the couch.

    Lyra is not a name from my imagination. It is used as the name of the Girl in the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman, named Lyra Belacqua, and for a small constellation shaped in an instrument called a lyre. Vega, the fifth brightest star in the sky and a corner of the summer triangle, is one of the stars in the Lyra constellation. Vega is also called Alpha Lyrae or Alpha Lyra.
    My family named our dog after both. Her birthday is at the 24th of October so she is now 20 dog years old(a dog year is 1/7 of a year, or 52 days).
    Her breed is a Flat-coated Retriever. They are dogs the size of a Labrador. They have a shiny coat with feathering on the belly, tail, and ears and the coat is usually black but can be brown or even yellow.
    I think Flat-coated retrievers are cute because of their rounded paws and floppy ears. She sticks them out to the sides sometimes and it makes me laugh. Probably any dog owner would say so, but I think my dog is cute and beautiful.
    Lyra does funny things too. Sometimes she groans and paws around in her sleep because she is having a dream. If someone throws a ball at her and she doesn't catch it the ball will bounce off of her jaw or go somewhere else and she would scramble around crazily trying to get the ball.
    Flat-coats were bred in England, like many other breeds. Some breeds of dogs are called gun dogs because they are good at scenting and retrieving, and flat-coats are listed as gun dogs.
    This breed, before it was established, was used by gamekeepers because of its incredible scenting ability. When the breed was officially recognised, numbers of Flat-coats grew much higher. However, the Golden Retreiver was bred alongside it, and that got so much more popular that by the end of World War II there were so few Flat-coated Retreivers that the breed was almost extinct. Beginning in the 1960's, they gained more popularity as a companion pet and the Flat-coated Retreiver was re-established.
    Most types of dogs don't like water. But Lyra likes breaking the rules and chasing ducks in the creek. And she didn't mind when she had fleas and we had to hose her down with some special shampoo. She loves water.
    Well, her sister hates water. so maybe not all Flat-coats love it.
    Her favourite game is tug-of-war. And she is so strong that she actually breaks her toys. So she has to use the toys lying around the house.
    There are a lot more things I can say about Lyra, but I don't want this post getting too long, so I'll just say that she's a good, friendly companion and that I love her.