Luyten's Star is a ninth-magnitude red dwarf and the Solar System's next closest stellar neighbour in the constellation after Procyon.

Though strongly associated with the Classical Greek uranographic tradition, Canis Minor originates from ancient Mesopotamia.

The meaning of MASH.TAB.BA evolved as well, becoming the twin deities Lulal and Latarak, who are on the opposite side of the sky from Papsukkal, the True Shepherd of Heaven in Babylonian mythology.

Canis Minor was also given the name DAR.LUGAL, its position defined as "the star which stands behind it [Orion]", in the MUL.APIN; the constellation represents a rooster.

[5] The Ancient Greeks called the constellation προκυων/Procyon, "coming before the dog", transliterated into Latin as Antecanis, Praecanis, or variations thereof, by Cicero and others.

[9] As a reward for his faithfulness, the dog was placed along the "banks" of the Milky Way, which the ancients believed to be a heavenly river, where he would never suffer from thirst.

[11] Among the Merazig of Tunisia, shepherds note six constellations that mark the passage of the dry, hot season.

[14] Alternative names have been proposed: Johann Bayer in the early 17th century termed the constellation Fovea "The Pit", and Morus "Sycamine Tree".

[16] In Chinese astronomy, the stars corresponding to Canis Minor lie in the Vermilion Bird of the South (南方朱雀, Nán Fāng Zhū Què).

Combined with additional stars in Gemini, Shuiwei represented an official who managed floodwaters or a marker of the water level.

[9] Neighboring Korea recognized four stars in Canis Minor as part of a different constellation, "the position of the water".

In the Society Islands, Procyon was called Ana-tahua-vahine-o-toa-te-manava, literally "Aster the priestess of brave heart", figuratively the "pillar for elocution".

[19][20] The Wardaman people of the Northern Territory in Australia gave Procyon and Gomeisa the names Magum and Gurumana, describing them as humans who were transformed into gum trees in the dreamtime.

[24] The constellation boundaries, as set by Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte in 1930, are defined by a polygon of 14 sides.

Lying 160 ± 10 light-years (49.1 ± 3.1 parsecs) from the Solar System,[33] it is a blue-white main-sequence star of spectral class B8 Ve.

[39] Gamma, Epsilon and Eta Canis Minoris lie nearby,[40] marking the dog's neck, crown and chest, respectively.

[39] Although it has an apparent magnitude of 4.34, Gamma Canis Minoris is an orange K-type giant of spectral class K3-III C, which lies 318 light-years (97 parsecs) away.

[48] Also known as 8 Canis Minoris, Delta2 is an F-type main-sequence star of spectral type F2V and magnitude 5.59 which is 136 light-years (42 parsecs) distant.

[49] The last of the trio, Delta3 (also known as 9 Canis Minoris), is a white main sequence star of spectral type A0Vnn and magnitude 5.83 which is 680 light-years (210 parsecs) distant.

[39][51] A blue-white bright giant of spectral type B8II, Zeta lies around 623 light-years (191 parsecs) away from the Solar System.

[51] Lying 222 ± 7 light-years away with an apparent magnitude of 4.39,[52][53] HD 66141 is 6.8 billion years old and has evolved into an orange giant of spectral type K2III with a diameter around 22 times that of the Sun, and weighing 1.1 solar masses.

[53] A red giant of spectral type M4III, BC Canis Minoris lies around 500 light-years (150 parsecs) distant from the Solar System.

[56] AZ, AD and BI Canis Minoris are Delta Scuti variables—short period (six hours at most) pulsating stars that have been used as standard candles and as subjects to study astroseismology.

[67] YZ Canis Minoris is a red dwarf of spectral type M4.5V and magnitude 11.2,[68] roughly three times the size of Jupiter and 20 light-years (6.1 parsecs) from Earth.

[71] Fainter still is PSS 544-7, an eighteenth-magnitude red dwarf around 20 per cent the mass of the Sun, located 685 light-years (210 parsecs) from Earth.

[82] However, this conclusion has been refuted subsequently as the number of orbits analysed was low and their trajectories too disparate to confirm a link.