Insect and Spider Identification: CLOSED: pretty bee?, 1 by NHVineLover

NHVineLover wrote:
It's awfully pretty, but I'd never noticed one around here before. I looked it up in the bug files, and it seems to look most like a sweat bee. Am I right? And if it is, just WHY is it named sweat bee?
By the way, I seem to have an infestation of, perhaps, bees that travel in and out from under my siding. They don't stay still so I can't get a picture of them, but they've piled up on one of my dogs twice now and she is alergic and swells up and requires medical treatment immediately.
They seem terribly agressive although they look, in passing, like simple honey bees. Could they be, and if so how do I get rid of them? I don't want to tear the house apart, but simple sprays have done no good, and I'm at my wit's end.
Two weeks ago they were quite small. Now they're quite a bit larger and meaner! They look sort of fuzzy, therefore the thought that they're bees? Is this typical?
Oh, well, here's the picture of the nice green one!