Monday, August 21, 2017

On Solar Eclipses, Soggy Poop, and why my Dogs Have More Sense than the President

Unless you have been living under a rock, you know that there was a solar eclipse today visible in the US. Where I live in central Indiana we experienced 93% totality of the eclipse.

There have been plenty of articles floating around the internet regarding animals, behavior, safety, and the solar eclipse. Many advocated for keeping your dogs indoors, for fear of eye damage from staring at the sun. Also found in abundance were numerous articles about human eye safety when viewing the eclipse.

I chose to leave my dogs uncrated. I have worked hard to have a set up that allows my dogs to go in and out as they please, and try not to crate them unless absolutely necessary.

Besides, dogs and most other animals instinctively know not to stare at the sun.

Don't look at the sun, Faolan!


Unfortunately, I had to work. Fortunately, I have an awesome job, and was able to witness the eclipse, thanks to some eclipse glasses. It was pretty awesome, and I was able to share the experience with a few of my patients.

Stylin'
Most of today was clear and sunny, perfect for eclipse viewing. But it has been VERY dry here recently. So dry that I haven't had to cut my grass in three weeks. In all truthfulness, I am not complaining, because I have quite a bit of grass to cut.

Soon after the eclipse, the skies clouded up and it began to rain. I was annoyed.

My trash goes out on Tuesday mornings. So every Monday afternoon/evening, I gather up any and all trash and put it in my container before dragging it out to the road.

One of Monday evening chores is to poop scoop the kennel area. I feel like I poop scoop all the time, but I do it every Monday, so the poop can go in the trash before it goes out the following morning.

One of my least favorite things is scooping soggy, water-logged poop. And I had to do it today. It sticks to the scooper, it sticks to the cement, it sticks to the side of the bag I am scooping it into. I swear the dogs all came out and laughed at me as I was doing it. Then Bruce demanded dinner.

Whilst scooping soggy poops, I had some deep thoughts.

MY DOGS HAVE MORE SENSE THAN THE PRESIDENT.

They knew not to stare at the sun. Apparently he didn't, as he was photographed and filmed staring directly at the eclipse without protective eyewear.


The kennel area is scooped, the trash is by the road, and all my dogs' vision is unharmed.

5 comments:

  1. I was at work, too! We hung out outside with 20 dogs and watched it. None of the dogs looked at the sun and none of them acted strangely. The only thing that was interesting was that the birds got super quiet and there was no traffic noises or anything for those couple of minutes.

    As for the president... It's not shocking. :/

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  2. You know Trump. He probably looked at the sun thinking that HE is more powerful than the UNIVERSE.........after all, in HIS world the "stars, moon and the sun, revolve around HIM."

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  3. Lol, what Caren Gittleman said, kinda like Louis XIV ;-) That's cool that you got to see it and had eclipse glasses. I didn't get my hands on any and "watched" it on TV (I wasn't too bummed about it because I have seen a solar eclipse in Germany on my birthday in 1999). I had seen and shared one of those social media posts that suggested keeping dogs inside, but then when I thought about it, I couldn't exactly remember Missy & Buzz EVER staring at the sun, so why would they behave any differently on that one occasion?

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  4. We stayed in the big closet relaxing, we were smarter also.......geeze...mags

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  5. I was kind of surprised to see all those articles about pets and the eclipse...it never even occurred to me that could be an issue!
    I didn't get the glasses (we were at about 65% here I think), but I wish I had. Definitely next time.
    I'd love to see if the chickens would roost during a total though!
    Thanks for the laugh about the president!!
    Jan, Wag 'n Woof Pets

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Thanks for the howls!!