Your Pet's Safety During a Solar Eclipse

I'm sure you've all seen this image floating around your social media lately. 

Chalkboard full of lies according to NASA...

Where did it come from? Who wrote it? What are their qualifications? How do they have such cute writing? They must not be a lefty because that chalkboard would look like a watercolor painting if they were... 

These questions may never be answered. 



Some questions that we can answer, however, are about the safety of our pets during a solar eclipse. 
There are many resources for a safe human viewing experience of the solar eclipse over the United States on August 21st, 2017. 


BUT WHAT ABOUT OUR PRECIOUS PETS?! 
WHAT ABOUT THE WILD ANIMALS?! 
DO THEY MAKE SPECIAL GLASSES FOR THEM?! (I should have cashed in on that idea...)

No. Why? Because according to NASA (and common sense), Fluffy will be fine.
Pets are not people. Wild animals are not people. They are not curious children who will ask you questions and want to do a week's worth of lesson plans revolving around the strange thing they saw in the sky on Monday (sorry, teacher here).

To put it simply, animals know better than to look at the sun. 

But don't trust me, trust NASA.

"It's no different than any other day - on a normal day, your pets don't try to look at the sun, and therefore don't damage their eyes, so on this day they're not gonna do it either"

"It's not a concern, letting them outside. ...All that's happened is we've blocked out the sun, it's not more dangerous. ...I'm not going to worry about my cat."

"We know that animals react different at different times of day and we know from anecdotal evidence from previous eclipses that you get animals interacting with that change in light and maybe the change in temperature too"

- Angela Speck


So it comes down to a battle between NASA and an anonymous store chalkboard. 
I'm going to trust the scientists. 

Is there a chance they could look and damage their eyes? There is a chance of anything in this crazy world. Should you worry? No, probably not. 

This is another reminder not to trust everything we see on the internet, no matter how cute the font colors are. 


What we really need to be concerned about during a solar eclipse are not the animals, but the PLANTS.

Picture from IMDB- Little Shop of Horrors (1986)

The Difference Between Service Dogs, Emotional Support Animals, and Therapy Dogs

While I am out volunteering with Andy as a therapy dog team, we often get questions from people about where they can find a service or emotional support dog for someone they love. 
I spend a lot of time explaining that there is a huge difference between what Andy and I do and what they are looking for. 

Andy with his English Setter friends Tru and Eve
 at CSUN's Special Needs Resource Fair 2016

Therapy dogs are pets first. They have gone through a difficult testing and registration process to be insured by an organization. Their temperament must be reliably easy going and pleasant around different noises, animals, and people.  Therapy dogs do not provide a service for their owner; instead they provide comfort and joy to all types of people from nervous airport passengers to hospital patients.  A therapy dog team is 100% volunteer. To become a therapy dog team, the owner must pay for yearly dues and other fees associated with testing and registration. Therapy dogs may only go where they are invited and are not exceptions to animal free housing. Andy and I are members of Alliance of Therapy Dogs.

Ready to go to our first visit at the Ronald McDonald House! 2016

Emotional Support Animals (ESA) are not required to have any training. These animals can help their owners with anxiety, stress, or other psychological issues. ESAs are NOT service animals under title II and III of ADA. A doctor must decide that this animal is needed for the mental health of their patient. Under the Fair Housing Act ESA are allowed to live with their owners in a residence with a no pets policy, however, ESA are not permitted to be taken to all establishments. 

Service dogs include guide dogs, hearing or signal dogs, sensory signal dogs, psychiatric service dogs, and seizure response dogs. These dogs are protected under ADA to be with their handlers in all establishments at all times. Service dogs undergo extensive training to provide support specifically for their designated person and their disability. These are the dogs you may see with vests that say "Don't Pet Me". Please respect that wish and do not distract a service dog. You could be putting their handler's life at risk.



This is the part where I beg that you do not abuse the system and falsely claim that your dog is a service animal. 
Service dogs are in a way, medical equipment for their owners. Their human needs them to live as independently as possible and stay healthy and safe. Please do not disrespect and diminish the hard work and dedication that continuously goes into each service dog because you hate leaving Fluffy home alone. 


Regardless of what your animal may be classified as, all animals are still required to follow vaccination and licensing laws. Be sure that your pet is up to date!