Tag: pets

Am I putting my dog at risk? Is my dog putting me at risk? These are some of the first questions a dog owner might ask regarding the corona virus. A trending question on Google is “can dogs get corona­virus?”. The standard answer, found on sites from the American Veterinary Medical Association to the American Kennel Club, is COVID-19 is not believed to be a health threat to dogs, and there is no evidence that they transmit the disease to humans.

The principle of online plenitude demands that everything exists on the internet, so you know that at least one study that covid 19 originated in dogs is reported on the internet (here). The news article about the study says that health professionals have expressed skepticism at its underlying science. I found that the most noteworthy aspect of the study was that it focused on the “zinc finger antiviral protein”, or ZAP. This allowed the news article to contain the interesting phrase, “This suggests that SARS-CoV-2 may have evolved in a new host (or new host tissue) with high ZAP expression”.

My own research points to the opposite conclusion: having a dog actually decreases your risk of contracting the virus. I plotted the percentage of households that have a dog (by state) against the number of Covid 19 cases per million people in that state. The results are compelling—the fewer dogs per household exist in a state, the more covid cases per capita! Figures don’t lie, gents:

Product reviews

Speaking of zinc finger antiviral protein, as a dog owner during the time of coronavirus, you know that one of the most urgent problems we face is how to get the poop bag off the roll and open without licking your fingers. These things are nearly impossible to open with your bare hands unless your hands are greasy (which they won’t be, because you have just washed them six times before going walkies), or wet. And how in the world can you wet your fingers if you can’t lick them because you have a face mask on!?

You could put your finger inside the mask and lick it (I know, I’ve done it), but that of course defeats the whole purpose of the mask. You might as well dip your finger in a vial of coronavirus saliva.

But fortunately, there is a solution. Costco carries Finger Pads for the very reasonable price of $3.78 per dozen, and their supplies have not (as yet!) been decimated by panicked hoard-buying. These helpful tools are ideal for separating the thin plastic of a commercial doggie poop bag roll. As near as I can tell, the original use of these handy items was to help in separating close-clinging pieces of paper, from back in the days before your time, when offices actually had papers in them. They must have had a huge stockpile when the paperless office was invented, so they are now able to offer them so cheap. In “standard” and “deluxe” varieties.

Helpful hints

Sneeze Guard. Here’s a new use for an item you almost certainly have lying around, if you are anything but the newest newbie dog owner: that clear plastic anti-lick cone your vet made you buy when you brought your pooch in for (whatever). Your pup hated it, and you stopped using it almost immediately, but you were determined that you would never shell out good money for another one, so you hid it in the back of your closet just in case.

Well, good news! That cone makes an ideal sneeze guard! Used in conjunction with a face mask or all alone, it will keep those nasty covid germs from getting all in your face, not least because you will be too embarrassed to get within shouting distance of anyone while you were wearing it.

Kathleen agreed to model it for this blog post. Originally she was reluctant, until I reminded her that I already had a picture of her wearing a colander on her head that I could use instead, and she didn’t want that aired because it looked silly. Notice that, unlike with a face mask, you can be perfectly safe and still enjoy a nice cup of coffee. Or, of course, lick your fingers to open a poop bag for Fido.

Covid-conscious leash length calculator. Social distancing rules tell you to stay at least six feet away from anyone other than the people (or dogs!) you live with. But what does that mean for the length of the leash you use during walkies? Most of the other people you meet on your walk will also be dog owners (because, really, who else would brave the foul and pestilent congregation of vapors outdoors, except a dog-walker?), and even if you and he or she honor the six-foot rule, your dogs won’t care about it.

You might think at first a three-foot leash is sufficient, because if your have three feet, and your fellow dog-walker has three feet, then you’ll still be six feet away when your dogs touch noses, right? Wrong!

The real risk of violating social space is when your dogs are done with nose-touching, and move on (as you know they will) to butt-sniffing. Then, depending on the orientation and length of your dog, even with a standard three-foot leash, you could find that the other dog’s head is less than three feet away from you, which means that the other human will be less than six feet away from you!

The solution is simple. The length of your leash should be:

leash length = (collar-to-butt dog length) + 3 feet

If all dog walkers will stick to this formula, we’ll all stay safe!

That’s all for now from Trentin Quarantino! Keep sniffing, but not too hard!

Have you bought anything from the Post Office yet? They continue to work to provide a vital (if old-fashioned) life-line to all of us currently Cowering in Place, despite deep financial problems.

If we all just bought a book of stamps from the Post Office, they’d be out of their financial straits. Think about it—if we don’t do it, who will? It looks like our government won’t!

The Post Office doesn’t yet have any Covid stamps, but they have a couple that look like the coronavirus. Sort of. Give ’em a try!

Thanks,
Dorn
4/19/2020