Sunglasses Day

June 27.  Sunglasses day.  As you might imagine, it was a bit of a circus getting this photo.  Note that my feet are green.  That's because I did a half hour of retrieving before the photo. My human figured I would then be calm enough to take the photo.  That plan didn't work.  This was one of 1328 photos - none of which she was totally happy with.  Probably because in 1326 of the photos, I refused to look at the camera.  

These glasses are obviously human glasses.  But you know, you CAN get dog sunglasses.  Seriously.  They look like goggles.  I want a pair.  I’ll put them on the Christmas list.  I also found these mesh dog glasses that are also supposed to protect your eyes.  They look a bit like those sleep masks that humans wear.  You wouldn’t catch me wearing those.

But this whole sunglass topic got me looking into whether we long-haired dogs even NEED eye protection. I always thought that our hair protected us from dust, dirt and sun.  And that’s what I’ve read in books about PONs.  Imagine my surprise when I found that there is a HUGE amount of controversy about the topic – when it comes to Old English Sheepdogs.  Some claim that having hair over the eyes is detrimental to the OES – and can cause eye damage.  A number of sources say that Sheepdogs should wear their hair in a topknot, unless they are in a dog show. Those sources claim that dogs with hair over their eyes can’t see as well – their vision is occluded by the hair.

Now being the non-confrontational, somewhat democratic PON that I am (remember, I am still thinking about running for politics), I don’t want to stir the pot on this subject.  HOWEVER…I DO wonder how anyone REALLY knows the answer to the question about whether we dogs can see as well with hair covering our eyes. Has anyone done a scientific experiment looking at this?  If not, who do I see about having it done?  I mean I WILL wear my hair up – and I have some great bars to hold up my hair, but I also like the “au naturel” look too.  So who do I see about having this research funded?  When you look at some of the stuff that gets funded – well this is CLEARLY an important issue.  Or maybe the research has been done – but I just couldn’t find it.

Anyway, in the meantime, I will still be a half and half dog.  Half the time my hair is up – and half the time I have the shaggy look.  And I WILL keep those goggles on my Christmas list!

Hope your day is sunny – so you get to wear those sunglasses!

©  Linda Wozniak