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May 16, 2013

My Dog, The Solar Panel

Eko can romp with the best of them in the winter.  He loves bounding through the snow, and with his jacket and boots on, Eko is happy to play his head off.  While winter is great, Eko’s one true love is summer.  He can ditch the jacket and boots

Eko can romp with the best of them in the winter.  He loves bounding through the snow, and with his jacket and boots on, Eko is happy to play his head off.  While winter is great, Eko’s one true love is summer.  He can ditch the jacket and boots and participate in his favorite activity – sunbathing.  After a long, gray winter, the sun is back and Eko couldn’t be happier.

Rhodesian RIdgeback, pet adventure, dog blog, pet photos

The sun first enters my apartment through the side window, and Eko is always there to greet it with his nose raised

Rhodesian RIdgeback, pet adventure, dog blog, pet photos

Eko is a reliable sun dial.  He follows the path of the sun throughout the day and in the late afternoon moves to the front window to catch the last light of the day

The past few days here in Chicago have been hot and sunny with some humidity.  The dog park, normally a lively urban jungle, has been quieted by the sudden heat wave.  For dogs and human alike, it seems that the name of the game is “hide in the shade.”

Rhodesian RIdgeback, pet adventure, dog blog, pet photos

Too hot for this little guy

While the rest of us sought shelter from the sun, Eko carefully picked out the biggest patch of sunlight he could find and then happily flopped down to sunbathe on the hot asphalt.

Rhodesian RIdgeback, pet adventure, dog blog, pet photos

I swear Eko must be part reptile.  No matter how hot it is, he loves laying in the sun

Rhodesian RIdgeback, pet adventure, dog blog, pet photos

Eko stretched out to maximize his solar accumulation 

At this point, I have to conclude that Eko is a solar panel.  I guess that’s where he gets all his energy from!  Now I just need scientists to figure out away to get that energy to run my car.  Get on that one for me, science.

Anyone else have a solar powered pet?

Comments for My Dog, The Solar Panel

  1. Tiffany F. says:

    Hmmm.. it seems like lying in the hot sun while trying to cool down on the concrete is a bit counter intuitive. Haha

  2. taylorjen says:

    Water powered here. Eko has those solar powered genes from the intense African sun whereas Taylor (vivacious Lab) seeks & finds any available water- puddle, pool, pond, or ocean & it doesn’t matter how cold the water temp is. She just dives right in- all with good intentions, I suppose, to assist with any fishing nets! 🙂

  3. Boomer loves to get some time in every day on the deck. I’m always afraid he’ll get too hot and force him to come inside after a bit.

  4. Sage says:

    Sage can generate so much of her own heat that she doesn’t need the sun! Actually, she is at her best in the winter when it’s cool. Maybe it’s the difference between a lighter-colored coat and a black one.

  5. gdjoken says:

    Yeah, we live in the desert and even when it’s 110 degrees in the middle of summer, you’ll still find our two black labs sunbathing. I don’t know how they do it!

  6. Arri is also a little solar panel. She moves around our fifth-wheel, laying near different windows throughout the day to soak up the sun that streams in.

  7. Marcela says:

    Lol. Eko and Alex are the same. Many times I have to move her away from the window because she is getting too much sun.

  8. Jura says:

    Maybe it’s his African roots? We knew two Rhodesian Ridgebacks in Sudan (albeit bred in the UK and Switzerland) and our little Sudanese Hound who all love to bask in the sun. Hanoi was 105 degrees yesterday and yet the hound was still requesting to leave the air con to go lie on the balcony only when sufficiently overheated would she come back in!

  9. emma says:

    Those Ridgebacks are so funny, they love to have as much heat as they can find. Our friend in Germany had to carry around a blanket for their Ridgebacks to lie on when we went out to eat as they did not like the cold floor but when it was warm out, they baked past the well done stage!

  10. No Eko is a sun god like our Archie :-). Have a fab weekend guys from the UK moggies and humans xx

  11. I’m glad Eko is a south african breed and not from china, they have a punitive duty on chinese solar panels :o)

  12. Your post made me think of one thing that I’m sure you’ll recognize: the “THUD” sound when they lie down, haha!

  13. Clowie says:

    I keep to the shade as much as possible!

  14. Misaki says:

    Hahaha maybe he’s half reptilian!

  15. […] Will wrote another entertaining post (here) about Eko being a sun-worshipper – and Jet wanted to show some solidarity (and some parts […]

  16. Steven/Buddy says:

    Oh yeah, Buddy needs his 10-15 mins in the sun everyday, Buddy lays on his back with his four paws up in the air, and sunning his belly. The first time I saw him do this I couldn’t stop laughing at him, still to this day I will laugh when he does this. But I did get worried about him getting sunburned on spots where he had less hair, so I talked with my vet and will try to remember to put suntan lotion on those spots a SPF 30.
    Will & Eko, maybe you could set up an email address, for we could send in pictures of our dogs, and maybe once a week post some of the really funny ones, so everyone could see what others are talking about with there dogs to ? I know it would be a lot of work for you and Eko to do. Just a thought ?

  17. Boomdeeadda says:

    I wonder if it’s a little because Eko is so lean that he loves to keep warm, oddly, even on the hot pavement. I can’t imagine how warm that is. Blossum and Petals being black always surprise me by hanging in their cat tree in a sunny window. You’d think they’d be too warm. Maybe they’re like those yogi’s that can slow their pulse down or something. 😀

  18. onebluedog says:

    Wow, Eko likes being warm even more than I do! I think he and my Schroeder kitty would get along very well; Schroedie is always looking for a good sun puddle 🙂

  19. Phoenix says:

    I love your blog, the photos are great and you’ve got a flair for narration! Eko is such a cooperative pooch for you, at least what you catch on camera.

    We have been referring to Benny as “the solar-powered puppy” recently. He’s mostly black but even when he’s been running in the sun, panting and guzzling water, he’ll stretch out in the sun in the middle of the day.

    It may interest you to know that in Stanley Coren’s book, “How Dogs Think: What the World Looks Like to Them and Why They Act the Way They Do” (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13462.How_Dogs_Think), he mentions that dogs can feel cold but not heat – it’s just a different sensation to them. This may have something to do with our solar-powered puppies.

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