Tips for Dog Owners: Guest Post - My Conversion to Clean Energy

We are average Americans. Average for 40-somethings who found a home and stronghold in the desert paradise of Las Vegas, Nevada. The older kids found degrees, jobs, partners and lives in the Midwest, the youngest is still happily monopolizing 2 of our 5 bathrooms – leaving our family unit a solid three adults. Husband, Wife and Jack our Shih Tzu.

Jack is the key to this story. He’s our 3rd Shih Tzu and probably the most outspoken and opinionated of the lot. Some days, he just seems to be a dog (loafing, chewing toys, more loafing…) but there are other days that he just seems to have a better handle on things than we do. And still other days – when I come home and suspiciously check to mileage on the Corvette – because he’s got that look like he borrowed it to cruise the Vegas Strip. Seriously, Jack is probably guilty – but absolutely smart enough to call GM tech support and roll back the odometer.

As stated – we relocated to Las Vegas. The place where the sun comes to get sun burned. and although we noticed how the dry heat changed our experience around the pool and on our nightly walks – Jack seemed to take even more notice and take offense.

Henry Steinman wrote an article showcasing the unique properties of the Shih Tzu … in it he comments about the breed – “The dog should not spend much time outdoors in hot weather. It’s best to keep the dogs inside in cool air conditioning during periods of extreme heat.” I know this because

A. I read the article on my iPad one afternoon.

B. I found that particular passage highlighted on the same article when I got up for yoga the next morning. (I’m not making any radical conspiracy accusations – just merely saying that if the iPad wants to highlight a passage itself – it is possible). That does not explain why the iPad was sitting on Jack’s bed, laying next to last month’s power bill…. But let’s just keep going.

It is also interesting to me that the Shih Tzu breed share the same home turf as the Solar panel. Seven out of the top ten panel manufacturers are native Chinese companies. (leaving one Canadian, one Korean and only one US manufacturer). It seems strange to modern Americans that a dog breed may have Genealogical Roots reaching to the other side of the globe – but it is an absolute fact.

According to the American Kennel Club website the Shih Tzu breed has been around for at least a thousand years in China and most likely several thousand more in Tibet. The breed barely survived the Communist uprisings and would have been eliminated permanently if not for the efforts of people bringing them home to both Europe and America over the last 80 years. It is hard to imagine that all modern pure-bred Shih Tzu can be traced back to only 14 dogs.

It’s very easy to imagine that several hundred years ago the breed was considered property of royalty only – and any commoner caught with the breed – would be summarily executed. (this particular fact is one that I believe Jack has taken to heart).

Again, no accusations – but there have been several times Jack’s water bowl has been mysteriously replaced with one from the ‘good crystal’ that we only use during the holidays…

So, we combine the dry desert of our new home with a privileged, royal line of ‘emperor only’ dogs... and we can easily see how we need to commit to insuring our home stays a brisk 70 degrees. When we did a solar feasibility assessment on our home – we realized that we had better plan on insuring our home would be the ‘emperor-approved’ environment - indefinitely.

Our system wasn’t cheap or free – so we were torn… my wife said ‘absolutely’ we need to build our own power system so we weren’t reliant on NV Power and Warren Buffet.* on the other hand- I was less enthusiastic and wanted to wait and see how the economy would rebound after this last election. Can’t say for sure – but i’m pretty sure Jack voted independent and was basically indifferent as to the election results.

Regardless, it occurred to me that Jack was voting to go solar all along. Whether it was his genealogical connection to the Chinese who make our worlds transition to solar possible - or just that he figured that energy prices are basically never going down – so not having to rely on Warren Buffet was the logical choice.

Wait, how did I know jack wanted to go solar? Only a Shih Tzu owner knows that this breed can stop in the middle of a room, turn and look into your eyes… and into your soul. These eyes can pierce to your heart and communicate everything from a simple “feed me, stupid – it’s 2 o’clock” to the message that Jack sent me “you have maxed your career earning capacity – so it’s a better idea to make this financial commitment before you are stressed about forced retirement – or the transmission needs work on the corvette”.

Either way – he just looked at me until I made the appointment with Bell Solar and Electric.

Good news, 2-weeks later and with zero dollars out of pocket – we were energy self-sufficient and obviously postured to face the next round of elections & our next scheduled service appointment at TEAM Chevrolet.

To conclude: any good Shih Tzu owner will testify that the above story – although partially embellished – is basically very probable and possible. Except for the part where Jack is registered as an Independent – everyone knows this is basically an impossibility.

Bart J Bowe

Shih Tzu Owner

Solar Advocate

Green Marketing Partners