Flash burn - dogs? (2023 Update)

I wouldn't count on it. They may be man's best friend, but on a good day, they're not much smarter than a 2-year old.

Screens are fairly cheap. Even a painter's canvas dropcloth on a 3/4" EMT frame would solve this problem. The chain worked too...

JLD

Have you ever seen a dog staring at the sun? If it doesn't involve food I think the dog would loose interest real quick.

Just my two cents...

Eide

I must agree. My dogs look at me for about 2 seconds. If I'm not passing out dog cookies, they're off laying in the sun fast asleep. That gives me an idea. He could just put a container of dog treats

180 degrees behind where he's welding. The dog will look at the treats and keep his back turned to the flash. :)

rvb

What a funny post. Honest and concerned, yet funny.

I like the dog bone idea best. You might have problems though if you are taking advice from another post and are trying to roast hot dogs on your electodes. :)

Scott

I have to agree. Either way a dog is going to get burned I think. :)

rvb

I can picture a dog setting there and watching you weld. I'd be more afraid the dog would come over after you finished welding ,step on something hot and burn his feet.

UV doesn't hurt when it is creating the flash burn. The pain only comes later, usually the next day, after the damage is done. The animal, or a small child, is unlikely to associate the two events. So they won't automatically learn to avoid the arc.

Note that UV is invisible, so the normal instinctive mechanisms of pupil contraction and blinking aren't invoked.

The arc is bright in the visible spectrum too, but not so bright that it is painful to look at from a reasonable distance (*not* welding distance, of course, but say 10 feet or more). So there is no instinctive reaction to blink or look away. You still can get a UV burn from it at the greater distance though. Beyond about 100 feet, the oxygen in the air attenuates the shortwave UV enough to prevent a burn from short casual exposures to normal welding arc intensities.

You need to make arrangements so that animals, young children, and fool adults don't have the opportunity to stare at the arc at distances less than about 100 feet. Much beyond that, you don't have to worry if they happen to glance at the arc, the UV will be attenuated enough to prevent flash burns.

Gary

Most animals, including cats and dogs, have much less "built in" UV protection than humans (who don't have all that much). My dog likes to be in the shop but is expelled during welding and plasma cutting.

Ted

Safer to block the glare.

Dogs have a unique perspective of things. If you can't eat it, f**k it, or tear it up, piss on it.

Really? Why is it that my dog can look up at me on a bright, sunny day, with the sun behind me without squinting at all? I understand their pupils have a far bigger range than ours, but . . .

Eide

the above may sound sarcastic, but it is not intended.

Hahahaha. Words to live by! I often wish I was more like my dogs. :)

rvb

Get him a pair of Doggles.

That's great! I think my hamster needs some too.

Welding produces a lot of short wavelength UV. So does the sun but the ozone layer absorbs a lot of it. Animal eyes (including ours) are quite well adapted to dealing with the sun but not welding. Also, short lived animals have less adaptation to dealing with UV. Since damage from UV tends to be cumulative, less protection is acceptable from an evolutionary standpoint.

Ted

If you have a Border Collie, "herd it" is at the top of the list. We often have visitors with a lot of kids. Our dog knows where every one is at all times or we hear about it.

Ted

Would the doogles auto darkening, or do you have to teach Rover to lower the shield like a pro? If I know my dogs, which both have their on personality's, Boscoe will want to make sure that everything is going all right and be right in the midst of the job, so he would want auto darkening doogles. Now Elvis P, now there is a totally deferent story. He has a lot of places to go and check on, and be the supervisor of. So I'm pretty sure that he would just want the hand held shield version, well it would have to be converted to one that he would hold in his mouth, being as dogs don't have any thumbs. Never ends to frustrate Boscoe not having any thumbs. You ever try to run a bead with a wire welder with no thumbs? Poor ole Boscoe Bear howls through the night in utter anguish of not being able to run a decent weld. All because evolution let hem with no thumbs.

"One out of four people in the U.S. of A. suffer from being mentally unbalanced. The next time you are with three people, and they look and act normal; Guess who is the one that might be two tacos short of a combo plate?"

John Ernst

When I was welding my dog was more than 40 ft or more away and it was obstacles in between us so he didn't get direct light but I still think he has flash burn what's this what would a safe distance to keep him away would be and how can I tell for sure that he has it is his eyes look funny

I put my dog in the house where there's NO chance he can watch the arc . I consider anything less to be animal abuse .