Help me stop accidentally hurting my dog

I wear UGG boots in winter because it’s fucking cold.

I also wrap myself in a blanket on the couch, and have a lovely area rug so I don’t have to walk on a cold floor. All these things are necessary to survive the winter; my house isn’t well insulated.

The problem with all this, is that I build up a static charge. So when I go to pat my beautiful sweetheart of a dog, I zap him. It’s audible and I’m sure, quite unpleasant. Often on the head. He obviously doesn’t like that, I think he’s taking it personally, and I feel awful. It completely cancels out the affection I’m trying to show him.

So the question for the Lemmy community is:

How do I discharge the static before I pat my dog? I have started shocking my partner (which he doesn’t like, but accepts over the alternative), before patting my dog. But as he’s out tonight, I have no human vessel to offer as tribute?

What can I touch in my house before patting my dog so that he doesn’t receive a shock?

Edit: standard Australian house and furniture

Another edit: I’m all the sheets to the wind so the engineering advice is not sinking in. But I’m loving the immediate response that I’d never have gotten on Deaddit.

Again: I can’t stop giggling at how helpful everyone is being and how short m, drunk and silly I am, in a house with apparently no metal

And again: I should probably take me and my baby to bed now, but a big thank you to everyone who replied. You’ve all been lovely. Lemmy is really a different space to ask these questions! I’ll be trying out many of your suggestions over the weekend; big thanks from me and my boy x

Final: thanks to everyone who responded. I did try the kitchen tap again last night and this time it worked! Mustn’t have built up enough charge when I tried the night I posted. I will still primarily zap my partner’s leg as it’s usually closer and doing it makes me laugh. It’s important he understands where he fits in the household hierarchy as well. I also learnt that American houses are very different (screws and radiators everywhere!) so that was interesting too.

Rentlar,

A metal doorknob works for me usually.

magiccupcake,

Buy a object like a lamp that has 3 prongs and exposed metal. Before you pet your dog touch the lamp. 3 prongs so thats it’s grounded.

Also when you touch your dog for the first time touch him on his body with you whole hand at once, it’ll spread the shock over a larger area and be less painful.

qtj,

You can look for ESD heel & shoe straps. They are relatively cheap and help you discharge while walking around or buy shoes that are ESD rated in the first place.

Kyle,

I’ve read all the responses here and am horrified that you seem to live in an ungrounded plastic bubble. Is that a Canberra thing? Or can’t even find a small metal object the size of a coin to make discharging painless, how why?

If it’s an old house there should be tonnes of metal things to touch.

Corners of walls, radiators or central air vents or return air vents, screws on switches or power outlets, furniture with metal bits on it, sinks taps and water fixtures with metal parts, thermostat, fireplace casing.

Literally touch everything and report back.

boogetyboo,
@boogetyboo@aussie.zone avatar

Not an old houuse (2015 build), not sure if we have coins but I’ll check…

No vents in reach and certainly no radiators, no screws… No metal furniture… No screws… The sink didn’t work… No fireplace.

I’m not in Coober Pedy but may as well be it seems!

HedonismB0t,

There’s really not a single screw holding the covers on your light switches?

some_guy,

My partner has this problem a lot. The fridge zaps her pretty often (metal door and handle). There must be a metal surface somewhere on yours? Maybe the shelves? Or the stove / oven?

ETA: As a person who occasionally kicks my kitties when I go to the bathroom in the dark, I sympathize. It’s a terrible feeling when you startle or hurt them. Luckily, they seem to know that I’m a clumsy idiot and accept my immediate apologies.

dan,
@dan@upvote.au avatar

If you have a desktop computer with a metal case, touch the case.

insomniac,
@insomniac@sh.itjust.works avatar

Go to the hardware store and buy a metal pipe to use as a walking stick

SatansInteriorDsgnr,

Anti-static keychain! They’re small, cheap, and buyable on Amazon. You basically just touch it and it discharges the static without hurting. Life saver for me, my hair builds up a lot of static and I used to shock myself and family all the time.

boogetyboo,
@boogetyboo@aussie.zone avatar

Oooh maybe that’s the goods!

rautapekoni,

A keychain you carry in your pocket is somehow supposed to discharge your static charge? I’m sorry, but electricity does not work like that. Unless the keychain has a ground wire of course, but the things image search showed me are just as effective as touching coins in your pocket.

Lith,

I don’t know about keychains, but antistatic wrist straps are absolutely a thing and are very important for people who regularly work with electronic hardware. But I think you’re right in that these devices use a ground wire. There’s also antistatic bags, but again, it just protects what’s inside, and doesn’t discharge you unless it’s touching something else it can discharge to, I believe. Ultimately these are tools used mostly to prevent you from building up static while you work, and not really something you could just wear around the house.

SatansInteriorDsgnr,

I dunno man. All I know is that this is very similar to the one I had (www.ebay.com/itm/404424220236) and it always worked for me. Just trying to help a person with a suggestion…

rautapekoni,

I’m no expert in the field, but my limited experience would say that the potential difference just cannot be discharged by something you hold in your hand and not connected somewhere to complete a circuit. No matter what is inside that dongle.

el_gringo_loco,

I’ve lived in Denver for the past 15 years or so, this is a problem I relate to. If you live in a house or apartment with drywall, it turns out that the corners are made of metal under the plaster. For years I have discharged myself by bumping my forearms against the corner of a wall before flipping a light switch to avoid a painful shock on the tips of my fingers

Kyle,

Yeah wall corners are often metal and the paint on it seems to soften the discharge.

CmdrShepard,

A stove, washing machine or other large electrical appliance with a metal case and grounding pin on the plug should work too. The chassis is connected to an earth ground.

HurlingDurling,

No metal? Get some Megadeath albums to fix that.

Here in the us there are certain fabric sprays that help with static buildup, so there might be some alternative over there in Australia.

A humidifier will also work but is pricier in comparison.

Lastly you can wrap a cover cable to your anke and burry the other side in the ground 😆

boogetyboo,
@boogetyboo@aussie.zone avatar

Does mumbling ‘the ace of spades’ to myself over and over work? Because I was already doing that due to playing cards earlier

omalaul,

Contrary to popular belief the metal is in the mustache, not the lyrics. I think there was a mythbuster episode about it or something

Summzashi,

An while you’re at it get a band that’s not shit

scytale,

I always get zapped when touching anything metal during the winter, so what I do is touch the drywall first before touching something I know will trigger the charge. Seems to work for me.

boogetyboo,
@boogetyboo@aussie.zone avatar

I do have walls… I’ll try that

Mothra,
@Mothra@mander.xyz avatar

How about a chain, mate? You can get one at Bunnings by the metre. You can place this somewhere convenient and touch it with the quarter as another commenter said. Not sure if carrying one in your pocket and casually dragging it on the floor would work.

Alternatively just stick a fork in a plant pot, that’ll do for grounded metal I hope

boogetyboo,
@boogetyboo@aussie.zone avatar

Hahaha this is the most confusing comment yet. Where are you???

itsathursday,

Straya for sure

Mothra,
@Mothra@mander.xyz avatar

Sydney I hope

boogetyboo,
@boogetyboo@aussie.zone avatar

No quarters in Canberra!

Mothra,
@Mothra@mander.xyz avatar

Neither here, try the house keys or any coin then, something’s gotta work

colournoun,

A fork in a pot is definitely not a grounded earth connection. The electrical circuit needs to go back to the actual planet Earth.

A copper cold water pipe coming into the house from outside is a good choice, as are ground terminals on electrical equipment.

krigo666,

Simple, just touch the ground. That’s what your dog conducts to. Just take the dog out the equation.

boogetyboo,
@boogetyboo@aussie.zone avatar

I like him in the equation though?

What ground? The floor? Carpet?? Do I have to go outside? It’s raining

Papanca,

This sentence made me lol!

On a more serious note: when i remember to do it, i take my keys - which are always in my pocket - and touch a metal door knob with them.

Papanca,

Or the tap

boogetyboo,
@boogetyboo@aussie.zone avatar

Tap didn’t work, but I have metal door handles… But my keys aren’t usually in my pocket when I’m drinking on the couch watching Germany defeat USA in the basketball

elxeno,

Whatever the dog is standing on when it gets shocked, if u touch that u discharge directly instead of going though the dog.

NatakuNox,
@NatakuNox@lemmy.world avatar

Dryer sheets and fabric softener will reduce the potential for stadic electricity in your fabrics.

boogetyboo,
@boogetyboo@aussie.zone avatar

That’s very American advice I’m afraid. Here we just put our washing out until it catches on fire

NatakuNox,
@NatakuNox@lemmy.world avatar

Our air quality is so bad most Americans (even if they have the space for a clothing line) can’t hang their clothes to dry. They’ll come out smelling.

ithas,
@ithas@artemis.camp avatar

I have a metal coffee table that I tap every time I get up. Maybe something similar if not that, like an end table next to your couch?

boogetyboo,
@boogetyboo@aussie.zone avatar

I do have a little table which I think has metal legs. Forgot it was there to be fair… Worth a try!

mwknight,

This happened with my cat often enough that once I went to pet him and saw him wince from my hand 😢

So after that I started doing the same things suggested here Try touching stuff around your house to see what discharges you, but also what I got in the habit of doing was tapping my cat on the back haunch before petting him. That discharged me in a much more manageable place for him and then subsequent skritches were still pleasant and appreciated.

I’ve tried for years to figure out how to lower the static electricity in my house, but keep coming up empty. I think it’s the combination of rubber-soled slippers, carpeting and anti-static mats in the office. So at my desk, I have ran a thin sliver of tinfoil along the edge and grounded that, so when I sit it discharges through there instead of my computer.

boogetyboo,
@boogetyboo@aussie.zone avatar

You’re lovely. What a nice modification you’ve made for your and your pet.

I’m just a dickhead drinking on my couch and the UGGs are only for a few months. Then it’s thongs (that’s flip flops for you other colony types) for the rest of the year

Primarily0617,

Order a giant metal statue of your dog to put pride of place in your home as an apology to the dog

As a bonus, it will function as something you can touch to earth yourself

alternatively you could try an anti-static wrist strap but i'm not sure it'll help since you still need something to ground it against

boogetyboo,
@boogetyboo@aussie.zone avatar

I like you

VegaLyrae,

If you get the grounding box you can have an antistatic collar for the dog and a strap for the human. Plug both in and you're both at the same potential.

Alternatively the human can touch the banana plug side of the strap, as the in-built resistor will "slowly" equalize the charges between you. I say slowly because in human terms as soon as you touch its already done.

@boogetyboo

The ugg boots may be electrically isolating as well, so a heel-strap is typically worn in ESD environments to overcome insulated soles. In combination with a grounding floor mat, this works without having to think too much about it.

Additionally, you can get a humidifier and maintain a relative humidity above 40%. Thankfully you don't need insulation to do this!

Source: nasa esd training

PhatalFlaw,

Your heat sources are usually grounded, either forced air or radiators, so touch the vent/radiator on the way back with that fresh beer, and that should help.

boogetyboo,
@boogetyboo@aussie.zone avatar

They’re in the ceiling and I’m barely 5 foot tall!

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