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.

TWeaK,

Touch a radiator. Radiators should be earthed. You can also touch the screws on light switches and sockets, or your sink or stove. Any earthed metal, metal appliances (eg kettles and toasters) should work also. They have to be plugged in, but don’t need to be on.

jasondj,

This is it.

Also a humidifier may help. Static builds up more in dry air.

Skymt,

Touch it with a key or something conductive to avoid getting zapped yourself.

Rescuer6394,

touch a wall with the palm of your hand for a couple of seconds.

ChaoticEntropy,
@ChaoticEntropy@feddit.uk avatar

On the plus side, your dog must be convinced that you are a wizard. You need something to ground yourself on.

thepreciousboar,

If you really don’t have anything metal in your house (metal sinks or any appliance with an outer metal shell that should be grounded), grab an extension cord, cut it and completely remove any cable that is not the yellow and geeen one, that is the earth cable (assuming in Australia that is the correct color scheme), expose that wire and touch it to discharge. Make sure the other cables are in no way exposed. If yoy want to be extra safe, buy a plug and only connect the earth cable.

/s of course, don’t do that unless you know your way around AC power

klingelstreich,

I’m so nervous reading this

Maalus,

No point in being nervous. You can just touch the earth prong on a plugged in extension cord, the cutting part is pointless unless you plan to stick something metal down one hole.

thepreciousboar,

On australian sockets the earth is not exposed, so not as easy

Wea,

Can you touch the wall with your full palm before touching your pup and see if that helps?

FooBarrington,

Get a second dog which you pet before the other one?

boogetyboo,
@boogetyboo@aussie.zone avatar

I think this is my favourite suggestion

mayonaise_met,

You’re in Australia right? Can’t be that cold, just tough it out.

Just kidding, personal heating is a very good solution to being cold. It’s much better for the environment and your wallet than heating your house/room.

I use electric blankets though no UGGs. Except rare occasions, my cats don’t get zapped. Have you tried going without and see if it makes a difference?

loaExMachina,

You can touch a sink to discharge!

NorthWestWind,
@NorthWestWind@iusearchlinux.fyi avatar

Hold your key’s metal part and touch some other metal that is earthed to discharge yourself.

By holding the key, you provide a way bigger surface area for transferring the charge, so it won’t hurt you.

Someonelol,

Easiest way to address this is to wear a metal Casio watch and have it touch anything metallic attached to a wall like door latch guides or maybe even coat hangers to dissipate any static electricity. Another choice is to grab the metal part of a key and tap them as well.

SatansInteriorDsgnr,

Here’s one similar to the one I had! www.ebay.com/itm/404424220236

kool_newt,

My mom makes a chain of safety pins (about 8-10 long) and attaches it to her clothes. Then you grab the chain and touch things with it (or it touches things as it dangles) to discharge w/o pain or hurting others. I tried it, seemed to work.

Fermion,

Two suggestions: run a humidifier. Preferably use a steam one with distilled water. The ultrasonic cool mist ones introduce any minerals and bacteria that are in the water into the air.

The easiest suggestion is to change your blanket. I’m guessing you’re wrapping yourself in a fuzzy fleece blanket. Synthetic fibers like polyester transfer way more static charge than natural fibers. Try looking for a cotton or wool throw. Or for something fuzzy, find a sheep pelt with wool on it. Even using a cotton sheet between you and your current blanket should reduce the amount of charge buildup.

A side benefit of changing blanket materials, is that any blanket that generates a lot of static charge also holds loads of dust and pet hairs. A less static generating blanket will stay cleaner longer.

The easiest way to discharge is to touch a metal faucet. If you have copper pipes, they’ll be grounded, but even just the tap water is conductive enough to dissipate most of the charge.

MrGerrit,

If by any chance you have wall sockets with the ground connection exposed, you could touch that before petting the good boy/girl.

https://feddit.nl/pictrs/image/1eb7d605-2ee4-4d76-8c88-4bd413432c88.jpeg

MidnightAppetite,

I am not well versed enough in electrical engineering to say if this is actually safe, but telling someone to stick their electrically charged fingers in a plug socket is probably the most hilarious response in this thread

azertyfun,

Static electricity is unrelated to the danger of a socket.

Furthermore, all the exposed conductors on a socket built in the last 50+ years should be ground. Otherwise people (especially children) would kill themselves all the time. Modern plugs won’t even allow you to reach the live wire without pressing against both holes at once.

However North American plugs have an enormous design flaw, where half plugged-in appliances can expose current on the exposed pins of the plug (which is why modern plugs have a partial rubber coating).

Mothra,
@Mothra@mander.xyz avatar

I remember getting zapped like that when I was a child, unplugging an old lamp that didn’t have the coating on the plug. It was just a scare fortunately.

rbesfe,

You don’t need to be versed in electrical engineering to know the basic fact that electrical sockets are impossible to hurt yourself with just by sticking your fingers near the holes

AlgeriaWorblebot,

Not in Australia, but good suggestion in some other countries!

OADINC,

Same thing for radiators and their supply/return lines. Those should be grounded as well. Also the sink.

Rentlar,

A metal doorknob works for me usually.

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