Can Dogs See in the Dark?

      My dog, Peewee, sleeps in the garage every night, year around. On occasion, we let him sleep in the laundry if its to cold or hot in the garage. We don't always leave the lights on though. The other night, I got home from going out with my boyfriend. I walked into the garage to go see my dog and do my observations. When I walked in, the lights were off. But he came right up to me. It made me begin wondering, if dogs can see in the dark, or if they simply sense/smell their way around when they're in darkness. So I did a bit of research.

     I went to "Animal Planet" and learned that although dogs can not see as well as cats in the dark, they can indeed see in "dim light." The structure in their eyes allows them to do this. Their large pupils let in more light than a human's would. Their retinas have a lot of light-and-motion sensitive cells called rods, which distinguish light from shadow. But most importantly, dogs, like many other animals, have a mirror-like membrane called tapetum lucidum at the rear of their eyes. This membrane allows more light in, allowing the dogs to see better ("Can Dogs See in the Dark?").

     Now, while I did not fully learn whether or not dogs can see in full darkness, I do now know that my dog isn't in complete helplessness when in the dark.




Peewee in his "room."

                                                             Work sited
 "Can Dogs See in the Dark?" Animal Planet. N.p. n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2014.

Barking

My dog tends to bark at everything and nothing. He'll bark at other dogs and people, which is fairly normal. But, he also barks at leafs, wind, fences, and trees. I mean it didn't start off like this. As a puppy, he NEVER barked. We used to wish he would bark, because all he would do was cry. We never thought it'd happen. But I still remember the first day he barked. We were out back, and we through a ball to him, and he barked! We thought it was adorable, but little did we know, it was the beginning of the deadly barking curse.
Today, October 19, 2014, I got home from going to the pumpkin patch, and I noticed that my front door neighbor was outside working on his car. I thought nothing of it. It was around 5, so I went straight outside to feed my dog. It started off pretty calmly. But I think my neighbor dropped a tool or something and my dog went into a complete barking spree. My dad always told me not to touch my dog while he was barking, in fear that he'd attack me. Well, I am not a very good listener. I bent down to go and pet my dog to see if I could possibly calm him down, I didn't want him to anger the neighbors. When I went to pet him, he jumped up on me and laid his head down on my legs, and stopped. I began wondering, does my dog bark because he feels threatened and alone? Does he feel like if me or my family are out there with him, nothing will happen? Do dogs look at us as their protecters, the same way we look at our dogs as our protecters?

The Story Behind Peewee

I have had my dog Peewee for 7 years now, and to this day, I remember the first time I ever saw him. I was in the third grade. I was driving in the car with my sister, who at the time was in the 5th grade, and my parents. Me and my sister were arguing, which was nothing new. We were driving down Vista to go to the mall. On our way there, we drove past McDonald's . They were selling puppies outside on a little corner right out front. Me and my sister begged my parents if we could get down to go see them. They agreed, and we got out of the car. There were so many cute little puppies! The pups parents were there too, and they were so beautiful. There was this cute, chubby little black and white puppy, that everyone else was ignoring. So naturally we were attracted to him. It was love at first sight. He was so sweet, loving, and fluffy. Me and my sister begged my parents for him, but my mom didn't want a dog. She was a clean freak and thought he'd make to much of a mess and she'd everywhere. Crying, me and my sister put the puppy down and my dad told up to get in the car. As we were about to shut the car door, we heard Awwing, and we turned around. This cute little fluffy puppy was crawling on the floor towards the car, whimpering. It broke and warmed our hearts all at the same time. My dad is not a very emotional type person, but he couldn't help but smile and laugh. So against my moms will, we got back out of the car with my dad, and picked the puppy up once more. We went to go ask the man who was selling these puppies, how much he wanted for him. He told us they were $500, but that since the dog was so attached to us already, we could have him for $300. My dad gave him the $300 and he was finally ours. My mom was mad at first, but couldn't resist the cuteness of the puppie that was later named Peewee.
Now let me tell you, he was a handful! The first thing he did when we arrived home was pee inside, which I had to clean of course. He tore up our shoes, and peed everywhere. His first night home was the roughest, he cried all night long. It drove my parents insane. But we adored him. So did everyone else. We couldn't take him anywhere without getting approached about how cute he was. He always did the cutest things as a puppy. I remember when he first learned to climb the stairs inside our house, he'd run all the way up, and just cry at the top of the stairs because he was scared to come back down. So everytime one of us had to go rescue the little demand from the top of the stairs.
Peewee has now been in our lives for 7 years. And they have been such memorable years  . He will always be part of our family.