Thinking outside the box

This may look like an ordinary air register.

In reality it’s a DCS (Dog Cooling Station).

When we got these antique-style covers for the downstairs air registers, we had our choice of drop-in or screw-down styles. I tend towards “just in case” type thinking, and even though I couldn’t think of a reason we would ever want or need to remove the covers – apart from my wedding ring dropping off my finger just as I was passing by one of them and it rolling to one of the few holes in the cover big enough for it to drop in – just in case we ever had to remove the covers to get to the ducts, lifting off the drop-in-cover would be a whole lot easier than unscrewing the screw-down cover.

So we settled on the drop-in style.

Fast forward three years. When Roadie first came to be part of our family, he quickly discovered that lying with his paws on top of the register when he came inside from playing on really hot days made him nice and cool.

Fast forward one more year. This is Roadie’s latest thing. Now that he’s bigger and stronger he’s made the brilliant discovery that he can hook his claws into the holes of the heavy cover and get just enough grip to lift the edge and slide it over, thereby eliminating any barrier between his feet and the cool air coming up out of the duct.

When I want a cool break on a hot muggy day, I just kick off my sandals and stand on top of the cover with bare feet for a minute or two. Silly, conventional me.

Leave it to Roadie to think outside the box.

Now if only I can train him to put the cover back when he’s done.

I’ll keep you posted on how that works out.