Many dog people turn off the interior lights of their vehicles.  (Dog people are those of us who take their dogs hither and yon for agility trials, hunt tests, tracking tests, earth dog tests, obedience trials, fly ball tournaments (and more) and training for such.) We turn off the lights altogether because in central Texas, it’s hot about nine months out of 12 and we leave our vehicles open in various configurations (windows, doors, hatchbacks, etc.) while we are training or competing.  We don’t want to find out at the end of a training session or a canine sporting event that the battery is dead because of that itty-bitty light.

So we turn off the light completely.  Sure, some vehicles have the “fading” light setting, where it will turn itself off after a specified amount of time even if a door or the hatchback is open, but not all vehicles have that feature.  And some of us might have it and not know that we have it.  Or can’t figure out which of the three settings takes care of that situation.  (Ahem.) So many possibilities.

I turned off the interior lights in my vehicle probably a few weeks after I bought it in 2001.  Since then, I’ve packed up my dogs and driven them all over Texas for training and competitions.  I took a break from competition when I retired my last agility dog, Clint (HRCH UH Bakbay Make My Day MH MX MXJ CGC WCX) in 2007.

That break stretched out a bit longer than I intended when I encountered some unexpected difficulties, like a sprained knee.  That was three years ago and I haven’t returned to training or competition.  (I’m thinking about it; don’t rush me.  But it’s hot.  Or cold.  Windy.  Too sunny.  Foggy.  Too cloudy.  And look, a quilt fabric shop!)

On Friday, as I was getting out to open the gate in the pre-dawn hours of the morning on my way to work, it occurred to me that it was dark inside my vehicle.  Maybe, I thought, I could turn the interior light back on.  And I did.

Oh, it was so bright!  Then I vaguely remembered that there was a light near the hatchback.  I checked and sure enough, there it was!  I turned it on as well.

Oooh, aaahhhh. Of course, I had to sit at the gate in my vehicle after I closed the hatchback and the door to confirm that they did turn off properly.  Yep, they still work.

Will wonders never cease.