Friday, March 7, 2014

Daylight saving time starts: Tough on you, tough on your pet

Daylight saving time starts up again this weekend. Are you excited to lose an hour of sleep? Me neither.

Is it me, or does it get tougher every year? You are dragging behind because you lose that hour.

It never really occurred to me that the time shift might affect dogs. After all, they can't read time.

However, they do have a biological clock that is very in tune. And just because our time changes, doesn't mean that these creatures of habit can change so easily.

Now for Lulu, this may not be a problem. If anything, it may be easier on me because she is usually up an hour before I want to be, so we'll be matched up for a few months. I think she will adjust quite fine (six months from now, not so much).

But not every dog is. Lots of humans need to be up an out of the house in the morning. You may find your dog actually trying to sleep in. So, what to do?

Well the first thing to do is consider where you and your dog have a pretty set routine. Your pet may not want to get up early or is trying to figure out why they need to eat early.

Now is a good time to sort of stagger out feedings and potty breaks, so that the dog gets used to a new feeding and potty time in time for DST on Sunday. Maybe on Saturday do things a little early, then the next day and the next day. It will let your pet gradually get used to the schedule change.

Another thing -- your pet may get stressed.Watch for those telltale stress signs. Lulu, for instance, scratches more. Watch for your dog's telltale signs and help them out. Those could especially happen if you leave the house to run routine errands, like going to work or church.

It might take a few days for pets to get used to the change, so go easy on them. Stupid daylight saving time is tough on everyone.

Also -- don't forget to change your batteries in your smoke detector. Now's a great time to do it.


  1. I'm laughing... my dogs get totally thrown by the time change. Well, I do, too :-)

    1. Who doesn't? and we might think we should be used to by now by it always take us by surprise.

    2. Falling back is actually worse for me and Lulu than springing forward, mostly because of my work schedule. This time around it was particularly bad!

  2. I never really thought about this, but it makes so much sense! Thanks SO much for sharing!


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