OK, DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME IS HERE, WHICH FOR US DOG OWNERS MEANS LESS LIGHT AFTER WORK TO TAKE OUR DOGS FOR WALKS.

This is a great time of year to capitalize on using dog training as a way to mentally enrich and exercise your dogs. Whether it’s joining an in person indoor dog training class or diving into the Academy training modules this is a good time to have ways to entertain your dog indoors. Especially if you have a puppy or adolescent dog!

Keep an eye on the calendar later this week as I will be adding in more weekday evening group classes for those looking to take advantage of this time to catch up on training.

MY FAVORITE INDOOR ACTIVITIES:

• Scent work

• Fit Dog

• Tricks

• Food puzzles/snuffle mats

DOG REACTIVITY IN LOW LIGHT

• The change of weather and time can carry with it pros and cons when it comes to living with reactive dogs, here are some things to keep in mind:

• many dogs are more reactive at night because they can often hear things but not see them to know whether it is a trigger or not, this is very unsettling for many dogs.

• if it is raining, windy or there is traffic noise triggers can get very close before the dog sees them and this can be very hard for reactive dogs as they see fewer triggers at that safe boundary and are only experiencing them inside their threshold.

• There is often more wildlife activity in the dark which we now find ourselves walking in, so our dogs might be smelling or hearing animals we cannot leading to more triggered prey drive or anxiety that we are not able to predict or see what they are responding to.

• Sound travels differently in cold, and often there is less overall noise so trigger sounds are easier to hear. So normally your dog might not hear those footsteps of someone walking, as the noises of birds singing, cars and so on as they get drowned out by all the other noises that now they hear since it is the only sound present.

• If your dog has poor eyesight the change of light can make it much harder for them to recognize what they are looking at.

• We can feel more vulnerable and anxious in the dark, ourselves worrying more about who is out and about around us.

BUT…..

• less people can also mean less triggers to react to, you may find walking in the dark to be easier for many reactive dogs as suddenly most of their triggers disappear.

• many people avoid bad weather, so you can often enjoy long walks and hikes in the rain without seeing anyone at all.

• fewer dogs are out in yards waiting to bark at you as you walk by, so many of those yards that you dread walking by are often free of barking dogs during the winter evenings or early mornings.

• closed windows and doors can lower the overall trigger stacking your dog might experience during the warmer months when you keep the windows open.

*BE SURE YOU WEAR PROPER GEAR SO PEOPLE CAN SEE YOU AND YOUR DOG AT NIGHT! REFLECTIVE VESTS, HEADLAMPS, LIGHTS, BE SURE YOU ARE VISIBLE TO OTHERS!!

Help your animals adjust to the new time gradually! If you already feed on a sliding scale time wise this time of year is easier for them. If they always eat at the same time each day they may struggle when their meals are suddenly an hour later. So adjust the meal times spread out over the first week if you are a scheduled feeder.