Summary:
A study published in PLOS One examines how Daylight Saving Time (DST) affects working sled dogs compared to pet dogs. Researchers from the University of Toronto used motion-sensitive watches to track the activity of 25 working sled dogs and 29 pet dogs before and after the autumn time shift. They found that working dogs, whose routines are closely tied to human schedules, took a day to adjust, showing increased activity before their handlers arrived. In contrast, pet dogs and their owners showed no significant change in their morning behavior. The findings suggest that sudden changes to a structured routine can disrupt working dogs, emphasizing the importance of gradual adjustments.
Key Takeaways:
- Working Dogs Take a Day to Adjust to DST – Sled dogs were more active than usual before their handlers arrived on the day of the time change but adapted within 24 hours.
- Routine Shifts Disrupt Working Dogs’ Activity – The misalignment between sunrise and handler arrival led to changes in the sled dogs’ activity patterns, highlighting their sensitivity to schedule changes.
- Gradual Adjustments May Help – Researchers suggest easing working dogs into time shifts to minimize disruptions to their routine and well-being.
Working dogs take a day to adjust to the change in routine caused by Daylight Saving Time (DST), whereas pet dogs and their owners seem to be unaffected, according to a study published in PLOS One.
DST is used by many countries to maintain the alignment between daylight hours and human activity patterns, by setting clocks forward one hour in the spring and back one hour in the autumn. Previous research has shown that DST can disrupt human sleep and behavior, but its impact on the domestic animals we live and work with had not been studied, according to researchers.
To investigate how DST impacts domestic dogs (Canis familiaris), researchers used motion-sensitive watches to monitor the activity patterns of 25 working sled dogs, 29 pet dogs, and their human caregivers living in Canada, during the weeks surrounding the autumn DST time shift.
Sled Dogs Struggle With Time Change, but Pet Dogs Remain Unaffected
For sled dogs, DST represented a change to their strict daily routine. Prior to the time shift, sled dog handlers arrived at the reserve at sunrise, but after DST came into effect, sunrise was an hour before their arrival. As a result of this mismatch, after the DST time shift, sled dogs were less active in the hour after sunrise than they were before the shift. However, they didn’t immediately adjust to the change in their routine. On the day that DST came into effect, sled dogs were more active than usual in the hour prior to their handler’s arrival.
In contrast, pet dogs and their owners showed no change in their morning activity patterns on the Sunday that DST came into effect. After DST, even though pet owners woke up earlier on weekdays, their pet dogs did not change their morning behavior. However, age had a significant influence on the dogs’ response to DST, and older pet dogs were less active on the first morning after the time shift.
Changes to human schedules can have a ripple effect on the daily lives of dogs, which may affect their well-being. The findings by PhD candidates Lavania Nagendran and Ming Fei Li and colleagues at the University of Toronto, Canada, highlight the importance of flexibility and gradual changes to help dogs adjust to modifications to their daily routine, the authors say.
The authors say in a release: “Our study comparing companion and sled dogs finds that flexible routines can help dogs better adjust to abrupt schedule changes like Daylight Saving Time.”
Photo caption: Sled dogs at Haliburton Forest and Wildlife Reserve starting a run.
Photo credit: Ming Fei Li, CC-BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
