A recent study suggests that working dogs require a day to adapt to the changes in routine due to Daylight Savings Time, while pet dogs and their owners appear to be largely unaffected. This research, conducted by Lavania Nagendran, Ming Fei Li, and their team at the University of Toronto, Canada, will be published on January 29, 2025, in the open-access journal PLOS One.
Daylight Savings Time (DST) is implemented in various countries to keep daylight hours aligned with human activities by moving the clock forward one hour in spring and back one hour in fall. Prior studies have indicated that DST can disrupt human sleep and behavior, but the effects on our domestic animals have not been thoroughly examined.
In this study, researchers monitored the activity levels of 25 working sled dogs, 29 pet dogs, and their human handlers in Canada, using motion-sensitive watches during the weeks around the autumn transition to DST.
For the working sled dogs, DST disrupted their established daily schedule. Before the time change, sled dog handlers would arrive at the reserve at sunrise. However, after the clocks were set back, sunrise occurred an hour earlier than their arrival time. Consequently, sled dogs were less active in the hour following sunrise compared to before the shift. Interestingly, they did not immediately adjust; on the day DST was enacted, they were more active than usual in the hour leading up to their handlers’ arrival.
In contrast, pet dogs and their human owners did not exhibit any noticeable change in their morning activities on the first Sunday after the DST change. Post-DST, even though pet owners rose earlier during the weekdays, their dogs maintained their morning behaviors. Notably, the age of the pets played a crucial role in their response to DST; older pet dogs tended to be less active on the first morning after the change.
This research is the first to focus on how Daylight Savings Time influences the activity levels of domestic dogs. Adjustments in human schedules can affect dogs’ daily lives, potentially impacting their well-being. The authors emphasize the need for flexibility and gradual adjustments to help dogs cope with changes in their routines.
The authors conclude: “Our comparison of companion and sled dogs indicates that having flexible routines allows dogs to better handle abrupt changes in schedules, such as those caused by Daylight Saving Time.”
