I tell you a lot of nice stories about my dog Honey. How she’s so smart and sweet. And a good foster-sister.
But sometimes I worry that her fur isn’t on too tight (actually, if you look at the tumbleweeds under my bed, you know her fur isn’t on too tight).
And this weekend was a prime example.
Between my husband Mike going away and the ending of daylight savings time, my dog has gone crazy town banana pants.
Bark Bark The Gang’s All Here
Like most dogs, Honey feels happiest when she’s with her people.
She loves it most when we all go for a long walk together. But Honey’s also content joining the couch potato contingent, as long as she gets to snuggle between the two of us or cuddle up on Mike’s lap.
When we try to split up the gang, Honey gets nervous.
If Honey and I walk Mike to work, she doesn’t want to return home without him. If Mike tries to walk Honey while I stay behind on the front porch, she’ll only go about one block before pulling him back home.
Can you imagine how Honey behaves when Mike goes away for the weekend?
- She alert barks at every little noise.
- She gets restless in the middle of the night.
- She runs downstairs to look for him throughout the day.
I’m thinking the next time Mike wants to take a trip, he should take Honey with him.
The Curse Of Switching Time
You probably already know I hate daylight savings time. Honey hates it even more.
She doesn’t care that it’s light earlier in the morning again. She just knows she’s hungry and I keep telling her to wait.
Yes, I was gradually making her wait for dinner in preparation. But I didn’t start early enough to have her accept eating an hour later.
And now she’s just pissed. Hungry and pissed.
My Dog Went Crazy This Weekend
So my normally sweet and easy dog has become needy and obnoxious.
Here’s hoping that Honey will soon be back to normal. Because I really count on her being the one sane creature in the house.
Your Turn: Do disruptions to your routine make your dog crazy? Do they make you crazy?
Daylight Savings didn’t really impact them – the thing they dislike the most is when one of us goes away. But even then, after about 12 hours, they get used to it and settle into the regular routine. I think part of that is being seniors and nothing much phases them.
I hate the time change too. These guys think they are starving in the morning, and I am not happy either.
Our dogs are pretty flexible, but this is coming from a woman who loves routine. As you can imagine, there isn’t much of a shake up at our house. What we did was keep the dogs up super late before daylight savings. The puppies are lazy in the morning, but Rodrigo and Sydney woke up at 5am (which means I did get to sleep in) and we started our day.
These guys thrive on routine, and time changes mess us all up for several days. I always feel so tired, and they don’t understand why I’m not feeding them because they’re starving to death! (Dinner is a very dramatic time around here.) Because John and I have a lot of travel – and we had that wonky year when he was back and forth – they’re fairly flexible about that, though when one of us is gone, the whole herd sleeps in the bedroom at night, which isn’t what they do when we’re both home!
While, like most dogs, they would prefer a routine, they are pretty good about going with the flow. Breakfast and dinner happen when they happen with no set time. Jimmy especially wants both of us around. If one of us goes to bed before the other, Jimmy refuses to come upstairs, and waits for the straggler. Wilson, on the other hand, goes to bed without any of us. When he’s ready, he goes!
Sounds like a crazy fun weekend though!
Disruptions only occur when I leave Harley for an extended period of time. Since I’m the one who’s away – I am blessed not to experience any of it BOL
BOL – we don’t have to go through daylights savings here in AZ, so we get to avoid that. Monty is very clingy to both of us and barks like crazy if one of us gets too far from him on walks. He used to only do it for Aaron, but lately he has been doing it for me too.
Monty and Harlow
I’m definitely more restless when daddy’s not here. If we go for a walk and mummy heads off to the shops, that’s fine. But if daddy leaves us then I refuse to move until he comes back!
Not crazy…but definitely more clingy/needy…
We have pretty set routines, but our feeding and waking times vary by an hour or so various days of the week which means the time change isn’t a big deal for us. We do go to bed earlier than usual for a few days, but then we are back to normal, so change doesn’t bother us much…unless Mom is gone, then we are all at the window waiting for her to return.
Oh bless her. I am sure she will settle back down soon, it must be so hard to not fully know whats going home. My Dad and I had a debate about this once. When a dog is left do they assume that we will come back and so wait (perhaps forever for the owner that never returns) or do they live much more in the moment and so all they know is we are here, but then we are not?
One advantage of being single is my dogs don’t have anyone else to worry about and if I’m not around I don’t see them worry about me not being there. Not that Frankie or Beryl worry. Asher is different. He hates it when we’re not all together.
I deliberately keep our life fairly random as it is random anyway. Our walks depend on the tide and the weather. On the days I work they will get breakfast around 5 am and might not get their evening meal until 7 pm. When I don’t work it would be 8 am and 5 pm, or thereabouts. I love daylight saving but Beryl does start tossing stuff around at least an hour before her new meal time when it goes forward, lol! When it goes back she never looks at me as if to say “hey, it’s not tea time yet!” 🙂
I hope Mike isn’t away too long so Honey’s life can return to normal!
I don’t know if the time change made a huge difference to Laika but my boyfriend always tells me how poorly she behaves when I go to work and he stays home. Apparently she alter barks and gets really needy just like Honey was this weekend. I’m the lucky one though – when he goes to work and I do remote work from home she’s perfectly content to nap and cuddle up.