The trick I learned to make dogs honor Daylight Saving Time
For dogs 8 months or older, this trick may help you gain that extra hour
Whether we blame Benjamin Franklin’s “An Economical Project,” the Englishman builder William Willet or Germans during World War I for Daylight Saving Time, the fact is it sucks twice a year — we lose an hour and gain an hour. Meanwhile, I feel like the day is going too fast or it’s dark too soon. It also takes a few times before I remember when to switch from CST or CDT for out-of-town clients, and I really just want to crawl back into bed before noon either way.
I’m not a morning person, so I lose regardless. I hate the “anh anh anh” sounds of alarms and anyone trying to talk to me before coffee. I purposely dodge chatty morning dog walkers by wearing headphones, and I made a point of re-routing my walk to avoid loud children on their way to school.
ADVERTISEMENT ~ Amazon
As an Amazon affiliate, I earn a percentage from purchases with my referral links. I know some consumers are choosing to boycott Amazon for its DEI removal. However, after thinking about this thoroughly, I choose to continue promoting intriguing products from small businesses, women-owned businesses and (specifically) Black-owned businesses who still feature their items on Amazon. All five of my Substack publications now include a MINIMUM of one product sold by a Black-owned business. (I have visited the seller’s official site, not just the Amazon Black-owned logo, to verify this.) If you still choose to boycott, I 100% respect that decision.
But guess who doesn’t care about any of this? Dogs. My parents were morning people with my first two dogs, and I never thought much of Daylight Saving Time after I started working from home. I set my own schedule and wasn’t rushing out the door to jump on anyone’s train or bus. The only time I’d wake up before 8:30 a.m. was when I was dog boarding or dog sitting, and minus a couple of dogs, most were just fine waking up at the same time I did. I lucked out!
Then came my own early bird dog, who paces back and forth, jumps on my back, and stares in my face making grumpy growling noises at 11:30 p.m. on the dot. In her mind, everyone should go to sleep at 11:30 p.m. because that’s when she does. And — after a month of crate training and many, many late nights of waking up two to three times during her early puppy years — we settled on 7 a.m. walks. But how was I supposed to pull off a 6 a.m. walk when I could barely operate at 7 a.m.?
It turns out that my sunrise alarm clock did the work for me.
ADVERTISEMENT ~ Amazon
As an Amazon affiliate, I earn a percentage for every purchase with my referral link.
I hate the sound of traditional alarm clocks so much that I even mute commercials when the sound is in them. Since childhood, I have gritted my teeth at that “anh anh anh” sound, and I don’t care for radio clocks either when the host is unbearably loud. But sometimes I need to wake up earlier than usual, and I had to find an alternative.
Interestingly, a copywriting job on “Best Travel Alarm Clocks” last year resolved all of my problems. I bought one of my own choices, a sunrise alarm clock with warm, LED lighting. Thirty minutes before the alarm starts, the lights turn on — dimmer and slowly getting brighter like a sunrise. (It doubles as a night light in an emergency, and it can change to eight different colors.) But what really drew me to this clock were the alarm sounds: ocean waves, birds chirping and a lullaby sound. (I could turn on the radio option, but I absolutely will never do that.)