Scott Tibbs



"Fall Back" will be very strange this year

By Scott Tibbs, November 8, 2021

Indiana joined Daylight Savings Time in 2006. The switch back to Standard Time will be strange this year.

My dogs got fed at the same time every day. Every year, the dogs would have a very difficult time adjusting to the change back to Standard Time. They go by the position of the sun, not by artificial human manipulations of time, so they thought dinner was late. I never knew dogs could tell time before 2006, but they would be right there at 7:30 letting me know it was time to eat.

Tera would find me and howl at me if dinner was "late." When Tera died of old age in February 2019, Nano picked up the slack. He would follow me around at dinner time (or up to a half hour before) and stare at me. I called this The Guilt Stare. While this was not nearly as loud, there was no question what he wanted. Nano died of old age in April. This year, I will not have a dog reminding me that dinner is "late."

Nano and Tera never had a difficult time adjusting to the "spring forward." They picked up on the "earlier" dinner time within a day or two. Adjusting to "fall back" was much more difficult for them and would take a couple weeks to adjust to the "later" feeding time.

Tera turned 15 years old three months before she died. Nano was a month shy of turning 17 years old when he died.



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