13/09/2026
🍂 NO, YOUR DOG ISN’T BROKEN…
Shorter days. Darker mornings. Earlier sunsets.
And suddenly your dog seems to be sleeping a LOT more.
But there’s some fascinating biology behind it. 🐾
Dogs, just like us, have a circadian rhythm, their internal body clock. One of the biggest signals controlling that clock is light.
As daylight decreases, the body’s pattern of melatonin, a hormone involved in regulating sleep and wakefulness, changes. Research in dogs has shown seasonal changes in melatonin rhythms and activity patterns.
So when autumn arrives, your dog’s body may quite literally be responding to:
“It’s getting dark earlier. Time to slow down.” 😴
But it’s not just about sleep.
☀️ So what can we do?
Try to keep plenty of daylight exposure, movement, enrichment and a consistent routine.
And let them sleep.
If your dog is sleeping more but is still eating, enjoying walks, engaging with you and behaving normally when awake, there may be absolutely nothing wrong.
But if extra sleeping comes alongside loss of appetite, pain, stiffness, weight changes, unusual thirst, lethargy or a significant behaviour change, don’t simply blame the season. That’s worth investigating.
Autumn isn’t breaking your dog.
Their body clock has simply noticed the clocks are changing. 🍂🐶
