A chilling winter may rob your dog of the freedom to roam outside. But not its fiery impulse to go out. So, as the first spring day thaws the last pile of snow, it also bolts your dog into an excited frenzy. This may have been the first time you’ve noticed its sudden burst of energy as the spring season is starting. Do dogs get spring fever? How long does spring fever last in dogs?
We’ll answer all those questions about spring fever for dogs! Aside from that, we’ll talk about how to deal with dog spring fever.
Spring Fever in Dogs: What is it?
Dog spring fever pertains to the psychological response of dogs to changing climates, specifically from winter to spring. We humans also suffer from spring fever too! But unlike humans, however, dogs will experience spring fever stronger. This is because dogs have heightened senses which are far more powerful than humans.
How Do Dogs Get Spring Fever?
You may be wondering how dogs get spring fever. Spring fever for dogs doesn’t work like a microbial infection where the symptoms manifest after contracting the disease. Instead, spring fever in dogs comes from a myriad of factors that the changing season has brought.
These factors can be narrowed down to temperature increase, the smell of spring air, wild creatures coming out, and sunlight.
1- Increase in Temperature
Outdoor temperature can be a powerful mood changer for dogs. The right warmness of the environment can stimulate the dog’s body to produce hormones that govern a happy mood. When hit with a pleasant wave of warmth, your dog feels happier, more optimistic, and more active. This preferred temperature is only attainable during the spring and summer seasons. That is why your dogs like to go outside during these warm seasons.
2- Spring Air Smell
Spring season is the time of the year when plant life begins to grow again. Patches of grass will start to sprout again, trees will grow their leaves, and flowers will bloom again. On top of that, the soil will smell during spring rains, while trees will give off a woody scent during sunny days. All of these spring elements give off odors that are musky, woody, earthy, and even sweet.
3- Wild Creatures
Your dog’s not the only creature that’ll come out as spring comes. Just like the blooming plant life, wild animals will spring back to life once the winter’s over. These wild animals crawl out of their slumber after their hibernation session ends. A lot of these small critters are nimble creatures that are also excited to explore the post-winter environment. These are common wildlife activities that they carry out once spring starts.
4- Presence of Sunlight
Did you know that sunlight can do more to cause spring fever in dogs? Besides raising the heat to arouse your dog’s mood, sunlight can affect the energy of your dog. Basically, the more sunlight exposure your dog has, the more they become active. And since there is more daytime in spring than in winter, expect a significant boost in your dog’s activeness.
What Are the Dog Spring Fever Symptoms?
Spring fever can cause a drastic behavioral change in dogs. You can easily tell if your pet dog is experiencing symptoms of spring fever.
While these symptoms vary per dog, the common element in spring fever dogs is their hyperactivity.
1- Increased Energy Level
As mentioned, a healthy dosage of sunlight exposure for your dog can make them significantly active. But how? This energy boost happens because of the shift of melatonin amount in your dog’s body. Melatonin is the hormone that compels your dog to sleep. The more melatonin your dog has in its body, the easier it is for it to feel sleepy. It is also a hormone that’s present in the human body too.
2. Earlier Wake-Up Time
Ever noticed a change in your dog’s sleep cycle? Like how your dog woke up earlier in springtime than it did when it slept in winter? You can also blame sunlight for that. Like the melatonin level in dogs, your dog’s circadian rhythm responds to sunlight as a signal to stay awake and alert.
This is where spring comes into play. During springtime, the daytime becomes longer, which means there’s earlier sunlight exposure in the spring season than in winter.
3. Agitation
You may also observe that your dog easily shows signs of hostility during spring. This agitation may come from your dog’s sudden territorial behaviors against wild creatures. Wild animals like birds, raccoons, and squirrels explore right after the spring season starts. Coincidentally, they invade areas like your lawn or backyard, where they become an annoyance as they occupy the space. This triggers your dog to be protective of its assumed territories. Worse is when your dog shows aggression as a means to thwart them out of its space.
4. Heightened Curiosity
From the smell alone, spring aromas can overwhelm your dog’s senses. Our pet dogs can smell better than us because they have much more smelling receptors compared to us. They also have a larger region of their brain that processes what their odor receptors have detected. This exceptional smelling ability can pose problems during springtime.
5. Overheating
Dogs can experience overheating during springtime. Because of its hyperactivity, your dog will roam around the vicinity to experience the new season. All these running, chasing, and excitement will produce body heat for your dogs.
How Do You Deal with Spring Fever in Dogs?
Spring fever seems like an inevitable inconvenience for dog owners like you. But fortunately, there are many ways to handle your spring fever dogs. You’d be surprised to learn that this unavoidable spring trouble has some easily actionable steps that you can do. So how do you deal with spring fever in dogs?
1. Stimulating Your Dog
If you continue to let springtime elements stimulate your dog, you’ll lose control over your dog. To deal with the chase triggers during spring, you can intentionally stimulate the dogs yourself. Preparing mental stimulation for your dog redirects all of their impulsive tendencies from the spring elements to yours.
2. Practice Recall Training
Effective recall training can prove to be helpful in situations where your dog is wandering off. Reliable recalls mean that there’s almost a guarantee that your dog will come to you when you call it. Even if your dog is interacting with the various stimuli of nature, a recall should cue them to return to you at your call.
3. Take Your Dog for a Walk
Walking is one of the easiest, safest, and best exercises for your dogs. Lucky for you, it also is an activity that you can implement when your dog is experiencing spring fever.
