Diego and I just returned from a 3-week vacation in Houston,
7 hours behind Copenhagen. Diego has been to Texas a total of 7 times and each
time we return to Denmark (or Tunisia) I notice the he shows more signs of jet
lag. I always have terrible jet lag when return to our host country and
normally Diego will sleep straight through the nights and be ready to eat and
go for a walk at 6am.
However, this time was a bit different. We arrived on the evening of January 3rd
2015 and he slept through the night, clearly exhausted from the travel,
especially the 7-hour layover in Frankfurt, and I actually had to wake him up
at 8:30 to feed and walk him. On the weekends Diego usually gets 3 walks a day:
morning, afternoon and night. He enjoys these outings immensely and is usually
the one to remind me when it is time to go out or eat. On the 4th he
slept through his afternoon walk and evening walks!
Monday morning went as usual, but when I retuned home from work
he did not greet me at the door, but sauntered down the hallway stretching and
yawning as if to say, “Oh hey. What are you doing here and why did you disturb
me?” Then he stayed up all night (as did I) and it this pattern has repeated
since.
Over the last 3 ½ years since traveling with Diego many people
have asked if he gets jet lag. I figured not since he is free to sleep when he
likes and he never seemed to be too “off” his schedule. Diego likes to go to
bed between 7:30 and 8pm and is up at 5:30/45am. I’m sure he naps throughout
the day, too.
But now, I am convinced he has jet lag… as I type this at
12:06am he is playing with his toys on the bed, then jumping off and trotting
into the living room to look out the window and monitor the going-ons from 5
floors up, and back to the bedroom to whine and moan as if to be begging to
play. This is so unlike him at this time of night!
Making a mess at midnight!
Midnight Shenanigans!
Begging to play
So, I decided to Google doggie jet lag. As you can imagine I
came across many discussions with different opinions and experiences. I guess
just like humans, each dog deals with time change and jet lag in their own way.
Perhaps Diego senses how I struggle with jet lag and it is causing him to
struggle.
The biggest difference is, Diego doesn’t have to go to work
the next morning like I do so we really can’t feel sorry for him J
Diego finally crashed at 12:30am
