Just like humans, do dogs sleep more when it rains, or is it just your imagination? We are here to tell you that it’s true: and the reasons are both interesting and enlightening!
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Planning to get out of the house, but sudden rain disrupted all your plans? Well, if you are going to stay indoors, you might as well enjoy a lazy rainy day by staying inside your blanket all day and sleeping off your worries.
Dogs also love to snug inside their blanket and bed when it rains. Sometimes, they can also get into your blanket to snuggle up to you too!
You might wonder why your dog is sleeping more during the rainy season. Does it indicate some health problem? Is my dog becoming lazy or bored? The answer is neither. Dogs love to laze around in the rain because of several reasons, which have nothing to do with their health. So let’s explore some of these reasons in the article below.
Do Dogs Sleep More When It Rains?
Yes, they do. There are several changes in the environment and other historical reasons why this behavior may exist.
Reduction of Oxygen Level in the Air
Rainfall happens because of low atmospheric pressure. During low pressure, water vapor condenses to form water droplets that increase moisture in the atmosphere, reducing the percentage of oxygen in the air.
Reduced oxygen levels can create hypoxemia in an animal’s body, and whether it’s a human being or an animal, the effect remains the same. Hypoxemia can make dogs feel sleepier than usual.
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Presence of Negative Ions in the Atmosphere
Like the previous one, this one is also an atmospheric effect that makes your dog sleep more in the rainy season. Negatively charged ions are produced by rainfall, and these negative ions are responsible for creating lightning.
These ions affect the cardiovascular, nervous, and respiratory systems of your dog. This makes your dog feel relaxed, which is another reason why they sleep more during this period.
Natural Instinct
Dogs have not always been domestic animals. Before dogs were domesticated, they had to hunt other animals for their food. Usually, the prey that dogs used to hunt, hid in the shelters, which made hunting difficult during this time.
So, dogs found it better to stay inactive more during the rainy season to reduce their energy expenditure. This habit is still present in the dogs that we humans can have as pets, and that is why your pet dog sleeps more whenever it rains.
Human Interaction
Pet dogs get used to everything their owner will do, and the list of things that your dog can adopt includes your sleeping habit and sleep schedule. The dog will also become less active when its human counterpart is sleeping with increasing human interaction.
So, you can’t blame your dog for being lazy and sleepy during the rainy season as it might have gotten that habit from you of staying indoors and sleeping when it rains.
Out of Boredom
You will find yourself getting bored when nothing exciting is happening around you. Dogs react similarly when there is not much excitement. If you don’t offer mental or physical stimulation to your dog, they will get bored, and your pet will handle the boredom in its way.
One of the things that most pets do in this type of situation, including dogs, is to sleep more. On a rainy day, it is natural for you as a human to feel less energetic, and in this time, you may fail to provide the required stimulation to your dog. That is why your dog gets bored and sleeps more.
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Don’t Want to Get Wet
Dogs tend to avoid water at normal times, and they don’t want to get their paws wet as wet paws can carry bacterias that are harmful to the dog’s health. But dogs don’t want to get their paws wet for this reason.
They don’t want to walk on water because it becomes difficult for them to walk when mud gets stuck on their paws. This is another possible reason behind your dog spending most of the rainy day sleeping around they might be trying to avoid the walk outside they know they have to take for their pee and potty.
Thunderstorms
Thunderstorms during rainy seasons may cause your dog to freak out because dogs are often afraid of loud noises. There is some evidence that dogs might be genetically programmed to be afraid of loud noises. Apart from that, thunderstorms can also cause static electricity which can give your dog shocks from everything (because they are covered in fur).
Do Dogs Sleep More When It’s Hot?
Yes, your dog feels less energetic and doesn’t want to perform daily activities such as walking and playing when it is too hot outside.
Like in the rainy season, some dogs may also feel lazy and sleep when the temperatures are soaring outside. Dogs are less capable than humans of dealing with the heat waves of summer.
Heatstroke can be seen in thousands of dogs every year, which happens because of overexertion. You can see your dog sleeping longer than usual, which can range from 12 to 14 hours.
This happens primarily because of drowsiness which dogs feel because of the heat. They get irritated more and don’t feel like doing anything productive due to the same reason that causes drowsiness.
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To get rid of this, you can take some steps, such as:
- Take your dog for walks in the early morning or the evening when the temperature decreases slightly compared to the rest of the day.
- Reduce the time of exercise for your pet friend.
- Keep them hydrated throughout the day.
No matter what you do, always keep one thing in mind: never force your pet dog to do anything as this can make it annoyed, which can cause unwillingness and laziness towards any activity.
Why Does My Dog Stay Out in Rain?
There are some exceptions to the rule as well.
We humans might think rain interrupts our daily schedule, but dogs think differently. Now, as we have talked about why dogs spend most of the time on a rainy day sleeping, some species of pet dogs love to spend time outside whenever it rains.
Some indications by which you can understand whether your dog likes rain or not:
- Whimpering
- Hiding in the house
- Drooling
- More barking
- Panting
For those who do love the outdoors during the rains, here are the reasons why.
Lower Air Pressure
Now coming back to the point, the biggest reason your dog stays outdoors more is the change in the atmospheric pressure. Atmospheric pressure is nothing but the force exerted by the air on you. Since the pressure is lower, it is easier to breathe and smell the fresh air when it rains
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Nostrils become dry
Your dog’s nostrils get drier when they remain inactive, and as dogs try to know everything just by smelling, they want to keep their nostrils wet.
The moisture increases in the air whenever it rains, keeping their noses more wet and making it easier for them to smell. To enjoy this experience and to absorb the aroma of everything around, your dog might love to roam and play in the rain.
Too Hot to Handle
Heatwaves make dogs less active as they don’t eat more whenever the temperature rises. So, when the rain comes, they become more playful due to the decrease in temperature. During summer, when it gets too hot inside, your dog might like to spend some time in the cool breeze that can be felt during a heavy shower.
Get Bored Staying Inside
Some dogs don’t care when it rains. Dogs can get bored just like humans by staying indoors for a prolonged period. After spending a long time inside the house, they can run outside irrespective of rain to let the extra energy out of the body.
For Mating Purposes
Many dogs mate in the rainy season. In urbanized places, the rise in temperature makes it difficult for dogs to smell the pheromone hormone coming out of a female dog before mating.
Dogs can predict whether any female dog in close proximity is interested in sexual intercourse. When it rains, the temperature decreases, and this decrease in temperature, in turn, makes it easy for dogs to smell this hormone through the air. That is why male dogs spend more time in the rain to learn about female dogs.
How to Keep My Dog Busy When It is Raining Outside?
Depending on the species of the dog, some dogs can feel sleepy and less active during the rainy season, whereas some others spend most of the time outdoors playing in the rain. Those dogs that stay inside the house need to be kept busy to prevent them from becoming lazy. In this part of the article, we will discuss how you can keep your dog busy in the house during a heavy downpour.
- Give Your Dog Food-Dispensing Toys: To get your dog out of the boredom, you can take help from food dispensing toys. Inside the toys, hide your dog’s favorite food items, which will keep them busy for a prolonged period.
- Arrange a Playdate: In case your pet likes to play with a special friend of theirs, then you can arrange a playdate for both of them on a rainy day.
- Teach Your Dog New Tricks: To keep your dog mentally active, you can teach a few new tricks that most dogs enjoy.
- Cuddle: What can be better than a good cuddle. Call your cuddle buddy, get comfortable inside a blanket, and enjoy the rain outside.
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How To Keep My Dog Safe When It Is Raining?
Try to keep the walks to a minimum
Visibility during rains is low, and dogs and pups can easily get into accidents if they freak out and run onto the street if there is thunder and lightning. This is why it is best that you keep your walks limited and in a restricted space that has lesser traffic during the rainy season.
Remove the dog tag
Lightning can strike dogs too and can be pretty dangerous for them. Make sure that nothing metallic is on their body when there is lightning outside because metallic objects are good conductors of electricity. Remove dog tags and prong collars and make sure to avoid standing for long under a tree or in a high place.
Muddy Puddles are good only for Peppa Pig
I know, dogs love to splash around in the puddles that rain leaves behind. But make sure that this does not happen because standing water contains a lot of bacteria and parasites in it.
Absolutely under no circumstance should you let your dog drink that muddy water. Giardia and Leptospirosis are two common diseases that your dog can catch if it does this.
Make sure to take special care of how much water your dog is drinking before you take him out. Ideally, if he is not thirsty, he will not drink the water. Also, try to get him vaccinated.
Even if he doesn’t drink the water, he might lick himself after his paws were in it, so you need to keep his paws clean at all times after a walk. You can also soak his paws in an antiseptic when he comes back home. Of course, one way to avoid all this is to get him to wear boots but we all know that getting dogs to wear boots is a challenge in itself.
Pneumonia
Just like humans, dogs can also catch pneumonia if they stay in cold or rainy weather for too long. Pups and older dogs are more at risk during the rainy season. If you have spent some time outside in the rain with your dog, observe for the following symptoms: difficulty in breathing, cough, cold, and laziness.
Pneumonia, if not treated on time can be fatal. So make sure that you avoid it at all costs. As soon as you come back from the rain, wipe your dog down completely with a dry towel and get him under a blanket.
You can avoid your dog getting wet by using doggy raincoats as well.
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Answers To Other Commonly Asked Questions
Does rain weather affect dogs?
Yes, all change in weather does affect dogs.
When it rains, the temperature decreases and your dog can become more active because of this. Smelling senses can also get amplified because of rainy weather.
Other than these positive sides, some adverse effects can be seen in dogs. Your dog can get scared by the noise that rainfall makes, and it may not like to get in the rain due to the fear of getting wet.
Why does my dog get depressed when it rains?
It is a period of inactivity for them, which makes them bored and depressed.
In most cases, rain makes a dog uncomfortable. Sometimes heavy rainfall scares us, and dogs get more scared because they don’t know what is happening around them.
Dogs can feel the change in atmospheric pressure more, and this change is a root cause of making a dog sad and depressed. Another reason is if your dog spends most of the time inside the house and when it is their time to get out of the house, it starts to rain, and it becomes impossible to go outside, then it can also make your dog feel depressed.
What does a dog do when it rains?
Most dogs tend to laze around, but some species may also prefer to go out in the rain.
Dogs can either become lazy or more active when it rains. This behavior change completely depends on the upbringing of the dog and also on the mood of your pet.
Dogs can sleep more whenever it rains, or they can go out and play as much as they want in the rain. You can also intervene and make your dog do whatever you want to do when it is raining outside.
Can my dog tell when it is about to rain?
Yes, dogs can do that.
Dogs have an enhanced ability to predict whether bad weather is coming or not. Dogs can feel the change in the static electrical field, which usually happens when a strong storm is set to occur.
Some of the body languages by which your dog might give you an indication about bad weather is:
Growling
Cowering
Barking
Guarding
Panting
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Final Words
Now that we have concluded, we hope that you have found out why your dog is sleeping more in the rainy season or whenever it is raining, along with all other queries.
There is nothing to be worried about as almost all the causes are natural. So, let your dog do what it wants to do during rainfall. And if you go out during the rain and get wet, make sure to follow all the safety instructions we have given.
Thank you for reading, we hope we covered most of your questions. If not, please write to us in the comments so that we can answer them. You may also like to read: Best Raincoat for Large Dogs and Best Winter Boots for Large Dogs
