Old Trainer: Does daylight saving time have an impact on pets?

Dear Old Trainer: My question is about daylight saving time. Hank, our mixed breed, wants our daily walk and his dinner at the old time. It takes weeks for him to get used to the new time, then just as he does it changes again. How do you deal with it?

Dylann, Santa Cruz, California

Old Trainer: I ignore it. Humans are zany enough to put themselves through time change chaos twice a year, dogs are not. They go by the sun and so do I. My pack eats half an hour before sundown no matter what some clock says.

My dogs know the schedule so I assign them the job of watching the sun while I relax. When nine pairs of eyes lock on me with that feed-me-right-now stare I know it’s time.

Dear Old Trainer: Your directions are always easy to understand, and in the long run they work with Daisy, my German shepherd mix, but it’s harder than you make it sound. Or is it just me?

Craig, Flagstaff, Arizona

A: It’s not just you. It’s always harder than it sounds and more work than you expect it to be

Knowing what to do is just part of the process because you have to tailor it to the dog’s personality. That requires a lot of time and effort because you can’t do it until you learn to read and evaluate her moods from watching her body language.

A math instructor teaches all students the same thing, but doesn’t teach them all the same way. Knowing what to teach them is easy, finding a way to hold their interest and focus their energy on learning is the tricky part.

Few humans are motivated to try hard, but all dogs—except Streak, my oldest Border Collie—are if it makes their human happy. Still, even the most loving dog sometimes decides, I love him but I’m just not in the mood to work today.

Daisy doesn’t sit there thinking, “Craig’s trying to train me so I have no choice but to do it.” She thinks, “I want him to throw the ball and brag on me when I bring it back so I’ll pretend I’m interested in learning for a minute or two, then I’ll distract him from the training stuff and we’ll play ball. He’s a sucker for the old lay-on-my-back-and-wave-my-paws-at-him move so I’ll use that.”

Your dog is watching you and training you at all times, and dogs are experts at diverting your attention from training them to playing with them.

The more you love them the easier it is for them to outsmart you, and they feel no guilt when they do. And it’s often the best dog that does it, like that good horse that bucks one time just to remind you he could make things difficult if he wanted to.

I never forget training is a two-way street so I let my dogs win one now and then and I base it on their body language. The eyes and ears and tail tell me if a dog is focused or needs a break.

Your job is to make training fun by weaving Daisy’s favorite play activities into the training so seamlessly she can’t tell the difference. To do it you have to know her so well you recognize her moods.

When you learn to do that it gets easy.

This story was originally published April 25, 2020 at 5:00 AM.