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The 5 Minute Dog by Personable Pets Dog Training
Quick, practical dog training tips in under 5 minutes—because training your dog shouldn’t take all day.
New episodes drop every Monday.
With over 20 years of family dog training experience, this podcast delivers real-life advice you can actually use. From simple tips and clear explanations to common behavior scenarios, we’ll help you understand why your dog does what he does—and what to do about it.
Training really can be easy. Let us show you how.
The 5 Minute Dog by Personable Pets Dog Training
#165 Dawn and Dusk Dogs
Ever noticed your dog suddenly becoming more alert as the sun sets? Those evening zoomies and heightened awareness aren't random behaviors—they're wired into your pet's DNA.
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Welcome to the 5-Minute Dog, the mini-podcast that delivers practical training advice in less than 5 minutes. Have you ever noticed that your dog suddenly gets more alert in the evening? Maybe he starts sniffing more, scanning the yard, or maybe he even gets the zoomies around sunset. There's a reason for that and it's built into their biology. Dogs are what's called crepuscular, which means they're naturally wired to be more alert and active at dawn and dusk. That's when their wild ancestors did most of their hunting and exploring Prey. Animals were on the move and the temperatures were cooler. So it made sense to be sharp and ready, and their senses are built for it.
Speaker 1:Dogs have more rod cells in their eyes than we do, which gives them better motion detection in low light. They also have a reflective layer in the back of the eye that enhances vision at dawn and dusk. Even their noses get an edge at dusk. Cooler air helps scent molecules settle, making it easier to detect and follow smells on the ground. That's why some dogs seem especially scent-focused in the evening. They're working with ideal conditions. So if your dog seems more alert, more energetic or even more reactive around sunset, that's not random. That's nature doing its thing. And if you have never walked your dog at dusk. You should. You will usually see a completely different dog from the one you walked at 3 pm.