When the Seasons Change, Your Dog Can Feel It Too

The leaves are changing colors. The air is getting cooler, and the days are getting shorter. Just like the world around us changes with the season, our dogs can change, too.

For some dogs, fall means more than cooler walks and pumpkin everything. It can mean itchy skin, red bellies, irritated paws, extra licking, and suddenly wondering why your dog seems so uncomfortable.

I've seen it firsthand with Diesel. He's our white Pitty, and every year when the seasons start to change, I can usually tell before I even look at the calendar. His belly starts getting pink, the scratching increases, and he starts licking his skin more. That's when I start paying closer attention to what he's been rolling in, walking through, sniffing, and bringing home on his coat.

And here's the interesting part: his food didn't suddenly change. The environment did.

It's Easy to Blame the Food

When a dog suddenly starts itching, one of the first things many people think about is food. And food absolutely can play a role in skin and inflammatory issues. Nutrition matters. What we feed our dogs provides the building blocks their bodies use every day, and diet can influence things like the gut microbiome and skin health.

But food isn't the only thing interacting with your dog's body. If your dog is comfortable for months and then starts scratching when the seasons change, it's worth considering what else changed at the same time.

Fall Changes What's Around Your Dog

As summer fades, your dog encounters a different environment. There are changing pollens, damp leaves, decaying plant material, and shifting temperature and humidity. Mold can also become more prevalent in certain environments.

And your dog is interacting with all of it. They walk through grass, sniff plants, investigate piles of leaves, and roll around on the ground. Then they come inside and settle on the couch, their bed, or your favorite blanket. Dogs don't exactly have a concept of, “I'm going to leave my outdoor exposures at the door.” They bring a lot of their environment home with them.

Because dogs are constantly interacting with the world through their nose, skin, paws, and coat, those exposures can contribute to skin irritation in dogs that are sensitive to them.

Your Dog's Skin Is Part of the Story

The skin isn't just something covering the outside of your dog's body. It's a living, active barrier between your dog and the environment. When that barrier becomes irritated, you may see the results as redness, itching, licking, chewing, or inflamed paws.

Once a dog starts scratching, another problem can develop. The more they scratch or lick irritated skin, the more they can damage that protective barrier, which can create even more irritation and make the skin more vulnerable to additional problems.

That's one reason I don't like looking at itching as simply, “My dog has allergies.” I want to know what's happening around the dog, too. What have they been exposed to? What does their skin look like? What's changed recently? What does their diet look like?

Sometimes the answer isn't one single thing. It's the combination.

So What Do I Do With Diesel?

When I notice Diesel starting to flare up with the changing seasons, I don't immediately assume his food has failed him. Instead, I look at what his body is dealing with right now.

I make sure he's getting plenty of whole-food ingredients that provide nutrients that support normal inflammatory balance. I pay closer attention to his skin, give him extra baths to help remove environmental irritants from his coat and skin, and sometimes use a coconut oil mixture on his skin to help soothe and moisturize irritated areas.

I also make sure we're keeping up with the basics that are easy to overlook when life gets busy.

Because nutrition is important—but it doesn't exist in isolation.

And yes, there are times when medication is absolutely appropriate. Steroids and other medications have their place.

What I don't believe is that medication has to be the only tool we reach for every time a dog gets itchy. There are often other things we can look at alongside appropriate veterinary care, including nutrition, environmental management, and skin care. Sometimes it's one of those things. Sometimes it's several working together.

Pay Attention to the Pattern

One of the most useful things you can do is notice when something happens. If your dog's skin problems consistently show up during a particular season, that timing is useful information. It doesn't automatically tell you what's causing the problem, but it gives you a clue worth paying attention to.

It's very easy to look at a dog who is scratching and immediately think, “It must be their food.” Sometimes it is. But sometimes your dog has spent the afternoon investigating the world outside, brought those environmental exposures home, and then settled down on the couch. Meanwhile, you're wondering why the food they've eaten for months suddenly became the problem.

Sometimes the food didn't change.

The season did.

And apparently, Diesel's skin gets the memo every single year. 

So as fall settles in, don't ignore those little changes. The extra scratching, the pink belly, or the irritated paws are worth noticing. They may be giving you clues about what's happening around your dog—and where you might be able to help.

— Jennifer
Ulti-Mutt Bakery
Where love and health come full circle.