In my experience you never know when you started a new habit until it’s too late.
This is how I wind up in losing streaks where I am staying up late, eating awful foods, smoking a lot, or drinking too often.
All it takes is one easy action, performed routinely without much thought… And then next thing you know, you are stuck in a holding pattern. Apparently, the exact same thing can be said for creatures. I never realized what a large mistake I was making them by checking our thermostat every morning before my pal and I left the dwelling for work. Honestly, I looked at the air temperature control device everyday by force of my own habit. It was routine for me to turn down the indoor air temperature before I left for work everyday in the winter, so the heater would not run all morning long in an empty dwelling for no reason. I did the same thing in the summer time by turning up the air temperature so our a/c device got a break. I never thought much of this behavior, other than patting myself on the back for using my energy efficiently and reducing my bi-weekly electricity bill while extending the life of my central heating and cooling system. Apparently, however, my dog thought a lot of my thermostat habit. In fact, he directly correlated the thermostat adjustment to our departure from the house. Now, whenever he sees me touch the air temperature control device, he thinks that we are headed out for the morning and starts barking for hours if my pal and I never leave. Next week I am installing a smart thermostat so I can make the air quality adjustment secretly from my cellphone without horrifying the whole household.
