My dog is a fighter with a short fuse. She has been ever since we got her twelve years ago. She picks on smaller dogs to show her superiority, fights with dogs her size to see who's top dog and is not afraid of anything except large Alsations. Not that this behaviour is in her best interest (torn ear $1000+ to repair, socially outcast, nose rubber when in kennel) but that's the way she is and we've learnt to accomodate. One thing, though. Her fuse is even shorter in the shoulder seasons, spring and fall. Always has been. It's worst in the spring. "The sap is rising" is the expression that applies in spades to her. It applies to Scandanavians too, who are known to go a little crazy when the sun reappears after a long dark winter. Ask any visitor... and... There was a study that showed that a ward full of patients with mental diseases was measurably louder in hot weather than in cold. The point of all this is to amplify the understanding that we, animals and people, are affected by extremes of weather, often in ways we don't really appreciate. Here at Mediclim we are in the business of pointing out that smaller changes in the environment around us still have an effect on us.