do you walk your dog in the dark?

[MrsLargeEmbodied]

my dm is always so shocked that anyone walks their dog in the dark
very strange.
she has had dogs but i guess she got home earlier enough not to have to walk her dog

Yes I do but he is a big dog (part German shepherd) so I feel quite safe. Not sure I would feel as safe with a smaller dog though.

Yes, but we’re in a safe area and I keep him on the lead.

I do but we live in a safe little village. However, our puppy doesn't seem to like it much. I think it's the dark and the flashing lights of cars. He gets very barky. A few friends with dogs have reported the same.

Yes, but I stick to the lit paths in the village rather than the over the fields routes. He gets an “over the field” at midday in winter.

Yes he needs an evening walk, I won’t take him onto the field or park but a general walk round the streets on his lead yes of course.

oh yes, i dont go on grass, just the lit paths, occasionally with an overly bright head torch

my ddog didnt like the dark i dont think when younger, but she is 9 now and brave

Yes, we often do a 15 minute on lead sniffy round the block walk in the evening depending on what we've done in the day.

Yes of course! Sometimes I don't get a chance to give ddog a long walk till after 7pm. He is off-lead but has a light-up collar thing so I can see him tottering around.

I take him in the local park which is safe/lots of people still about (also walking their dogs!).

No, not because I'm scared but because I can't see small furry things that dog will chase after.

If I didnt walk my dog in the dark he would have to go about 14 hours without a wee as he refuses to gonin our back yard. We are urban so his walks are all along pavements with streetlights. There are still some streets I dont go down at night because of their general dodgy ness.

Yes but I put him in the car and drive into the seafront and beach which is lit by the lights strung between the light columns. If I don’t go there it’s an in lead walk round our nearby streets

Yes,.I chuck them in the car and go to the park open the door and let them run about. I stay at the car with the lights on to be on the safe side.

Yes, but I take a torch and stick to busier well lit areas.

Yes, it's dark later morning early evening in winter, ddog gets walks in the dark twice a day

Ddog is rather protective, he gives a warning shot if someone gets too close to me, safety isn't my concern (he's never bitten, just a snarl)

Yes, but only his last ‘around the block’ toilet walk. I’m fortunate to be able to do his main walks during daylight as I WFH and can plan my own schedule. He’s a big dog and wears an LED collar and we walk on lit pavements in a residential, low crime area.

Nope.

We deliberately set up his routine from puppyhood so that he didn't get (or expect) an evening walk, lol.

He goes out in the morning for at least an hour, and occasionally early/mid afternoon as well, and then he toilets in the garden before bed.

It's nothing to do with safety, more that it suits our routines/lifestyle for him to have his exercise earlier in the day, and I didn't want to get him used to evening walks and then end up in a situation where he couldn't get them for whatever reason.

His latest walk is normally 2pm, but I'm lucky enough to be dog walker so I can take him to work with me :)

oh interesting @icedcoffees

my ddog follows me upstairs when i get home to get change to walk her

Yes, over the unlit field at the back of our house, not late, probably 5-6pm but that is very dark in Scotland . Ddog has a led collar and I have a head torch. We usually see other walkers out there too, a mix of men and women. Scariest bit is when you are alone and the cows in the next field make sounds like a person coughing.

Not me, but a friend used to let her dog run around their field in the dark playing fetch until one day it brought back a stick, my friend went to pick it up and it was actually a rotting deer leg she couldn’t tell in the dark until her hand was literally inches away. This story always creeped me out too much to walk in the dark, my dogs been known to ‘find’ things and I don’t want to risk that lol

@UpturnedUmbrella

Not me, but a friend used to let her dog run around their field in the dark playing fetch until one day it brought back a stick, my friend went to pick it up and it was actually a rotting deer leg she couldn’t tell in the dark until her hand was literally inches away. This story always creeped me out too much to walk in the dark, my dogs been known to ‘find’ things and I don’t want to risk that lol

Yep. My dog is reactive (fear) so this time of the year is great for us!
We have places to ourselves and she gets time off the lead more often. I'm not worried about safety because she is big. She would bark but it would be fear. No one needs to know this!
Only walking during daylight hours is very restrictive in the winter, surely?

I currently don’t... but, that’s because we moved about a year ago and live on a 60mph road with no pavement and no streetlights and I need to get lights and what have you.

Previously I lived on the edge of a town and yes, all the time, both on streets and in unlit places.

Yes on his lead on the well lit streets around our area, he needs an evening walk.