Pitbull After Dark

Lately B has been taking Athena on night time walks.  It has started to get dark here around 8:30, so if we leave the house for a walk any later than this, we take a walk in the dark.

B actually prefers walks in the dark to walks during the day time.  Here are his reasons why:

• Temperature (in the summer it's much cooler!)
• Less traffic (we live in the city so there are many cars out and about on day time walks)
• Less dogs (we have yet to encounter an off-leash dog in the dark and many people put their dogs inside that they usually leave outside during the day)
• Athena goes right to bed (when we get home from an after dark walk Athena is so pooped that she goes right to bed which means that we have time to write blog posts!

While on a night time walk we always have safety lights with us to make sure that cars, bikers, and other walkers can clearly see us.  B clips the Planet Bike Super Flash blinking light to the back of his pants.  One of us will also shine the Cateye OptiCube LED light as a flash light.  B also uses both of these lights when he rides his bike at night.

We are all about keeping Athena safe during these night time walks, so there are a few more products that we are hoping to get in the coming months.  I found a list of recommended gadgets for night time walks here.  

These are the products that we think are essential for keeping your pooches safe on night time walks:

Nite Ize SpotLite LED Pet Light: Weather resistant, easily clips to collar with a D-ring, glow and flash mode, long battery run time.

Ruffwear Track Jacket: High visibility, durable, lightweight, and water-resistant.

There are other safety products out there including reflective leashes and LED dog collars, but we think that the above products are enough for the occasional after dark walker.

On another note, tonight we took a night time walk on one of our usual routes that crosses the Springwater Corridor.  Usually we will hop onto the corridor during the middle of our walk because it's nice to get away from traffic and other dogs (we have only met one dog on a leash while walking the corridor).  Today was the Hood to Coast run which stretches 199 miles from Timberline Lodge to Seaside.  The race was still going on at 9:00pm when we walked by the corridor, so we weren't able to walk our usual route with all of the runners and their teammates cheering!  It was fun to be a part of the action though, and Athena got some good practice walking through large crowds of people.

What safety products do you use when walking your dogs after dark?

-A & B

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