During winter in the Northern latitudes, there never seems to be enough daylight. I worry about walking along the sidewalk or street in the dark, and I have tried a lot of different products to make sure I am visible. Here are some helpful hints for making your night walk a little brighter:
Lighted Collars
Lighted collars are a poor choice for dog walking at night. If your dog has any significant amount of fur, it will partially obstruct the collar, and depending on the direction your dog is facing, may not be visible to oncoming traffic. Lighted collars are a good choice if you want to keep track of a loose dog in a secure or fenced area, but definitely not the best choice for dog walking.
Lighted Leashes
Lighted leashes are wonderful inventions for making dogs and walkers more visible to oncoming traffic. I have personally used the Nite-Ize lighted leash for 6 months of nightly dog walks, and it worked very well and was water resistant. I have used it during several downpours, and many snow flurries, without any problems, although it does not claim to be waterproof. When the light gets dim, the button-cell batteries must be replaced using a screwdriver. The leash appears odd because it only lights from the handle to halfway down the lead, but that is more than enough to let someone know you are coming, plus it has a reflective stripe running the length of the leash for added visibility.
I recently purchased a Dog-E-Glow lighted leash, and that also seems to work well, and I love the variety of styles and colors. Note that the Dog-E-Glow leash has a tiny switch on the side of the light housing to connect the circuit. I was very frustrated when the second time I tried to use the leash I couldn't get it to light up because I had forgotten about this on/off switch.
I also tried out the inexpensive Litey-Leash. It worked well for about the first half of my dog walk, but then my 70-lb. dog apparently pulled the circuit apart and it no longer lit up. Admittedly, the Litey-Leash says it is for dogs under 75 lbs, and my dog can pull a bit, but I was disappointed with the results. Perhaps for smaller dogs it would not be an issue, but on the other hand, neither the Dog-E-Glow nor the Nite-Ize leashes had any problems, even with a 100 lb. dog.
UPDATE: (October 2014) Dog-E-Glow has become my regular nighttime leash. One caution, though: this leash is quite sturdy, with a heavy-duty clasp, and simply does not make sense for walking a dog less than 20 lbs. Also, because of the thickly-padded handle, it is difficult to hold 2 leashes, and the 6 ft. length means a dog can really move away from you, which is not ideal at night in the dark.
Collar Lights
Collar light
s are designed to clip on to the dog's collar and help light the way. In general they are small and the light is ineffective if you need to figure out where your dog just pooped, but nice for a little ambient light. I bought several Nite-Ize SpotLit (or PetLit) carabiners, which have two major product flaws. The button is extremely difficult to turn off and on-- nice that the dog won't accidentally turn it off (or on), but frustrating when I had to literally step on it because I didn't have enough hand strength to turn it on. The light worked great until the battery died, but after replacing the battery, it would randomly turn off after about 3-5 minutes. This happened with not one, but several of the SpotLits. I was extremely annoyed to be left in the dark!
Miscellaneous
The greatest light of all, for me, has been the PupLight. It looks incredibly awkward, but the design is ingenious. It is basically a spotlight-type of light hinged to a plastic holder that allows the owner to bend it to any angle vertically. This small light is designed to either be worn on a lanyard around the owner's neck, or worn on an elastic collar which slides over the dog's head as shown here. Out of all my lighted tools, this is the one I found indispensable. It was literally bright enough for me to wear as a lanyard and see several feet in front of me, as well as allowing enough light to pick up poops. I also felt confident that if anyone tried to mug me I could shine it in their eyes and temporarily blind them-- it was really bright! The light requires two AAA batteries which are easily replaced without needing a screwdriver. It is definitely not waterproof, so if you put it on your dog make sure he isn't about to take a swim.
With me in my black winter coat, and my two black Giant schnauzers, high visibility is important not only from the front but also from the back. For this reason I like the 360 degree visibility of lighted leashes, and usually supplement it with a SlapLit bracelet on either puffy sleeve from Nite-Ize. I was worried about them falling off, but so far they usually stays on pretty well.
What about you?
Do you have any other tips or recommendations for high visibility during these cold winter nights?
