Dark when you get home

[Laurelin]

How are you guys dealing with this? Right now it's still light before I leave but not for long. I love the winter but I miss our hour long after work park trips and I feel neglectful.

We've been trick training twice a day and I've also set up boxes as puzzles so Mia can destroy them and work at it for a while. She's bringing me her ball constantly and trying to get me to play. She really seems to need a run every other day but that's impossible when its dark at 5. Feels like 10 pm by the time I get home.

 

[Saeleofu]

I get off at 4 or 5, so it's actually still light out for a bit when I get home. This is new to me, because I used to get off at 6 or later. Reason #467543 I love working in a zoo

 

[Oko]

Getting up ridiculously early, before it's light out, and going somewhere while the sun is still rising. Going to the beach in the dark with a long line on. Lots of training time. Indoor fetch and tug. She's pretty good at entertaining herself when she has energy to burn, she'll run around flipping her toys in the air and bouncing up and down.

Wesley is perfectly happy to snuggle all day as long as he gets one good gallop, which can easily happen in the backyard.

But really, I cannot say how much I hate it getting dark this early.

 

[Southpaw]

I never really do much with them after work anyway lol. At the most we'll go for a walk but I don't mind doing that in the dark as long as it's not cold. My guys pretty much shut down when the sun goes down, too.

 

[Sekah]

I do a 15-30 minute walk in the morning before work, off leash, sometimes with a chuck-it. I get home around 5:30 and it's dark by then. We mostly do trick training (probably 30-60 minutes of pretty intense activity) and then a quick walk that lasts 10-45 minutes for some sniffing/exploration time. Cohen has added 5+ new tricks to her repertoire and we're polishing up loads more.

Some nights we just toss a ball a bit indoors, some nights we do nothing. The dogs start getting pretty squirrelly without much activity though.

 

[Laurelin]

I've been taking off half day as well and doing hikes and trying to really wear them out on the weekends/Fridays. Haven't worked more than 3-4 days a week in over a month recently lol. Still am feeling very locked up.

It doesn't help that I work an extra hour a day pretty much making it impossible to have any outdoors time with light except right before I go to work (and that will end in a couple weeks) and 20 min lunch breaks. I'm always super nervous walking at night. I used to a lot when I could go to the college campus and park there. There's not any lights at the places we tend to walk. The park also closes at sun down. Ugh. On the other hand hiking when it Is cold is the best.

 

[Maxy24]

I actually don't mind walking/playing outside in the dark once there is snow. Lights/moonlight reflects off of the snow and keeps it fairly bright. Plus it's very quiet and peaceful.

 

[k9krazee]

What's worse than the dark is the cold

We walk/run in the mornings (but it's usually dark then too) and at night entertain Crosserton inside with tricks, hide and go seek with stuffies or chewies. Or a combo of all three. If we didn't get our morning walk we'll bundle up & go in the dark

 

[Laurelin]

Do y'all carry anything walking at night? I get nervous unless its a really busy area that is well lit.

 

[Dagwall]

And this is where my brother's new schedule works best for me. About 6 months ago my brother started going in to work around 5am. He used to do the morning walk and I'd take the dog(s) out when I got home from work. We switched and now I take the dog(s) for a walk before I leave for work and he takes them out in the afternoon.

I've hated previous winters when it's dark by the time I get home. I mostly would just walk around my neighborhood which has street lights. Then go inside and play some indoor fetch, tug, do some training. Right now I'm loving having my new foster dog who Jubel really seems to like. They play a good deal so getting shorter walks due to the cold and lack of daylight isn't such a big deal so far. Time will tell if this holds true throughout the winter.

 

[JessLough]

We just wentout in the dark. It wasnt really a choice, Rosey needed out or else she'd be hell to live with.

 

[Beanie]

We just play in the house. A tennis ball or sheep toy thrown up and down the hall for an hour or two, plenty of wrestling, and working on tricks is how we keep busy. It's dark before I even leave work now so beyond dark when I get home. =P

 

[sassafras]

I kind of have my dream schedule in that usually there are only two days per week I go in in the morning. And after the first of the year that will change to one. The tradeoff is that I am at work a little later in the evening, but it means I get to go out and do things in the morning.

On the days when it's dark and the dogs NEED to do something, I just walk them. I'm not generally nervous about walking, especially when I have a 90ish pound polar bear with me.

 

[Locke]

We just go out in the dark anyway. I live in a city, so there are a lot of street lights and the parks are lit somewhat decently.

Some people have flashlights, but mostly just to find their dog's poop!

 

[Laurelin]

I kind of have my dream schedule in that usually there are only two days per week I go in in the morning. And after the first of the year that will change to one. The tradeoff is that I am at work a little later in the evening, but it means I get to go out and do things in the morning.

On the days when it's dark and the dogs NEED to do something, I just walk them. I'm not generally nervous about walking, especially when I have a 90ish pound polar bear with me.

I would so do that if I could. I'd love it if work started midday and we got home late vs the other way around. I'd much rather have mornings off.

My dogs lack any intimidation factors.

 

[Oko]

Do y'all carry anything walking at night? I get nervous unless its a really busy area that is well lit.

This is where having a large dog is useful.

 

[Laurelin]

Solution: get a large intimidating dog? Lol.

Too bad I can only get one more dog and I want something mediumish and not very intimidating. It would be nice though at times.

 

[Taqroy]

I had to resort to hiring a friend to come over twice a week. :\ It makes me feel a little bad but we were all losing our minds (especially Tipper omg) and this makes so I can come home and enjoy the dogs without stressing.

 

[Oko]

Solution: get a large intimidating dog? Lol.

Too bad I can only get one more dog and I want something mediumish and not very intimidating. It would be nice though at times.

Pretty much haha. Although Feist will be all slinky and black when she's medium sized so I'm hoping that ups the 'leave us alone' factor, otherwise Wesley will be coming everywhere for backup.

 

[GipsyQueen]

I don't mind the dark.... I kinda have to not mind the dark during the winter. It's dark by 5pm here right now, we'll get down to about 4pm. The sun actually is pretty low by 3:45 right now.