Whenever I take Saber (that’s her, to the left) out on a walk these dark evenings, I put one of those LED collars on her.  Her colouring – black & tan – means that she easily blends into the shadows and it is very easy to lose sight of her.

So, when we reach the woods – or the fields, depending on where we are going – I take her lead off and slip her LED collar over her head.  It then doesn’t matter how far she disappears into the bushes, I can still see the brightly flashing pink collar, floating ghost-like as it chases some poor frightened Muntjack through the trees.

Being able to see where your dog is at all times is both helpful and comforting and so these collars have become very popular with dog owners.

However, there are many dog owners out there that never let their dog off the lead and yet, they still give it a bright LED collar to wear when they go out.

Can they not see it? It’s three feet in front of them… on a lead.

I don’t get it.

But also, many dog owners don’t want to be left out, it seems – I see many of them wearing those strap-on head-torches as they walk along.  And some of them are just SO bright! It’s like a car headlight coming toward you in the darkness.

There’s a chap who walks his spaniel off the lead, over the same field that we sometimes go to. Miserable Fuck, I call him, because despite saying hello several times, I’ve never even received an acknowledgement from him, so I’ve given up trying and we now pass each other silently.

His dog wears a bright orange-glowing collar around his neck at this time of year and MF wears a super-bright, one billion candlepower torch on his head, which blinds me as we pass each other.  I’m sure he does it on purpose. I’ve taken to closing one eye as our paths cross, just so that when I get past, I still have some level of night vision and I’m not completely blind for five minutes.

Maybe, one day, I’ll make a point of ‘accidentally’ bumping into him.

“Sorry, I didn’t see you”.