when i take toby out at night he seems more alert and if he see any thing cat,dog,person he will give of a grumble.i don't think he is scared of the dark maybe more on edge as most of our walks are during the day.could this be why he is different on the night time walk or is he just being more protective? i am going to try and walk him when its darker and get hubby to follow us and see if he will do it to any one or just people he hasn't met.if it was day light he wouldn't grumble at any of the things he does at night.i have never had this change in other dogs before they stayed the same regardless of the dark.
i am wondering if the grumble is to say to others i know your there! i have noticed he doesn't like people walking behind us in the dark as he keeps looking behind as if he doesn't trust them. could it be that every one is foe in the dark to him?
has any one had this change before in their dog during the night.
trying to understand the change in him when it gets darker.

Yes I have noticed the same.  My dobe more alert at night he is 7 months old today.  Since the nights are drawing in I have definitely noticed on his evening walk he is more on guard.  He always keeps a check on me in the park, never goes too far in front but at night on the lead I have definitely noticed a change since the nights are darker.

I had this problem with my older dog - but it did get better eventually, but took a long time :)

Daisy

Mmm... I noticed Maddie didnt like walking in the dark when we were on holiday. She barked at everyone she saw, and she meant it too!
Missie is definately more alert on night walks and will stare at people approaching, whereas daytimes she's more interested in where we are going.

Same prob here!  My dog, (who I am currently referring to as Kevin), barks at anyone she sees approaching during night walks, and sometimes even cars too.  But doesn't bat an eyelid during the day.

Both mine are too, i put it down to them not being able to see as well as in day light, particularly during half light. I don't often walk them when it is dark though, so perhaps they just need to get used to it.

how old are your dogs? i wonder if it is an age thing as well. toby is almost 18 months now.
is maddie 5 months missie?
he is getting better but still alert i have been taking him out a bit earlier so it is just the end that is dark.
some one he knows just came to the door and he was on the drive but he was fine so i am now thinking its people he doesn't and the dark factor.
when he grumbles i think he means it but it is that low others can't hear him at the distance they are from him.

Kizzy doe's the same. she is just 6 month's during the day she just want's to greet people but she actully make's me more nervous at night because I am much more aware of thing that wouldn't corcern me if I was on my own. Viv

Hi Marie, no she's 6 1/2 months now and we took her out last night in the pouring rain and she never barked or growled at anyone?! Maybe it was just on holiday, you know in a strange place in the dark? But Missie is definately more alert to strangers at night.
By the way, are you going to the leo picnic on sunday (tomorrow)?

Interestingly dogs see far better than us after dark. The arrangement of the canine eye allows it in effect to "See" double the amount of light we see. Obviously some dogs have a medical problem which limits their vision, such as the form of PRA which affected Irish Setters back in the 1950's, but these cases are few and far between.

At the moment I have a pair of Weimararner litter sisters in my pet dog class and because of the light nights have been taking the classes out side. As soon as dusk starts to settle these two start peering into the shadows and giving little grumbles under their breath! I have no reason to doubt their eyesight at all. I do wonder if maybe the two women who own these two might be a little nervy walking in the gloom and this has communicated to their dogs? Possible but possibly not! My own Bethany was another to get spooky in the dark and I know it was neither me nor a medical problem in her case. I specifically mentioned it to Prof Peter Bedford at the eye testing and he assured me that her eyesight was perfect!

It is of course possible that the reason for these problems is the very fact that their eyesight is better than ours! They can see movements, possibly of leaves, which are completely invisible to us. A mouse of rat in the bushes, even a cat lurking, all out of sight to us.

These are the only things I can think of. It's a strange subject, my Bethany was always so jumpy at that time of night whereas Anna is completely bomb proof appearing to not have a care in the world!

Regards, John

women who own these two might be a little nervy walking in the gloom and this has communicated to their dogs?
i don't think this is happening with him i am not spooked by the dark so i don't think i am passing it on.
he has looked at cats and he lives with 2 and not interested usually at all.
could be like you said he is seeing things i'm not but the grumbles are low so others don't know he's doing it.he has had his eyes looked at for the schemes for leos and nothing wrong so i don't think there is any thing wrong with his eye sight.
do you think it is better to walk him so he becomes bomb proof in the dark or to avoid it?
or is it some thing he will grow out of in time?

Bethany never really got over it but they, it never became a problem either. If I heard her, or more likely felt her if she was on the lead, I would just say something like, "It's ok sweet, there's nothing to worry about." in a calm voice and she would settle ok. Mostly it was justs a tensing of the body. As with you, there was never any reason I found but she was like it until the day she died. The strange thing about her was that she was 100% bomb proof with anything, man of beast, in the light.

Regards, John

hi
no we arn't going marks on the wrong shift but i have heard they are good social events at freds. i would like to go at some stage if we can get leo's all around lol.
tob didn't do it last night strange................ im sure i have a weird one. :-) but i love him any way!

I used to get spooked by Morse at night now I dont as long as there are no PEOPLE about. He points at bats and watches them circling around trees and street lights for ages with his head going almost 360. Ive seen so much more  wildlife since having a dog its great. I keep him on lead at nights round the scheme though in case of Hi Ho Silver. Ive noticed that even dogs who are friends in the light may grumble when they see each other in the dusk until close enough to smell, another reason for upping control at night.

Leading on from this, since I've come back from holiday (about 3 weeks), I cannot get Millie to leave the house to go for a walk - except at night!

SHe gets all excited, then as soon as I get the lead out, she runs off and hides, and if I get it on and we go outside the front door, she won't leave the front of the house - refuses completely to walk down the street.  If I pick her up and carry her halfway to the park, she will walk the rest of the way, have a great time at the park and walk home fine, but I am loathe to do this (just did it the first couple of times as an experiment) so every day, we stand at the front of the house, with me trying to coax her down the street whilst she puts her scottie brakes on and blatantly refuses, barking to be let back in the door.  Yesterday I took her lead off, and walked a little way down the street, and she just sat on the doorstep looking at me, and then walked back to the front door waiting for it to open.  An eleven month old puppy should by rights have made a run for freedom then!

However, she is fine if we take her somewhere in the car for a walk, she is in fact at that "its fun to run away from mum and dad and hide stage" where we are really putting recalls to the test, and she is also fine if I take her out at night - she lets me put the lead on, no trouble, and will happily go out for a walk and walk down the road.

A few months ago she did have a scare when a small building site at the bottom of the road made a loud noise as we walked past which freaked her out, and she's never been a fan of building sites, but she still walked past that every day for weeks afterwards before we went away.

I checked with my sister and she said nothing happened whilst she was there for the week, and they only took her out to the beach in the car, so nothing happened during the day there.  I thought it might be cold at first as she would shiver if I took her to the park, and she'd just had her hair cut short when the weather turned cold but that wouldn't explain why she is ok to walk at night.

She's obviously scared of something, but I cannot for the life of me figure out what, and as I'm always there when she goes out for a walk, nothing has happened that I don't know about.

Making a walk fun with toys and treats has no affect, she is simply not interested in going out during the day anymore - however I don't want this to go on and become habitual or she will be like it forever so any tips greatly appreciated!

To add to that, I have tried her on different leads, retractable and short, in case that was the problem, but makes no difference.  I have tried heading in a different direction.  And Wednesday, when OH was at home, I took her out and she walked past the front step which I thought was a good sign but only because she went up to OH's car and jumped up ready to get in - when I carried on past and she realised we weren't going in the car, she turned round and went back to the house, barking to be let in.