Running at night is scary and somewhat dangerous. But also exciting and a lot of fun. We run at night for three primary reasons. If it is too warm during the day, during hunting season or if it is a special occasion such as Halloween, Winter Solstice, New Years Eve and of course, our annual date, on Valentines Day.The dogs can’t run above 50 degrees without risking overheating. We use the 100 point rule—add up the temperature and the humidity—if it is 100 or less we can run. Even if the temps are near 50, we need to stop often and water the dogs so they will cool down. So during the early part of fall we often need to run at night when it is cooler.
We live in a pretty remote area, which means lots of woods, which also means there are lots of hunters out during deer season. We want to respect their time in the woods and also not risk being mistaken for a deer! So that means running at night when hunting does not take place.
Nothing is more fun than running at night on some special occasion such as Halloween —especially if the moon or Northern Lights are out. This year we are planning a camp out during the Halloween weekend, inviting some friends of ours to come along, and are going to call the event “The Monster Mush!” I of course plan on wearing my Dracula teeth!
For safety sake we train the dogs to stay on the right side of the road/ trail at all times, the leaders wear flashing red lights and we installed reflective signs to our ATV’s to warn vehicles coming up from behind.
