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Thread: Flashlight techniques with dogs

  1. #1
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    Flashlight techniques with dogs

    Walking my dog at night, I’m realizing I have no idea if there are better or worse ways to deal with the dog plus a flashlight to put myself in the best position if I ever got in a situation where I judged it was necessary to draw a weapon. Any advice?

  2. #2
    banana republican blues's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by luckyman View Post
    Walking my dog at night, I’m realizing I have no idea if there are better or worse ways to deal with the dog plus a flashlight to put myself in the best position if I ever got in a situation where I judged it was necessary to draw a weapon. Any advice?
    Wear a headlamp. That's what I do in my rural area. This way I have one hand on the lead, and one hand free to grab pepper spray, knife, firearm, what have you...


    I use this one from Nitecore. I charge it once a week, based upon two dark walks nightly.

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    I use a high-output hand held light on a neck lanyard. I use the light sparingly, as lighting conditions varying in my neighborhood.

  4. #4
    Deadeye Dick Clusterfrack's Avatar
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    Flashlight techniques with dogs

    Quote Originally Posted by luckyman View Post
    Walking my dog at night, I’m realizing I have no idea if there are better or worse ways to deal with the dog plus a flashlight to put myself in the best position if I ever got in a situation where I judged it was necessary to draw a weapon. Any advice?
    I thought this thread was about how to use a light while being attacked by a dog. I have done that, with some success.

    But since it’s about walking dogs with a light, here’s what I do: I use a handheld light with a finger loop. My thinking was that I want to be able to use the light for a blinding defense, to flash a vehicle, or if I might have to use a CCW.

    My handheld light came in handy two weeks ago when the idiot neighbor’s idiot off-leash dog got into it with our dogs (on leash). OC was not a good option because our dogs, and Mrs. CF were in the mix. I flashed the dog with the Malkoff BG2, and teeped him when he rushed back in. Then our male dog bit him hard in the side, and I sunk in a collar choke. Fortunately that made him stop, and the owner came and collected him.

    I guess a headlamp would be helpful? But I’d still want the handheld for situations like this.
    Last edited by Clusterfrack; 01-06-2021 at 11:48 AM.
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  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark D View Post
    I use a high-output hand held light on a neck lanyard. I use the light sparingly, as lighting conditions varying in my neighborhood.
    This is an interesting idea. I had thought of the headlamp idea, but like you I use the light sparingly. On my average walk in 3 different spots I use it to illuminate myself when crossing a road at a stop sign that everyone rolls through, which makes the headlamp a little less optimal. Otherwise, In a couple places I light up an area where I could be easily cornered before I go near it, and then in just a couple places I’m using it to make sure I don’t trip.

    I figure the most likely trouble I’m going to run into would be a coyote or another dog, followed by a desperate homeless person. The couple of homeless people normally in the neighborhood I sort of know and get along fine with, but you never know who might come by. I have yet to run into someone who doesn’t back off once the dog starts making noise, but I hate counting on that.

  6. #6
    Having an agitated dog on a leash in one hand is going to be a problem no matter what light you use. You might consider putting a carabiner on your belt oriented with the gate opening on the outside so it's easy to clip the leash and free up both hands. Pulling at the waist is still a distraction but much easier to deal with.

    As for lights, I'm probably an outlier in that where we walk I'm more worried about encountering wildlife (skunks, etc.)than people. My preference is a fairly dim, broad-beam headlamp and a bright handheld. The headlamp is just enough to walk safely and light up eyes without completely washing out any ambient light. The handheld is for spotlighting anything of interest and for use with the pistol.

    A pistol-mounted light would be another option to pair with a headlamp.

  7. #7
    Consider a handsfree leash system.
    Hain’t we got all the fools in town on our side? And ain’t that a big enough majority in any town?

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by luckyman View Post
    This is an interesting idea. I had thought of the headlamp idea, but like you I use the light sparingly. On my average walk in 3 different spots I use it to illuminate myself when crossing a road at a stop sign that everyone rolls through, which makes the headlamp a little less optimal. Otherwise, In a couple places I light up an area where I could be easily cornered before I go near it, and then in just a couple places I’m using it to make sure I don’t trip.

    I figure the most likely trouble I’m going to run into would be a coyote or another dog, followed by a desperate homeless person. The couple of homeless people normally in the neighborhood I sort of know and get along fine with, but you never know who might come by. I have yet to run into someone who doesn’t back off once the dog starts making noise, but I hate counting on that.
    Sounds like we use a light in similar ways - to communicate to cars, and occassionally illuminate dark areas. I like the neck lanyard, it keeps my hands free until I need to use the light. And when crossing the street I sometimes activate the light and let it hang from the lanyard while I walk. The swinging pendulum motion of the beam seems pretty visible to cars. My lanyard is, supposedly, a break away design that will break if it gets entangled.

    My primary concern while walking my pups is stray dogs. I've run into a couple off leash dogs that came up to us very fast. In one instance , a chow/pit mix got a good hold on my dog. I used my spyderco (unopened) as a breaking stick to get it's jaws open. Fortunately the other times the strays responded to verbalization and body language.

    Quote Originally Posted by peterb View Post
    Having an agitated dog on a leash in one hand is going to be a problem no matter what light you use. You might consider putting a carabiner on your belt oriented with the gate opening on the outside so it's easy to clip the leash and free up both hands. Pulling at the waist is still a distraction but much easier to deal with.
    My protocol, if things go completely haywire, is to drop my dog leashes. I discovered the hard way that if my dog is attacked, a leash hinders it's mobility and makes it much more vulnerable to damage. Likewise, if I need to physically deal with a person (unlikely) or a stray dog, (slightly more likely), I don't need a couple of excited dogs dancing around while I hold their leashes and simultaneously try to solve my own problem. Dropping their leashes does create potential issues with my dogs getting into traffic, but for me it's the least bad choice in that situation.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Wingate's Hairbrush View Post
    Consider a handsfree leash system.
    I don’t think I’m up for this one. I did that full time when she was a puppy and it was a good training technique, and she’s normally very well behaved on-leash. But now she’s just too strong, the once or twice she’s gone bananas I could hold her back with the leverage and shock absorption I get from holding the leash, but would be worried she would pull me over if she was clipped to my waistline. Plus I worry if another dog comes up and wants to fight her; I’d rather have the option to drop the leash super-quickly.

  10. #10
    The problem with a headlamp is it illuminates your rear sight and makes it hard to see the front sight.

    I typically use a headlamp on low, but want a WML and/or handheld in addition.
    Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.

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