Do you leave lights on for your dog if you go out at night?

My mother would always leave a few lights on in the rooms our dogs would be in if we went out in the evening. Does anyone else do this?

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My mother would leave on the radio or the television too as she thought the sounds and voices helped calm our dogs too. Our dogs didn't enjoy being left alone either.

If I need to leave my dog alone, she is her crate as she can still get into trouble. But, yes, I do leave a light on. I'll leave a radio on, too. I hope the voices will sooth her. She gets upset when we leave her alone.

When I go out and leave my dogs at home, I leave a light on, too. The light I switch on is outside the house. I don't need any lights inside the house because my dogs are fine with sitting in the dark. The light outside is for them to see better anyone who's in front of the house. And of course, the light is for me, too, because I cannot see very well in the dark.

Well, contrary to most of us, my mom will leave the lights off. And her reason would be so that people who attempt to enter our homes will not be able to see them, especially since 2 of our dogs are black so they are indeed happily blending in the dark while we are out. So far, they do not have qualms or concerns being left without lights. I guess that's because they can see much better than we can as their eyes are more reflective than ours (That's why when we take their pictures, sometimes the photos come out with shining eyes).

I like leaving the lights on when I leave but I always come home with them ending up turned off by the person who's arrived before me.

I do not usually leave the light on for the dog when he is inside, unless it is winter and I'm leaving it on for us. Now that it is summer he is outside most of the time, but in winter when it's colder he stays inside. He is crated when we are away and when we are sleeping, so the light on or off doesn't bother him. We do have a yard light we occasionally leave on, but I have noticed the dogs bark at the cats more during the night if they can see them roaming around.

My family has always left lights on for our dogs, when we go out. I'm not sure if we do it so they won't feel lonesome or if it's because it seems more natural to leave them on. Regardless, we always have left at least one lamp one, for our four pups. Which seems like enough, I would say. I'm sure they wouldn't mind the dark, but it would seem almost wrong to leave them without it, now!

I believe in having a few nightlights on, but there is no need where I am from to give the impression we were still home nor to hide the dogs. Our dogs make company for themselves and only a little lighting for seeing.

My dogs sleep in their crates in my bedroom and sometimes they sleep in my bed. I leave a night light on in my bathroom, just so that I can see. Not sure if the dogs need the light. They seemed to be comforted by being in my room.

No, I always have the lights off. I was thinking of getting a night light for my dog but my boyfriend thought it was too much. I don't think it's too much or going over board. Sometimes I hear my dog crying and barking and may be Im thinking she doesn't want to be alone in the dark.

We leave a hall light on for the dogs when we are out. It also can be seen from the door so our house does not look dark and uninhabited when we are out.

I think the dogs like the light on. We also leave it on overnight for both humans and dogs. One sleeps in a crate and he would cry if it was totally dark.

I never have for my dog. I'm a bit of an environmentalist (and cheapskate) so I hate to leave lights burning when I'm not home. I read before that dogs can see in 5x lower light than humans anyway. My dog seems to get around the house perfectly fine in the dark. So I don't think it's necessary, but whether or not it provides comfort for them, I couldn't say.

Our dog is almost never left alone so she's not use to it. We leave the lights on for her in the living room if we need to leave the house at night. She probably does not need it because their vision is so much better than ours so I guess it's more to calm me than her.

My family always leave a light on for the dogs. They are not very used to being without us since there's always someone at the house with them and whenever we go out for dinner or another engagement, leaving a light on for them seems to give them some sort of comfort.

I do leave a light on yes, it just helps the dog to see although they have quite good night vision anyway. We primarily leave it on so that the house looks occupied, but this also serves as helping the dog out too.

Yes. I crate the dogs when I leave, but I leave a light on. Actually, I leave a light in the living room on 24/7 because I hate walking out into a dark room in the middle of the night.

But I would leave a light on for them anyway, they seem to bark less when they can see what's going on around them. It also makes me feel more secure, as if my house is occupied and hopefully, between the light on and the little dogs barking, anyone thinking of breaking in might reconsider.

Yes I do actually, I started out using a normal light. After a little while I realised that using a timed light was much better, it allows for me to save a lot of money and doesn't keep my pup up at night!
Another thing was that it soothes me to know that my dog sleeps and is not causing havoc around the house at midnight I never tried using a radio however even though it sounds like a nice idea.

-Paul

Yes i do the leave the lights on for my dog when i go out. I try to put myself in my dogs shoes, i would hate to be left at home alone in the dark and i dont think my dog would want to be either. Although i may leave my room light off where he sleeps at just to make sure hes comfortable he likes sleeping in the dark.

I did always keep a little night light on for my doggies in the bedroom where they slept with me and noticed my poodle couldn't see to get down her steps by the bed one night when I forgot to turn it on and heard her thump on the carpet (she fell).

They say any light though keeps us from having a deep sleep, but I still keep the night light on even though both my doggies have passed away. Can't bring myself to turn it off now.

When we go out at night we usually leave the lights in our living room for our dog but when we go out in the afternoon we usually forget! Many times we had come home to a dark house and our dog is just so excited (or maybe more of relieved) to see that we have come home. Our dog sleeps alone in the dark every night so being left in the dark should not be a big issue although I personally think that it would be better to have a light on all the time especially when he is home alone. He is after all guarding our home so it would only be proper if he could see well. If you think normal light would be too costly leave a low watt light on

My dog doesn't seem to care if I leave the lights on or not. Normally I only leave a lamp on but never the bedroom lights on. The lamp however, is mostly meant for me so I can see when I get back home.

We leave at least one light on and usually the tv or radio. It is kind of funny but I think it helps him not be so lonely!

We also have this "rule" that he can't get up on certain furniture - but he always does when we aren't home!!

I am amused that we sometimes treat our pets like little humans! We don't dress him though! Only a coat when it gets below zero!

Yes I leave the lights on and also the TV as well. When Carling hurt his leg we left a selection of films on for him to stop him from running around. His favourites are '8 Below' and 'Snow Dogs'. He sat there all night watching them, it was so funny. He also likes to watch Paul O'Grady for the love of dogs as well when we go out. So he is a happy boy.

I would, yes. In fact I have timers at my place to turn stuff on or off to simulate someone being in the house. However I would also leave the TV on just in case it would help them feel less alone at home. However I also had three dogs, so they could certainly keep each other company as well. We never locked them in cages when we left (no need to, they were good about not going until we put them outside).

The other reason I would leave them on, is in the rare occasion of a thunderstorm while we were out. My beagle in particular was very sensitive to the sound of thunder and would get really frightened by it. I figured at least the sound of the TV might mask it a bit, and calm her down a bit afterwards - even though it would never totally cover it up.

Yes I do leave the light on for my dog . Not all but main ones . He is family I would not leave my kids with any electricity while on vacation. Sometimes I leave the t.v. on for him not to loud though . I leave it on a kid show to give him that comfort of loud kid noises when I have to go away for a while. Even if I am running a small errand I do leave a show on . For all I know he can be sitting back and watching it and eating some popcorn we may never know.

My place isn't huge, so I really don't think that leaving lights on is necessary. We have these nightlights that automatically turn on in the dark that helps. They've got this little sensor that can detect how bright it is out and turn on accordingly, the darker it is, the brighter it gets. We have a couple in key areas around the house so that us humans can navigate around the house. I imagine that our dog shouldn't have any issues as well, seeing as her night vision is probably better than mine. I don't see her stumbling around with her arms outstretched afterall!

That being said, I do recall one time where I think she missed a step on the stairs going down. I think she thought she was on the ground floor but still had 1 step to go - heh, I couldn't help but laugh. She was alright though so I'm not as cruel as I sound.