Equinox 2021 – Shorter Days are Coming

Where did the summer go? Tomorrow, September 22, 2021, is already equinox, the day when day and night are equally long. From there on, the days are rapidly getting shorter, making it harder to avoid being out in the dark. Last weekend, we had a furry visitor and we barely managed to take the post-dinner walk before it was pitch black. Just in the last week Chicago has lost 21 minutes of sunlight, 13 in the evening and 8 in the morning. Today, the sun rises at 6:37am and is gone again at 6:47pm. It’s hard to adjust your schedule when the light is changing that rapidly, even for us who are tracking it meticulously. Over the summer, we were a little lazy and did not always bring safety reflectors, but that has to change now. Equinox also means safety reflector season because who wants to get caught unseen in the dark? Better seen than sorry!

Safety reflectors are must-haves for dog walkers and dogs alike now when the nights will be longer than the days.

Is a reflective dog leash bright enough?

Using a reflective dog leash is great, but as you can see in the video above, the funflector safety reflectors are brighter. Of course, it depends on what quality and how much reflective material the leash has, so test yours so you know. The brighter the reflectors the further away the drivers can see you. This is particularly important along streets with faster traffic. Our leash might be bright enough on a residential street with very slow traffic, but for a highway, we need more reflective power. We like to hang one reflector in each end of the leash for extra safety.

Red and black ninja safety reflector by funflector
The reflector hanging on the dog leash in the video is a ninja. Available here.

The dog walker needs to be seen too! We have plenty of reflectors hanging on our jacket zipper pulls, but that is of little use when it’s too warm for jackets. So this time of year, reflective slap wraps are the most practical solution. They only take a second to slap on and are easy to wear for walkers, runner and bicyclists.

The funflector team

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