Fall Back Safely; How to Keep Your Pets Safe in the Dark

Daylight savings; darkness is falling

We made it past Halloween now we have another dark and scary time upon us – daylight savings!!! Get ready to give up an hour of your light, which for those of us with dogs means less hours in the safety of the light to walk and increased dangers like being hit by a car.

I remember years before safety collars we used to all head down to our local dog park and point our vehicles towards the field to use our headlights to light up the area for our dogs to play. Inevitably I always ended up losing sight of my fawn colored Boxers who so perfectly matched the fall foliage. My husband and I bought small bicycle lights and literally screwed them onto our dog’s collars so we could see them, thankfully new technology emerged to make seeing your pets –and more importantly drivers being able to see them – better.

So speaking of the dark and scary – the thought of your pup getting away and you not being able to see them or worse, a driver can’t and hits them is devastating. There are 2 great companies I want to highlight that have revolutionized pet safety. I specifically chose these two because not only are they helping our pets but they give back to pet rescues – that’s a win win!

One has produced a terrific line of LED & Reflective wearables that is far superior to our handmade bike light collars. The other is a tag that offers a serious safety by offering 24/7 protection for your pets – most importantly whether you are available or not! Put these products together and you are able to offer your pet some of the highest level of protection.

4 Paws Tech

4 Paws Tech is a company all about “giving your dog the light of way”. I spoke with Len Horowitz, their founder about his products as I can attest to what has been on the market does not work that well. As a pet sitter, pet owner and former owner of a pet supply store, visibility once the sun set was always a big problem with no real solutions. And it’s not just being able to see your dog play at the park – most importantly it’s so drivers can see your dog and prevent them from being senselessly hit by cars.

Len shares his life with a Golden retriever and wanted to combine his passion for pets with his love of technology.  By creating 4 Paws Tech Len is able to offer products that provide “greater visibility during a walk or just a romp in the backyard; beautiful by day, visible and safe at night.” You wouldn’t know in the daylight that your pet’s collar was also a super bright “I’m right here” light but that’s what makes it so great; they can be worn all the time! No more forgetting that collar with the screwed in bike lights!!

Red light up collar that I use on my pups

The Emergency Tag

Liz Blackman is the founder of Help4Pets Inc. which provides the team that makes The Emergency Tag a functional protective tool. This is so much more than just another tag – “it’s a 24/7 pet emergency operator service that works like “911” for your pet.”  If your pet gets lost, there is a fire, car accident, medical emergency or disaster; you do not have to be reachable if your pet has an issue. The tag provides the number and the person on the other line will assist the person calling with getting your pet the care it needs.

• If you’re at work
• If you’re at a movie
• If you’re on a plane
• If there’s a natural disaster
• If something happens to you

The Emergency Tag offers peace of mind that you cannot get from a regular name tag or even a microchip. The number on the name tag is only as good as the availability of the person on the other end – so not so good when your pet gets out while you’re traveling Europe. That microchip is only as good as the facility that has the reader and that’s assuming the person that saved your pet knows where to go with them.

The Emergency Tag has a unique ID specific to your pet on it. That ID is associated with information that you have already filled out where you put everything you think is important for someone to know in case of an emergency: phone numbers where you can be reached, backup contacts in case you can’t be reached, your pet’s vet and any special needs your pet may have.

Helping Pets 

So while both 4 Paws Tech and The Emergency Tag provide great products, they also DO great things. 4 Paws Tech is a corporate partner with the North Shore Animal League to support their no-kill mission. By donating a sizable chunk of change, 4 Paws Tech ensures they are upholding their mission to, “safeguard our 4 legged family member through greater visibility.” The Emergency Tag which is powered by Help4Pets Inc. donates 25% of their GROSS to programs that help pets. They are a shelter partner of The Humane Society of the United States. Here you have two companies that made products to help pets and they use the money that they made helping pets to help more pets – brilliant!

Get the tag, get the collar and get learning 

So daylight savings is here again. We lose light and with that safety. I highly recommend getting your pets these collars, adding the emergency tag and for triple protection – know what to do when something bad does happen; take the pet first aid and CPR class.

This information is provided to you without sponsorship or endorsement. We truly care about the well-being of your pets and if that means recommending companies (or not) we will do so. Just didn’t want you to think we were paid by these companies, we’re not like that.