The 8 Best LED Dog Vests

As unwise and dangerous as it is to drive a car at night without the use of headlights, it's equally dangerous to walk your dog without some form of luminous protection to make you easy to spot by motorists and other pedestrians. Outfitting your dog with an LED-equipped vest capable of lighting up the path around you will improve your level of safety without sacrificing Fido's sense of style or comfort.

Geared to fit a four-legged companion, the LED dog vest conveniently straps around the animal's torso. It is usually constructed from lightweight materials, including nylon, and easily connects to a leash. The vest makes it possible for you and a four-legged friend to traverse streets and local parks together at night without losing track of one another. Depending on its design, the vest comes with a variety of useful features, such as adjustable light modes, reflective strips, and rechargeable lithium-ion batteries for hours of extended use.

One possible misconception people might make at first is that the vest is strictly for a dog's benefit and his improved sense of vision. While it's true that the vest is important for nighttime use, it isn't dedicated to improving your dog's view in the dark. Consider for a moment that while the LED dog vest and its human-style equivalent are both engineered to protect the wearer from potential hazards, the dog doesn't need the vest to see properly himself.

Thanks to his tapetum lucidum, even low levels of light are reflected back through a dog's retina, increasing the amount of available light directed to individual photoreceptor cells in his eyes. In other words, a dog's night vision is considerably more acute than a human's, which places the focus of the LED vest on making him easy to spot by you and other bystanders. So, the next time you peer into your dog's eyes at night and see them shine like he's a demonically-possessed vampire creature from some old monster movie, consider his eyes from a scientific point of view. His LED vest will actually help you to see him better and not the other way around.

The LED vest embodies a form of human dependency on a dog for nighttime orientation. This is similar to the way the guide dog provides a sense of stability and companionship to his or her visually-impaired owner. While the vest's main purpose is not to help people overcome the difficulties caused by a medical condition, it does assist in the process of avoiding certain obstacles in the dark.

Knowing where one's dog is at all times, whether on a leash or not, is a necessity for anyone with an established and strong bond with their pet. In its simplest form, the vest improves a level of safety for both owner and dog. It also makes easier the process of picking up Fido's poop after dark, ensuring that it isn't left for the next unsuspecting pedestrian who happens to pass by.

Finally, the vest establishes a heightened sense of awareness for others who are out and about by themselves or with their own pets and sharing the neighborhood with you. They will be alerted to your presence sooner than they would be if you were using an ordinary leash and collar. It also doesn't hurt that the reflective nature of the vest just looks really cool.