Dark winter nights and fear aggressive dogs

Ok so with sone depression I noticed the sun sinking around 6pm tonight. The nights are drawing in and it won't be too long before night falls before I finish work and those after work walks must be done in the dark.

I am NOT looking forward to winter nights with Cain. His fear aggression has come on hugely but he is definately unnerved by the dark, more jumpy and reactive. Now I have several months of walking him in the dark. All I am acutely aware on walks that I must watch everything and see any potential problems before Cain and react to control the situation. Even in the light we've been caught out a few times by people or dogs piping ip in random places, I'm really worried about the dark. The local parks are not well lit and often over crowded and I'm wondering how I'm ever going to be able to give him length on the flexi lead (I reel him in when I see people or dogs) when I can't see things coming.

How do you handle this situation best?

Its difficult for you, Mia is the same and fear of fireworks which she associates with the dark make her even more on edge
TBH I try and do bog walks in the day and a toilet brake in the dark - or playing in the garden

flashing collar and luminous jacket

Thanks BenMc. I've been thinkng about a sort of action plan but it's not perfect. Unfortunately I work full time so I can't do day time walks myself. My dog trainer does walk Cain Mon, Weds and Fri so I'm thinking of requesting that he ensures Cain gets social time and meets other dogs during his walks and I will make his evening walk brief and quiet, away from everything. On Tues and Thurs he just gets the evening walk (I can't afford a dog walker 5 days a week unfortunately) so he may not get the mist exercise in the world on these two days. He gets dog training classes every other Tues which will help tire him out and I can play some extra fetch and tug games in the house I suppose. And make it up to him on weekends with long day time walks. At least won't need to worry about the heat cutting walks short! I'm hoping he'll improve in the dark over winter as he'll see it a lot. And don't even mention fireworks, it's his first year and I'm praying he doesn't bark the place down!!! Eeep!

I have a flashing safety halo and I'll be buying myself a head torch. More concerned about spotting other people first so would bw hlpful if they were all flashing too lol!

Oh, how helpful it would be if we all had to be visible. Oh to be in that dream world! We put flashers on the dog's collars as well as reflective collars in the hope that it helps other people see us, but it's rarely reciprocated!
This is only our 2nd winter so I have no idea how our dogs will react, but I really hope you don't have too much trouble with the dark nights.
I do know how you feel to an extent - I don't finish work until 8 and even now there aren't many places we can go at that time which are a) open and b) nice enough to want to walk in!

I do feel for you as it's not much fun in the dark with a fear aggressive dog.

Whilst my 2 dogs are fine with other dogs & people, a couple of friends that I walk with regularly have to be careful as they have dogs with DA issues. We've found that by walking in a group of 3 or 4 of us in the dark evenings is really helpful. There are several pairs of eyes, lots of torches & about 8 flashing collars ~ looks a bit like the Blackpool illuminations on the South Downs when we're all out together

Also by walking together we're quite happy to go to more remote places where we're less likely to bump into other people. Sometimes we treat ourselves & take a thermos of hot soup & polystyrene cups so we can wander & slurp while the dogs have a great time playing together .

I think if I had to walk in the dark on my own in the evenings I'd be tempted to use a dog walker too.

My Kasha is a nightmare around other dogs especially onlead. But I do find in the winter their are not so many dog walkers around in the evening. About the same as in the summer when it's pouring down ME only

Max is REALLY protective of me in the dark on walks... he will get all growly if someone walks past on the opposite side of the road in the dark (dog or no dog), especially if it's a man

We all have hi-viz vests (dogs included) and I try and make us as visible as possible, plus I have a head-torch. We tend to try and walk in really well-lit areas as much as possible - Max isn't as possessive then, and I can see who is near us etc