winter months= waking and walking in the dark

With the summer ending and the crisp cold mornings walking in near dark and returning home after work to near dark as well I have to ask " how do I keep my dog interested and well exercised ?" I mean if I slack for a moment he will get crazy nonexercised dog thing happening. I asked some friends last year andthey gave me some games to try.
Our favorite is "find it!" this is played by having the dog sit stay in one room while you hide several treats or toys around the house (start easy with a few close by and get advanced by hidding them on different levels, in things, in far away rooms) then go to dog and let them sniff your hand then say "find it!" and if he needs it point him to the first treat, each time the treat is found say good boy then let him know there are more with a "find it" command until all the treat have been found.
Another one we play is the control game. Hold a treat in your open palm and when your dog pokes, sniffs or tries to grab it you shut your hand. When they back away you open your hand, say good and with the other hand give them the treat. you can advance by bringing your hand close to the dogs nose, then put treats on floor, extend time they must wait and distractions around. This game will help your dog with control issues.
Hide and seek with housemates or family and your dog is similar to find it however we hide ourselves then the dog tracks our route until we are found. You can make more difficult by back tracing steps or walking all around before hiding. remember the praise when you are found.
As far other games winter is a great time to focus on training and tricks because the mental stimulation will help you have a healthy relaxed dog on days you cheat a bit on the walking length. You can find books on tricks at your local library. The ones we worked on so far are: sit, down, stand, stay, back, off, drop it, leave it, around, spin, skip, swing, wait, stay, in, stairs,car (sits close to back tire while I open door) heel, close, front, side, here, pivot, take/carry, through (leg tunnel), and he also knows some agility commands: climb, walk, go, jump, table
Walking is so difficult because I don't like to get up when the sun isn't joining me. I work later in the morning so I try to get my long walk in in the morning time. I walk my dog about and hour or more each day because he requires a little more exercise than most and it is typically somewhere between 30 minutes and and hour and 20 minutes in the morning walk. I live close to trails and try to arrange my route to the neighborhood parts first so as not to encounter any dangerous wildlife on the trails when the wildlife are still active. I also will try to gauge my dogs energy level and our schedule that day so as not to force him to do much if he is being slow waking up or try to get him to be enthused if he will be alone all day long. In the evening when I return from work it is nearly dark this time of year so walking in the dark is expected. I again access the day and will walk an appropriate duration to try to settle my dog into a relaxed zone. I typically come home and grab a few treats, a poop bag, a snack for me to eat and the leash and we are off for about 20 minutes or a half hour. I try to stay to the lighted areas like the neighborhood but, again here I am lucky because I have a few routes I can take that keep it safe. I trust anyday would try to step up if faced with trouble and my dog is a deterant for any would be crazy because he looks threatening and I trust he would protect me though I hope he never has to try. It is always a good idea to walk with someone or at least stay on well lit roads and carry a whistle and cellphone just in case. Some people carry a stick or a cane incase they get into trouble with animals (some people let their pets wander and get into trouble because they are too tired or whatever to look after them responsibly)
It is a few months of adjustment but, if we keep up with it our dogs will remain good company in those months.