Walking 2 doods, or just one at a time?

[Jeanne, Tura and Dolly]

I am going on a trip by myself for a few days with my 10 and 15 month Doodles.  The older one walks pretty well on the leash, I would give her a B plus.  The baby is all over the place and we are working on it.  She seems to be fixed on everything except me.  They both do well working in the house (its snowing here) and I have tried to walk them together by myself a few times and it is a struggle even when there are no distractions.  I saw in an old discussion that it is best to get them both walking well on leash before trying them together.  So I guess I just have to walk them one at a time on this trip?  I am concerned that a squirrel will pop out and off they will go and down I will go.  Is there a transistion stage after you get to the point when they are both walking well on leash individually and the mere action of putting them together creates havoc?  I am not a young person and they are 80 lbs combined.  I am trying to be hopeful that this will someday happen but realize it probably will not be before next week....

[Jean, Rylee and Cooper]

Good luck Jeanne.  I am interested in the replies.  I too would like to walk both dogs without tripping over them.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

We used to walk our old lab mix and Ned together on the left, sometimes in a sporn and sometimes not.  Both loose leash walked well and didn't pull.  If yours pull some, I would put one on the right so that you have more control.  I would only do this if the walk was something you had to do and only until you get them both better trained.

[Adina P]

If you're going to be away and will need to take them on walks together then I'd purchase some kind of control device like a 'no pull harness' or 'head halter' or 'prong' collar to keep them from pulling.  These won't train them at all but give you more control and decrease their pulling.

 

But as soon as this trip is over, signing up for a class for the puppy would be a VERY good idea and then training each of them separately until you are VERY confident in their ability to walk near distractions individually.  By then the 10 month old will be past a year old and possibly with the rest of the training will be overall more manageable.  And the 15 month old will be more mature too.  I don't know if there is some transition period but I think there might be some adjustment needed if either of them is still a little shaky on walking near distractions.  

[Jeanne, Tura and Dolly]

Just a follow up.  I had my adult daughter help me walk the dogs each day.  I put a head collar (gentle leader) on the younger one and she did fair to OK.  The older wears a gentle leader harness and she also did well. BUT, Spokane is the squirrel capitol of the world (or it looked that way to me) and they went bananas when the squirrels came out which was often.  There would have been no way to do this myself.  So back to working hard with each one and into a class for the baby.  Adina, you said you have a trainer recommendation for Renton.  Who is it?  I live 20 minutes away.  Thanks everyone for your thoughts.

[Adina P]

Well that sounds good...glad you had your daughter help you. I sent you a private message with the trainer rec.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I talked to my trainer about this earlier this week.  Ultimately I want to be able to walk both of my Doods together.  He can actually do it now, but I still can't.  He said you train them one at a time to be totally reliable...even with distractions.  Then you start a new set of "training exercises" with both of them together.  His thought was that even with two dogs trained to "heel" you would still need a brief training period where you're teaching them how to do this as a "pair".  At this point, if I were you I'd walk them separately on the trip until you can get them really trained to walk well together.  Have a great trip...and good luck!

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

What do you walk them in?  Prongs, flat? halters?  In the best of all worlds I think you should walk them separately unless you can find isolated spots with no busy roads, etc.  How about doing a dog park search ahead of time for your trip?

 

It is possible to get two dogs to walk together without too much threat to you.  But both need to be reasonable on a leash singly and I think should be in prong collars for all of your protection. Most dogs will only hit a prong collar once or twice at the most to chase a squirrel and they are cured. This does not mean they will heel perfectly just that you have removedthe threat of being dragged 50 yards or them getting loose. I do not think of this as punishment, but a natural consequence of bad behavior.  Of course, I have practiced with them just making a 180 degree turn first so the dog knows what is there.

 I am nearly 65, have a compromised nerve in my back, sciatica, and am small (5'4").  I can walk my son's huskies, all three in prongs with a coupler for two and a leash for the older dog.  I can walk Roo and Tigger for a total of 100 pounds tied to my waist.  Roo and Tigger were both adequate on a leash when I started walking them together, one on each side.  I switched to a waistbelt/ leash holder - one on each side - because it really reduces the lateral and twisting strain on my back even if they are both walking quietly. 

I now walk them together except when I am taking a class with them and want to work individually.  They were only adequate, not anything like good, when I started walking them together.  My secret weapon is always have very high value - think smelly- treats in my pocket and they know it.  This has gotten through many tight spots.

Hope you have an excellent trip.

 

 

[Jennifer & Kai]

This is what my trainers advice was and it worked great for Kai and I.  On the squirrel issue, you try to spot them first and get his attention with a high quality treat, chicken, hot dogs, cheese cubes in my case, or whatever he absolutely loves. Just walk him past it by holding the treat in your left side and letting him nibble on it while you walk past the squirrel using your attention word with him. You can also say "leave it" if he spots the squirrel first and everytime he looks at you treat him. On the walking issue,  I started using the Gentle Leader and I was amazed at how different our walks are today.. I have been using the martingale collar lately so we can get use to it without pulling..so I can pass the CGC test in the future.  GL's are not allowed, but has helped train Kai to walk better along my side instead of pulling the entire time...we are easing into the other collar. The GL was a gift for me, I am 58 and know exactly how difficult it can be with one dog much less two.  Good luck...Jennifer

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I am not going far, but since Ned and Clancy (well, Clancy - Ned already heeled) have learned to heel, I can easily walk them both on the left together.  The only problem is that Ned wants to be inside and so does Clancy so they switch back and forth.  Eventually, I am sure we will see who should walk where, but for now, it is wonderful that I can put them both on the left.

[Jennifer Goaring]

Great discussion for me to read!  I am working on walking my two together... it is going way better than I thought it would... BUT I have them both in gentle leaders.  Sam does OK walking without one (not great, but pretty good and probably great if I have decent treats on me which sometimes I don't because it is a last minute - "wanna run to the mailbox with me?" type of walk...) But Mojo is new to us and has had no formal training so walking him is still work... but the GL does wonders!  He still doesn't really make eye contact well or check in with me well like Sam does -- way too into looking around... but on the GL he at least doesn't pull and walks well with us.

 

I am taking them together due to the bad rainy weather and my lack of interest in going out twice in it!  But I get that they need work alone too.  I walk them both on my left, in GLs with two leads... I don't yet own a coupler or anything and I like the idea of a waist type connector -- need to look into that.  I may start taking Sam again with me running since he has been doing so well lately on lead.  I swear for him, he is BETTER behaved because of the other dog -- like he wants to really prove he is my favorite or something.  Ha!

 

I really need to talk to my trainer about the whole transitioning from a GL to a flat collar plan...