# Walking two dogs?



## Minnieski (Jan 27, 2009)

Does anyone have suggestions for walking two dogs at once? Tanner walks good by himself, and Minnie doesn't pull, but she has to be at the end of the leash. Anyway, walking them separately isn't a problem, but when I try to take them together it becomes a contest to see who can be out in front of the other one. What can I do???? :help:


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## codmaster (Aug 5, 2009)

obedience training?


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## JakodaCD OA (May 14, 2000)

I walk two of mine together, usually jynx my aussie, and masi the gsd,,they are both pretty good about walking vs pulling, unless they find something interesting to sniff

I keep them both on separate leashes, walked the three a couple of times, but I was pushing my luck LOL..

Practice in your own yard, work on your obedience ..then try the big outside world


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## Jax's Mom (Apr 2, 2010)

I can't live without my prong collars. 
Both my lab and GSD walk bee-u-tee-fully heeling perfectly with the prong collars on without any correction at all... Without, they take complete advantage and I can't even get to the end of the street without getting cranky and going home.


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## Zoeys mom (Jan 23, 2010)

I prong collar mine for every walk until we get to the field where they run. No pulling, jumping on each other, or other nonsense just nice walking. It took Zoe a few corrections to realize she couldn't pumble Henry until the leashes were off but really they learn quick


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## rickaz80 (Feb 24, 2008)

Incorporate some random walking with them on every walk. That helped me handle two GSDs at a time.


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## JudynRich (Apr 16, 2010)

It was a challenge for me to walk Mia and Bella at the same time at first. I couldn't take the heartbreak tho if I left one behind. Bella is good on the leash-never pulls so I tether her leash to my jeans.This gives me a free hand w/ Mia who is strong, and reactive w/ other dogs. Mia is dominant, so I always let her ahead, but I always do a heel exercise w/ her at least once on every walk. I started with short around the block walks to get the feel of it and get them used to walking together. I think the walks should be enjoyable, so I don't constantly train them during walks. I am only 5 feet tall, so I am lucky Bella is so gentle and doesn't challenge anything while walking. I do get tons of compliments while walking the girls...there is nothing quite so beautiful as two shepherds out for their morning walk!


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## Zisso (Mar 20, 2009)

With Zisso and Nadia it is prong collars with a ton of OB though out the walk. About face, left turns, right turns, faster, slower, stop(where I expect a prompt sit from them) It is still a learning experience for us. ATM I do not have enough time in the day to take them for a walk at all with working 10+ hours a day and it makes for very frustrating walks on weekends, so I would recommend several good bouts of exercise(free running, romping, playing, swimming etc) and several walks to keep them tired enough to want to behave too!


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## VChurch (Jun 14, 2010)

Sobacca isn't technically heel trained; but I do make him walk at my left side and he wears a choke collar so he won't pull. He also knows what "stop" and "easy" mean.
I haven't really had any problems walking them both at the same time, except for the occasional time she tries to play instead of walk.

I am working on Sobacca walking at a heel now though, I'm doing little training sessions for it. Should be interesting.


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## Doggydog (May 12, 2009)

I walk 2. For Coko it means the sensation harness and Jiva is fine on a collar or sometimes a choke chain. They both walk on my left or sometimes 1 at each side. They know "other side" and will cross over if necessary. I do let them have some space to sniff around here and there.
I also run every other day and take both dogs. There is potential hazard involved, but I do it. When I run I like 1 dog on each side and I use the 2 ft leashes. Coco sometimes comes very close and brushes against my leg or worse decides to cross behind me to the other side occasionally. Last week she did that and she tripped me. I left a lot of skin on the sidewalk, but luckily didn't land on my face. Got up and finished the run. That's when I switched to 2 ft leads while running. 

I never really taught heel to either dog. I use the word when I want them aligned with me and they both know if I say heel they need to slow down. If I see something we're approaching that I know they will be interested in I either say a firm LEAVE IT before they react to it, or sometimes stop and let them see and sniff. (could be another dog, a squirrel, a patch of grass, etc.)


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## Minnieski (Jan 27, 2009)

Thanks for the tips so far! I'd love to walk them together, but man it's been a struggle. Tanner has never been on a prong collar, but he's 6 months now so maybe it's time to try it out...


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## VChurch (Jun 14, 2010)

Doggydog said:


> I also run every other day and take both dogs. There is potential hazard involved, but I do it. When I run I like 1 dog on each side and I use the 2 ft leashes. Coco sometimes comes very close and brushes against my leg or worse decides to cross behind me to the other side occasionally. Last week she did that and she tripped me. I left a lot of skin on the sidewalk, but luckily didn't land on my face. Got up and finished the run. That's when I switched to 2 ft leads while running.


Is that what I have to look forward to?? LOL I take Sobacca running and he used to cut in front of me and cut behind me and almost trip me. But since I started walking him on just my left side, he also runs on just my left side; which is nice. It'll be interesting when both dogs are running with me..


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## kiya (May 3, 2010)

I walk 3 now. The 2 older on my left the puppy on the right. It's been a very long time since I started walking 2, and when I did I had a horse in the other hand. That was how I started using (2) 4' leashes clipped together. If I needed them close I had the 4' when I got up on my horse I had 8'. I did use a prong years ago. Separately both older dogs can easilly be walked with flat collars, I still use the plastic prong for my female, Kiya, she tends to pull if she needs to sniff something and unfortunately she can be dog reactive. Individual leashes and lots of practice. Try in a safe area. On our normal walks I usually don't ask for heel position, l am happy with loose lead.


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## EchoGSD (Mar 12, 2010)

Are they close enough in size to link with a coupler? I used two couplers linking my big dogs together as they learned to walk side by side. I started with double collars, one set connecting the dogs and the other attached to separate leashes giving me the option of correcting one dog without unneccessarily correcting the other. As they got used to walking together I was able to eliminate the double collars and go with a double long coupler, then a single coupler. Once they were very used to staying in position beside one another on a coupler, I was able to go back to each having just their own collar with separate leashes and no coupler; they stay in the side by side position because that's what they learned would get them the praise.


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## Minnieski (Jan 27, 2009)

They are big enough to use a coupler, but I'm not sure how it would go. They already like being next to each other, but it's so hard to keep their attention then because the little one (Tanner) just wants to PLAY PLAY PLAY with Minnie. So I think it may work better with one on each side. Although, I think that it would be easier to run with them both on my left. I don't run with Tanner yet, he's only 6 months old, but I do run with Minnie, who naturally heals nicely when I'm running.


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## mercury (Aug 11, 2010)

Right now when I walk my two together I keep my older dog who rarely pulls (except for squirrels and bunnies) on my left, and Aleks who has a looooong way to go on my right. They are both in martingale collars - Zelda because her neck is bigger than her head and she can back out of a flat collar, and Aleks because...well, see above.  He also has a gentle leader his previous owner gave me with him and I will probably end up needing to use that soon, as he pulls for everything - people, birds, other dogs - due to lack of socialization as a baby. I keep him on my right side since I'm right hand dominant and stronger on that arm. I am just a bit over 5 feet tall and the two of them combined out-weigh me by a good bit at the moment, so being able to use my muscles to keep him from running off or dragging us all somewhere is important!

I may have to start walking them separately to focus on Aleks's pulling and lack of leash manners to get him to the point Zelda is at, but overall it works having one on either side.


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## Ucdcrush (Mar 22, 2004)

I walk 2 at a time, one on each side in "heel" (head even with my leg, not ahead), and it's important to make sure each individual dog has some training to walk on whatever side you want him to walk.

When you get them out there together, the dynamic changes, and the excitement level can go up which can change the way they were heeling individually. For me, I used the originally trained command with the dog's name (dog A gets "heel" and dog B gets "right") along with corrections for forging. The correction I have found most effective is to put my foot at the area between their torso and rear leg, then push back slightly. It's not kicking, it's placing the foot in a very sensitive area then putting light pressure backwards, let off of course when the dog starts to fall back to correct position.

In my interpretation, that correction works well because it is completely independent of your hands, and if the dogs are taught with leash corrections for forging, they know whether you'll be able to correct them by the way you're holding the leash. The leg thing does take some agility on the part of the human though.

Also, the suddenly going backwards (avoid adding leash corrections, just walk backwards and let them hit the end of the leash), sudden turns etc. help too.

It can become stressful for the human too, to train 2 dogs at once, so take as many deep breaths as you need, realize it's not THAT important if they heel perfectly or not (helps keep the pressure down) and be consistent. Give them breaks from heeling to sniff around, then get them back into heel.


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