What would I do without this forum and you lovely people out there? You have all been so much help, but yes once again I am after your advice. Could anyone tell me the best way to walk Holly (6 years old) and Poppy now a grand 5 months together. So far I feel most comfortable with one on each side on short leads, my husband says to try a double lead but I am worried they will be too strong for me to manage on one lead. Any thoughts?
Two leads is far better, in my opinion. I have double-ended leads, which I can attach round my waist if I want. I find if I need to focus on one, and the other is behaving, I put the "good" one around my waist, so I have both hands to focus on the one that needs working on. I've trained my two to walk on both sides, so I can have them both on my left (they naturally stagger themselves when doing thus, and it doesn't bother me enough to spend time fixing it) or one on my left and one in my right. This means I have more options if there are obstacles or distractions I have to work around.
I agree with Fiona - I like two separate leads as well. Even when I had two dogs who both walked very nicely on the the leash, I just found the double leash thing not to work. When I'd get foster dogs, I'd stick my own dog on a hands free version of my 8-way leash and then I could focus on the newbie. The nice thing is that I found the newbies picked up a loose-leash walk faster if they were along with me and Brogan instead of just me. Which either says something about how good of a teacher Brogan was, or how bad of a teacher I was!
I've always found separate leads the best. When I'm walking by roads I have both dogs on one side away from the road. When is safe and not so busy with other pedestrians I have one on either side. Rory is ok but still a little unsteady occasionally. Moo used to be really good but because her visual deterioration and lack of hearing things are a lot more complicated now
I have a 3.5 year old, extremely strong, male and an 8 month old puppy. I've been working on this for a while. I have them both on their heeling leads - these are extremely short leads used for 'heel' rather than loose lead. On these leads, they are expected to walk at my side with their heads up. I can't do loose lead when they are together (although my older dog does walk on a loose lead most days with his dog walker's dog) because the puppy starts playing then it's chaos! So, I first trained my puppy to walk on the heeling lead, then I did very short stints with my older dog. Just a minute at first, and slowly more and more. We still can't get very far! But get a little further each day. Mostly down the middle of the road, away from interesting smells!
Intrigued by 'heeling leads'! Did you just shorten the leads or did you buy 'special' ones? My one Lab is very strong, so I cannot walk them together down my lane, though can walk them from the car to the walking place when we arrive at the common. Would like to walk them together down the lane though.
When I walk both of ours I prefer the split lead and one leash. It dosen't work well with front connect harnesses though, since the dogs get tangled up. When you use a collar they can switch sides with each other without causing a problem.
I trained this on flat collars and 'steadiness fobs'. Just short lengths of paracord I bought from the Gundog trainer we both have been to. I tried other types of cord but they weren't as good. Betsy was much better on the paracord, probably because she was younger when she learned to walk on one. Shortening the leads is the same cue now, but I find the extra material bunched up a pain. I have two slip leads that I use. Betsy only trains in the field on these but Charlie walks well enough for me to use them most of the time for him. I would prefer these to be limited, so my OH is going to make me extra stoppers. http://www.sportingsaint.co.uk/product/1235 Not to be used with dogs that pull!
When we got our now older dog he was a nightmare on the lead but when he was controllable enough to take him and our older one out I had her on one side and him between us with her lead looped under his neck so we could both pull him up if he tried to pull etc However if we came across other dogs I knew she wouldnt be interested. Ultimately he did learn to walk on a loose lead beside her and being the closer dog I could control him if I had to. We've just started taking the 7 month old puppy out with him now the older dog. Not as reliable as our previous dog and he is actually far worse when we come across other dogs while she is a lot more excitable at other times and is only learning to walk as a group. Yesterday was our third time out and I have her between him and me with his lead just under her neck as well as having a good hold of her lead and he will respond to voice commands like left or this way to direct him. She actually will look for food rewards just like when we were walking out alone so after a while they calm down they proved they can walk along on loose leads (no distractions). I think if both dogs are of equal obedience and under control one lead works but I think when one is learning probably easier to keep two leads
I do think a short lead helps with that. Charlie doesn't lunge on his steadiness fob because there is no reinforcement for lunging. As the lead is so short, there is just no way he can get to anything. On a longer lead, he is more successful in getting what he wants, so he'll try again. He doesn't walk far on a short lead, he's normally on a longer one.
