Bear isn't a lab, he's a Jack Russell but I couldn't figure out where else to put this. When he goes for a walk with my other dogs he is fine and excited to get going but by the time he gets back he is sooo tired. I'm thinking the answer would be to pick him up and carry him for the last part of the walk but then Amber, my lab, keeps jumping up at him while he is being carried. No amount of the usual training techniques seem to have any effect on this. Bear is nearly 12 years old now and is partially deaf and slowly losing his sight. He still has a real zest for life though. He, like most JRs, loves a good barking session and will do so when it is walk time until his harness is on. I'm really not sure what to do about his getting tired on walks though. I am unable to walk him separately from the others. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Well, I would say you have a few options: 1. Find a way for him to be walked within his limitations. Employ a dog walker, or a family member or friend, to take him separately or just to collect him and take him home after half his usual walk. Or, if you have one shorter walk in the day, only take him on that one, skip the longer one altogether with him and do some enrichment activities with him at home instead. 2. Train Amber not to jump up. My youngest will do this, too, but it's not something that I've ever worried about as it's a once-in-a-blue-moon scenario. It's entirely fixable if I needed to, though. When you say you've tried "the usual training techniques", can you describe what you've done and for how long etc? 3. Use a cart or buggy of some description for Bear to ride in, so that he's still at ground level, but doesn't have to walk. There are plenty of trollies designed for pets to ride in on Amazon.
I like the buggy option. You can get ones with what are essentially small mountain bike tires so that you don't have to stay on the pavement. A woman at the beach where I walked my dogs in California had a whole pack of JRTs. One was too old to join in the long walk with the others, so she had a buggy for him and he loved it - always had a big doggie smile on his face. It would still be good to teach Amber not to jump up somehow, as that could be a danger to whomever/whatever you happen to be carrying. But I've never had a jumper, so won't hazard a guess and risk giving bad advice.
A friend carried her smallish elderly dog in a canvas cross-body bag for most of our walks together. Somehow, carried in a bag, she wasn’t as interesting to other dogs to sniff. And my friend had her hands free if she needed to use them - like in your case, you could ward off a jumping dog and administer treats for all four paws on the floor.
I like the buggy idea! Hopefully you can find a solution for little Bear, so he can continue with walks with you and the others.
