Multi Dog Households

[Duke'sMommy]

Last night I decided to take a huge leap and take both dogs out at the same time for the night time walk. (Duke wieghs 65 pounds and is dog aggressive, and Hamish is 140 pounds and is a big tart, lol) I have never done this before but since my bf is gone for 2 months and its just me and the two dogs I've been doing some work with the two of them together. The walk actually didnt go as bad as I thought. It was a little tough at first but once I took them to the field for 5 minutes to get a good run out then it was alot easier. Im no where near walking them together during the day but this was at 12:30 at night and its quiet around my house. I decided to use the flexes for the walk instead of the regular leashes just because I need to do more work with Hamish on leash. All in all it went well.

How many here with more than one dog walk them in a group? Or do you walk one at a time? If you do walk them all together what leash do you use? do you use one of those attachments to attach the dogs to one leash? Im just curious to what others do. Did it take sometime for the dogs to walk nicely together? My guys just wanted to play right off the bat. If its quiet around tonight when I get home from work Im gonna try it again.

 

[tessa_s212]

My dogs are currently still living with my mom. 7 dogs living there, but huuuge fenced in yard, so they don't need walked. When we do walk them, we do usually have two dogs on one person. Marq, the English Pointer, is the biggest dog that pulls, and Pepper the cocker is the only other dog that pulls really hard. Spooky was horrible on leash, and I only wish we would have taken him on more walks even if he did pull our shoulders out of socket. But ya, when we walk its usually multiple at a time. It helps that all but two are cocker spaniels.

 

[PixieSticksandTricks]

I walk all three of mine at once. Sawyer is a 60 lb Lab that doesent really pull anymore and when he does I can get control and his attention quickly. I hold his leash alone in my left hand.

I then walk Lilo (40 lbs) and Maggie May (20 something lbs) on my other side. Both pull a bit at first but nothing like Sawyer used to. So it really doesent effect my hold on their leashes.

Really none of them pull bad and respond to leash and voice corrections. If I didn't feel confident I wouldn't walk all three at once.

 

[Buddy'sParents]

If I am by myself then I walk one at a time, if hubby is around, we walk two. Our neighborhood isn't really safe to bring all three...

 

[Tankstar]

I only have one dog. but when Im babysitting my boyfriends moms dog she comes when ever we go for a walk.


grpwing up when we had 3 dogs, I used to take them all out on my rollerblades, 1 collie, 1 toy poodle and one T.Poodle/chi. Lots of fun lol. Lucky they were all really well behaved

 

[SisMorphine]

I normally walk Teeny and Blue together only if my mother and her dog go for a walk with us. We have no leash law in my town, and shortly after I brought Blue home we were on a walk and Teeny was attacked by two offleash dogs. I SOMEHOW managed to whip them both with Blue's leash (it's 7 ft long and leather) and get them off of Teeny before she could get her footing to fight back . . . and before Blue could realize what was going on. LOL! If I hadn't been such a quick thinker it would have been a 4 dog fight and those other 2 dogs would not have faired well.

When I get the puppy I will probably walk her with Blue (he is less reactive) and walk Teeny by herself. I would never dream of walking all three at the same time all by myself.

 

[Toller_08]

I walk Dance, Spring, and Keira at the same time easily. They all walk nicely by my side without an issue, and my neighbourhood is super quiet with hardly any dogs around so it's pretty easy. I don't think I'll be walking all four at a time ever though, just because I wouldn't be as comfortable with that. Once Ripley's grown up a bit, I'll probably do two at a time if I walk with multiples. Mine all walk on their martingales with their own leashes of whatever lengths. Usually 2 or 4ft each, depending on what I grab. I rarely take my dogs for leashed walks though.

 

[Doberdogs]

I take my dogs together and they walk nicely loose leash.

 

[oc_spirit]

I take my two together all the time. OC walks on my left and Ronan walks o the right. That is their designated spots and they must stay on their side even if they are walking ahead of me (I allow that so long as they arent pulling). That prevents tangling and me tripping over them. Now they are so used to what side is being theirs if we start off wrong they fix it themselves LOL

When I lived with my ex in Chicago I would walk OC (60 Lbs) both the American Bulldogs (Marina 90Lbs and Tank 85Lbs) and his mom's JRT mix (Gypsy, 15Lbs) all at the same time. Just like OC with Ronan, each dog had its designated spot. OC would walk on my left, Marina was on the inside right, Tank on the outside right and Gypsy would either be out in fron or between me and OC (she had the worst leash manners). All had individual leads.

I don't like couplers at all. I do have one that I tried with OC and Ronan but it just didn't suit. I much prefer each dog to have its own leash of no more than 8ft for hiking and 5ft for in town. When I get my next Husky, all 3 dogs will be walked together as well. Most like she will be on the left with OC as he is more stable and less reactive.

 

[FoxyWench]

i take jasper and ruby out togehter, sometimes i do flexies othertimes i use a coupler...it depends on the plans of the day, if its a simple quick trip ill do the coupler, if theres chance of the park i do flexies. (im ambidexterous anyway and can control the flexy even in my "off" hand)

 

[stardogs]

I walk all three of mine at the same time (25lbs, 32lbs, and 33lbs) unless DH is coming with us, then we'll split them 2 and 1.

Maggie walks almost too well on leash as she sometimes will lag a bit, Ziva pulls some off and on but will stop when asked, and Kes is a puller. Maggie wears a martingale collar, Ziva a regular walking harness, and Kes an Easy Walk front lead harness; all are on 6' leashes.

I can't stand couplers - you always end up with one dog being dragged by another ime. Much better to have individual leads for each dog so you can redirect as needed individually.

With three the leads do tangle more, but we're working on it and my leash handling skills continue to improve lol. I have considered switching to 4' leads for the possible reduction in tangling, but I really do like the extra room around my feet the 6' leads provide. Either way, I've found it incredibly helpful to have all the dogs sit or wait at curbs and when cars pass; Kes isn't as fast as the girls yet but the rules are that everyone must be sitting at the same time and until released before we can continue.

 

[Lizmo]

If I am by myself then I walk one at a time, if hubby is around, we walk two. Our neighborhood isn't really safe to bring all three...

This ^^^

Our neighborhood isn't dog-safe either, so I only walk one at a time usually. On a rare occasion I will walk both the young dogs together, and usually something happens that makes me remember just why I never do it.

 

[AgilityKrazii]

I only have one dog but when I have a foster I walk them together, both in no pull harnesses, Rosco gets in the zone when he walks, he just goes, not pulling or zigzagging or trying to play with the other dog, he seems to always teach the fosters that when on a walk we walk, we dont zig zag around or lag behind to smell things. So its really easy walking both and all the fosters I have had are big dogs 50-70lbs and Rosco is 68lbs.

 

[Renee750il]

Sometimes I'll take two at once. If it's Bimmer and one of the girls, I use two leashes, if it's the two girls, I use a coupler. Kharma rides herd on Tallulah if she pulls her, lol.

Usually a walk with one of the girls every so often is enough to make Bimmer go plaster himself on the bed whenever he sees me put a leash on Tallulah or Kharma for several weeks. They won't stop often enough to let him mark, lol. Well, unless Kharma's in the mood to mark. When she's in that kind of mood she marks as much or more than most males

 

[elegy]

only one at a time. luce and mushroom are both dog aggressive, and i have chronic problems with offleash dogs. the last time i took the bullies together just the couple blocks to my parents house to run and then home again, we came oh so very close to having a run-in with a roaming intact male pit bull who was looking like he was up to no good. the ONLY reason i didn't end up with a three-way pit bull fight is because some woman heard me yelling at the dog and came outside to see what was going on, which frightened him away.

 

[Phoenixangelwyngs]

I do mine two at a time. I have a friend who has taken all four before at once.

I have each dog on it's own leash though the Borders also have a coupler and can walk on that just fine if they've had some exercise before hand otherwise they pull because of the GO GO GO BC drive.

No problems from anyone!

 

[smkie]

WE walk in a group. SOmetimes we meet up and walk in bigger groups up to 5 dogs at a time. I would however never use a flexi, epsecially in a group. I do not think you should group walk unless all the dogs are under good control and your able to handle all if another loose dog should approach.

 

[Gempress]

When I walk my two together, I always use prong collars. Each dog is also walked on a seperate leash. Both of mine are well leash-trained and know how to behave, but they're big enough that they could easily tow me if they decided to have a combined moment of stupidity. I feel the prong adds an extra measure of safety and control.

 

[AGonzalez]

I've always walked Lacey and Lily on my left side, 2 leashes in one hand. Lily is rough to lead but Lacey keeps her in line because she doesn't like to be pulled along either, and since both leashes are the same length if one drags, we all get dragged.

 

[Miakoda]

1 dog at a time. More than that is a recipe for disaster seeing as how very few other people feel the need to keep their dogs properly contained/restrained.