Tips on Walking two dogs on lead

I walk 3 and sometimes 4 dogs together. If they are well behaved it shouldnt be a problem. I worked on what issues each was having individually in the begining. I walk Tippy & Cujo on my right. Kyrah walks on the left and when Dexter, grand pup, is visiting he walks on the inside left. They are to walk by my side unless I release them to sniff or potty. We still have some occasional issues of one of them reacting to a cat or dog per say. Tippy hates cats. So I would say "ah" and when she would turn from the cat to me I would treat. Now she still is alert to them but looks at me which I sometimes treat and sometimes verbal praise. When going thru the stage of them reacting to another dog. I would put them in a sit while the other dog passed then treat for good behavior. Kyrah is my best walker even tho she is the youngest of mine. Dexter is the worst and used to be better. My daughter doesnt walk him like she used to and it shows. The more you do it the better it becomes. So if your going to do it once a week good behavior will take longer. I walk my dogs daily missing maybe a couple days a month. Even if its a short one its better than not doing it at all. There were times with the terriers before Lexi (dobe, rip) & Kyrah that I would just prefer not to walk them b/c they were so badly behaved. Consistency, patients & persistence.

mrjamoc said:

I have been using a pinch collar, is there a better collar to use? I have had it come undone a couple times already. I do have it on correctly, maybe its just a quality flaw?

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IMO no better training collar for pulling. They pretty much self correct themselves. Here is a link to a thread about how some people back up their prong collars for just such an incident. Also about how it should fit at the top of the neck.
http://www.dobermantalk.com/general-training-obedience/48562-prong-collar-backup-collar.html
Yes, I would work with both teaching verbal commands of what you want. Also of course work on the one having issues with correcting them. I also in the begining did lots of stops & sits. Like get their attention by saying "hey" rather firm and when they looked said "sit." That way when something unexpectedly happens you will have a better chance of getting their attention and getting a sit. Then you can recompose yourself and move on. There will be times it will happen. I have had the two bitches, Tippy & Kyrah, lunge and pull me. It is a bit embarrasing. But that is why most people quit. Just keep at it. For me its an overall great experience but just like me they sometimes have their days.

Good advice thus far.

I will reiterate: definitely get them both walking politely on a leash alone first. Otherwise you will just have a tangled mess on your hands.

Also, no one has suggested this, but I tend to dislike any sort of leash connectors/splitters where you don't have individual control over each leash - to use either of those, your dogs need to be pretty solid in their heel without leash help otherwise they just get all twisted up, haha.

I would consider myself a more positive rewards leaning type, but I don't have much problem with prong collars on pullers while you address the issue with additional training (plenty of threads on that here if that's an issue for you, so I won't elaborate). As long as they aren't relentlessly jerked on, they can be very useful tools and are much preferable/less harsh (in my mind) to choke collars.

Once they are to a point you feel comfortable walking them both at the same time, this is what I tend to do for two: I like dogs to heel at my left, so that's where I put them both. When walking two, it's important to have a strong heel and also release for when you choose to let them sniff around from time to time. I prefer to keep two pretty much abreast, and you can usually figure out pretty quickly which one is best closest to you and which prefers the outside. You may find one really prefers to be ahead, and if you don't mind that, that can work as well.

I also like to have a good feel of both leads separately so I can adjust lengths and provide guidance individually. As I like a left heel, I usually put both leash loops over my right wrist, grab the extra slack in my right hand, and then have the business end of both leashes in my left. I will usually separate the leashes in my left hand by poking my last two fingers between them. I just find this gives me the ability to communicate with one dog at a time on each individual lead. I also often poke my right pointer finger between the slack portions in my right hand in case I need to adjust length.

Again, different people have different methods, but I've found that super useful when first starting 2 dogs walking together. Once they get the hang of things and more or less work off of your body language and verbal commands, you can ease off a bit since they won't need as much guidance from the leash.

Personally, it's easiest if they are both just superstars on the leash alone first - but I know that's not always the case = ) I walk friends' dogs sometimes with ours (who's awesome on the leash), so sometimes I have to have a little more control through the leash than might be necessary with two dogs you can work with daily.

Anyway, that was kind of a run on tangent, but maybe some of that will be useful for you = )