How do you walk two dogs at the same time without going crazy??

Question

I have been attempting to walk both Rory, my beloved Great Dane, and Sampson, my beautiful Black Lab mix at the same time, but they each seem to have their own “sniffing agenda”, which quite frankly, drives me crazy. Rory, seems quite content to walk for a few hundred meters before sniffing, but when he does, he cannot be moved, while Sampson seems to want to sniff each and every particle of air. I would prefer to walk them at the same time, because it is freezing cold out. I don’t want to go on two walks. I have tried to reason with them, telling them that “Daddy is not going to take you on any kind of walks if this is your attitude”, but they don’t seem to care at all about my feelings on the matter. How do I fix this annoying problem??

Answer 1

I don't think Rory will ever be trainable. He is just Rory!!

I love that people give you all their advice and in over a year haven't figured out Rory is just Rory!!

Answer 2

Walking Two Dogs

Answer 3

As already suggested, training IS the answer....but just saying training doesnt do enough. I have racing sled dogs and as pups they need to learn to stay on the trail and not sniff butterflies and such...here is how I train dogs to LEAVE IT....
1. Take a short leash...3 ft or so. Slip your belt through the handle end of the leash and then put on the belt.
2. On the dog end you can use a regular collar but I find that for dogs that already have a pattern established it is easier and quicker to use a pinch collar. You decide...
3. Snap the leash to which ever collar you choose and put it on the dog.
4. Go for a short brisk walk. Stop for nothing.
5. As your dog wander off and juuuuust as he is about to hit the end of the leash say LEAVE IT.
6. No matter what the dog does, you keep up your brisk walking pace.

There you have it in 6 easy steps. I can guarentee that the dogs will resist and that you will get frustrated. Put all that aside and keep plowing ahead.

One more note. Drop all other meaningless banter between you and the dog for this exercise. The ONLY thing you should say at all during the entire walk is LEAVE IT. Very soon the dog will pair this command with the idea you are trying to teach. If you have alot of other talking going on it will be far more difficult for the dog to filter through all that and the end result will be that it takes far longer for your dogs to learn this simple skill.

Feel free to email me if you have further questions.

Answer 4

Hi, I understand that you are looking for some advice or resources to help fully train your dog or fix behavior problems. If a professional dog trainer is not an option at this time, or if you want to trt training your dog on your own (a great way to bond), I'd suggest you https://tr.im/dupnI

A friend recommened it to me a few years ago, and I was amazed how quickly it worked, which is why I recommend it to others. The dog training academy also has as an excellent home training course.

Answer 5

The dogs need to learn to 'heel', that is, walk at your side regardless of what they want. When you walk them, don't allow them to sniff at all - they need to be attentive and alert to you and only you. Talk to them, keep their focus. Then, when you get to a spot where you choose, give them a release command such as "ok" or "go sniff", and allow both of them to walk around, sniff, etc. Then tell them to 'heel', get them back focused on you, and walk back home.

You can make several "go sniff" stops along the way, but only allow the dogs to sniff when you want them to, you are the leader and need to have the control.

Be firm with them. These are 2 very large breeds and both can be strong willed. If they stop to sniff and you are not ready to stop, give them a tug on the collar, tell them "no sniff", and keep right on walking - do not stop for them.

A basic obedience class may also help gain the respect and control over the dogs, to put you in the alpha position instead of them.

Answer 6

You have tried reasoning with a dog? May I be so bold as to ask how? You obedience train the dogs, really simple!!
When they understand the "heel" command they will walk next to you until you give them the "break" command which means that now it's the time to sniff and do your thing!!!
Hope I helped!!!

Answer 7

I have 2 dogs and they are crazy when I walk them too. You just have to walk their speed and train to sit and stay. It will help when you go on walks so much better.

Answer 8

I'd train them to "leave it". I kno how it is to walk a territorial male dog, altho mine was much smaller. If he started taking his jolly ol time, I'd tug on his leash and say "hurry up". Seemed to get the job done, but idk about 2 dogs.
O and by the way, your dog don't understand a word you're saying so don't even try to reason with them. They only kno certain phrases you teach them. Other than that, they're clueless.

Answer 9

A tandem leash may work for you. It hooks the dogs together on one leash so they walk as a pair. Sounds like your ideal solution!

Answer 10

You're right, your dogs DON'T care about your feelings on this matter one little bit. You need to train your dogs. Since walking them both at the same time is currently such an ordeal you will have to train them individually before you can try walking them both at the same time.

First thing's first, you need to make it clear to both of your dogs that this is YOUR walk and you are in charge of where and when you go and you set the pace. This doesn't mean that your dogs can't stop to smell the smells, but they need to learn to move along when you are ready to keep going. Both of my dog's are trained to respond to "let's go" or "keep going" or, if it is an especially tantalizing smell (or they are ahead of me and want to stop but I want to keep going) "leave it." All three of those commands serve the same basic purpose on a walk...they tell the dog that we are not stopping here to smell and you need to keep walking. The way I've taught this is to tell my dog to "keep going" and just keep walking. If they try to stop and sniff I just continue walking and since they are attached to the leash which is attached to me they really don't have much of a choice. If simple pressure on the leash/collar isn't enough to get your dog to move (as I suspect is the case since you say your dane "cannot be moved" when he starts to sniff) then you will have to invest in a training collar (head halter, prong collar, no-pull harness, take your pick).

Once you have that sorted out, you may not really need any additional training to make the walk bearable. Or, you may need to teach them not to pull. And once you put the two together, they may forget everything you've taught them up to that point...so you will need to treat them just the same as you did when you were just starting out with each of them individually.

I walk my two german shepherds together every morning (and at lunch if I'm lucky). It was rough when we first got the younger one, before he was trained to walk well on the leash. In fact, when he was very young I tried not to walk them together by myself...much preferring my husband to come with me so we could each control one dog. All of my friends who own two dogs are also able to walk both of their dogs at the same time with no problems. The key is that all of us have invested the time to teach our dogs how we expect them to act on leash and enforce those expectations every time we go for a walk. While we may not require our dogs to be in the heel position (there's a guy who used to walk his two collies around our neighborhood both in heel for the entire walk) the entire time, we are still in control of the walk and the dogs know this.