Having 4 dogs they all have different rules when walking..

Max my youngest is allowed the full lead and is allowed to explore but not lag behind or be infront.
My oldest is always on my left in the heel position whether he is on command or not.
my 2 litter mates like to be ahead of me but don't drag , i only allow them heads length past my knees.

How do you walk your dogs?

One on the left, two on the right and one behind! :)

Five on my left usually with two or three beside me and two or three behind.  Every now and then I need to disentangle the different coloured leads.

Haha , how do you guys walk 5 dogs at a time! i can only take 2 , 3 max!

It's funny, my 19-year old son can only manage two at a time, but I can take all 4 at once! :D

They are all different ages so at any one time there will only be one young one who doesn't know or tries to test teh rules.  Currently we have a two, 51/2, 8, 10 1/2 and 13 1/2 year old walking together.

When I went up to Scotland with my freind and we had 5 dogs with us who were 12mnths, 18mnths, 22mtns 3 years and 7 years we stopped for my freind to get soem shut eye and I took them or a walk.  God didn't I know it, not like just taking my own at all. :D

Two trot with *marginally* restrained enthusiasm on my left, but the youngster bounces every which way until we reach the park - fortunately the gate is literally yards from my front door and I use slip leads for quick release :P :D  

Do any of you use a brace (or coupler) and, if so, how on earth do you get your dogs to go in the same direction??? Both of my dogs will usually walk to heel on the left side but clip the brace on and they try to charge off in opposite directions.

Have to admit that I'm feeling pretty inadequate having to ask this as some of you manage 5 dogs and I get tied in knots with two :rolleyes:

I myself can only manage 2 and that is if i match them up correctly , the littermates will walk together fine but the puppy will only walk well with the older because he will try to play with jojo and jj :p

One thing i've also always wondered about everyone is how far do you let YOUR dog get infront of you? I've seen people with extendable leads actually allow their dog to lead them all the way down the street being like on like a 10 foot slack.

I don't allow mine more than a heads length in front of me, otherwise I would find it much harder to control them if they saw a cat say, and I also would trip over them whenever I wanted to turn left.  So they are allowed basically at heel or behind me.

As for flexi's they should never ever be used extended near a road or in a crowd.  theya re excellent but should only be used where they cannot cause problems by wrapping aroudn people or obstructions.

If I can see more of a dog than its head when I look down, it's too far in front!

Extending leads should never be used near roads - a dog 10 feet in front of you can easily be 10 feet to the side (ie in the road under cars) before you can do anything about it. I've seen it happen and it ain't pleasant.

LOL my youngster can tie me in knots all on her own :P  I tried a brace attachment years ago and didn't like it all - mine seemed to get agitated by it (but then even the "calm ones" constantly jump over each other to be closest to me :rolleyes: )

regards, Teri

ShaynLola

I walk 4 dogs on 2 couplers, but I have to say 3 of them are also on headcollars (makes life a bit easier when they all see something and lunge all at once). They've all worked out who goes where (Goldie outside left, Sussex Spaniel inside left, Dobe inside right and Goldie 2 outside right) and if you try to change the order that is when they get tangled - they know they are in the wrong place - how clever is that ? I'm not sure where Dobe 2 will fit in to the scheme when she can go out (only 10 weeks at the moment).

So maybe mine will sort out eventually who goes where and, that to get anywhere at all, they need to move in the same direction? :P Looking forward to the day that happens!! :)  I have a lead which is part bungee cord which means that if the dogs do lunge (when they see a cat) the bungee cord acts like a shock absorber to prevent arm and shoulder injuries. It also has a 'water-ski' type handle which distributes the weight more evenly in your hand and is more comfortable to hold. All I need now is two dogs with an ounce of common sense and we might have this walking thing sussed :D :D

Thank goodness that I only have two - I couldn't cope with any more. But then again, I had problems adapting to two from one :D

Daisy

All three out in front pulling like steam trains on head collars coz I have been too lazy to correct it! :D With three collie tails waving in the air all over the place it looks like something out of fraggle rock! One spins like a loon when we get near the park and reverses into anything and everything. All will walk nicely on their own anywhere else but together on route the the park...

Mine have it sorted.  I have a springer (far too far infront for my liking but its now a habit) 3/4 of his body in front but next to my leg, then mum cocker in the middle but a body length behind, and her young son walking just perfectly thank-you on the outside.

I remember posting when I first walked all three together as I got spaghetti leads for a while, Brainless emailed me a pic of her crew with perfectly straight leads not tangled at all, and I yearned for the days mine would be like that.  It didn't take too long!

PS If I walk them to heel off the lead, they stay in the same formation but ALL walk behind me!

I used to use the coupler for the 2 adult dogs and a lead in the other hand for the puppy. But I must confess my dogs only walk to heel in the training hall, so we usually have a mad rush with me trying to insist on heel until we get in the park gates, and then they all hurtle around off lead. If I go somewhere where they need to be on lead I take one at a time, 2 at the most!! And of course now the 2 boys don't like each other anymore I never take all 3 anywhere. :-(

These descriptions are brining up allsorts of funny images inmy head.... makes mine and buffys walk sound very dull.... but we have fun by ourselves!!

7 off lead and to heel, and one on lead for foreseeable future :( Summer back on the lead for the time being!!!! teenage moment crept up when I wasnt looking.  But have learned a couple of swear words never heard before :D :P so at least vocabulary is expanding lol ;)

God, how do you do it? I have tried so hard to get my 3 to all walk nicely to heel but i'm not having any luck. Admittedly they are all young and excitable, but i should have got somewhere by now!!

A lot of hard work and dedication lol.  I never walk my pups on the lead (except in town) and they automatically follow me, and stick very close.  But, I do have the advantage of being able to walk for miles before even coming to a main road, My problems start at the teenage rebellious stage, when recall goes from hero to zero lol. Then they go straight onto the lead. Which is where summer is at the moment. She is the most strongwilled, insolent, stubborn and cantakerous little *@$@%%@  I have ever come across. And Ellie, who is just 6 weeks younger than her is just beginning to pull my strings lol

Well at least yours all walk. My 17 week old puppy still refuses to road walk not so much of a problem off lead in the park now-!!! Still trying to persude him that walking is fun!!! One step at a time comes to mind!!!!

Oh I'm reading these posts with envy!  My 3 year old plods beautifully along beside me - or did until we got our puppy.  Now they try to have a full blown fight in the middle of the road, the five month old puppy strains full steam ahead and they often criss cross in front of me - and once behind me when I got so tangled up with leads that I fell over a small garden wall.  This is only on the way to anywhere funnily enough, on the way back they've all calmed down.  (They've both also now started barking at people who are walking in front).  I am in the middle of training them but it appears that anything I teach them one day will not be remembered the next.

*lays head down and weeps with shame*

I remember that horrible stage when they need taking out separately so they don't start acting as a pack! There's never enough hours in the day for anything else!

Have given up on taking 6 out at a time :  what with name calling/all wanting to walk next to me/walk away whilst other dog poohed & I picked up - I was fighting a losing battle (OH seemed to manage, apart from the fact that he would come back looking as if he had been dragged through a hedge backwards/lost his glasses/hat/maybe even a dog - and now the Rule at Madness Mansion is TWO dogs at a time!!! One on, one off lead - that way, everyone is happy (apart from the 4 that aren't walked first, of course :D :D :D )

Margot

I used to carry one of my puppies best KITTY friends along for walks on my shoulder , it was awsome i've never seen him so attentive! They are inseperable and always cuddle and play in the house.

I had forgotten about the line of cats behind us - usually just keeping out of sight of whoever is off the lead - after all, they don't WANT to lead the dogs off the beaten tracks, just because off-lead dog wants to chase!!!

Gosh I envy you lot! I have to walk my three seperately, I'm sure i would be tied in knots if I tried, and as I live on a main road it would be embarrassing if the neighbours were watching :D :P

It doesnt seem many people walk their dogs off lead? I walk all mine off lead(3) and they stick to me like glue,they are the same at home and it can get quite annoying,but i'm glad for it when we are out on walks as they are always close to me :)

I am always amazed when i see folks walking their dogs off lead near busy roads,i would be a nervous wreck! Is there such a thing as 100% reliable recall/heel? Even though i trust my dogs i would never walk them near a busy road,just incase...

Oh yes, the dogs get off-lead running twice a day - but we walk along roads to get to the fields so that's when they're on the lead.

Each of mine has a "half" walk off the lead.   This is because we live in the middle of a golf course, and we walk one on, and one off the lead.   The off-lead dog can run, and run, and run - over the field, back to check on us, over the field again, back to check, round through the woods - back to check, etc etc etc until we reach the half way point.   They all know the half way point, and dog on lead gets excited, and dog off lead stops and waits - dog off lead gets treat (dog on lead has already had his/hers) - and gets put on lead, dog on lead gets off - and the whole performance is repeated on the way back!   This is a twice daily occurence for all our dogs - for us it is a six-times daily job!

Margot

*makes mental note to stop at 2 dogs...* :D :D

I just have one dog at the moment, so our walks are pretty uneventful. She sticks to heel on whatever side is furthest from the road, and I don't let her go more than a head in front of me.
But now I really can't wait to get my next dog and see how things sort out :D

Hailey , i don't think their is such thing as 100% recall. Me having 4 retrievers makes recall maybe 90%. They can easily be caught up in trying to catch a squirrel or a cat and by the time i can get the recall it in may be to late. I'd NEVER walk my dogs off lead on main streets , i pity people who do, if a man across the street just came out of a grocery market with a jar of peanut butter it would be ALL over :p

I agree, even if you have an obedience champion it should never be off lead on a main road, suppose someone had a bitch in season across the road!!!

I live in a city and it is ilegal to walk your dogs off lead on a public highway.  At the moment I am doing road walking only usually around 3 or 4 miles as there is a Parvo outbreak in the city, so not going anywhere where dogs are off lead. :(

Normally would do about 2/3rds lead/road walking (I don't drive) and the rest free running once I reach the country Park/Playing Field/Recreation Ground etc.

Our puppy is learning to be on the left, but at the moment, she wants to go anywhere. Lead training is so hard, haven't quite got the hang of it. Our 11 year old staffies has no rules, he is off lead but never really leaves my side. He will not do his business when he is on the lead.