Hi all, Its not often i post but i do enjoy reading the forum and have learned at lot since joining. However i was wondering if anybody could personally reccomend a behaviourist they have used in the Nottingham/Derby border. A little background info. Buster is 5 1/2 collie x GSD. Got him at 9 months old and his only problem is he is obsessed with his ball. Bengi is 8 1/2 and a heinz 57 got him when he was 5 from rescue. He has lots of problems most of which we have solved but he can bark/lunge at dogs he does not know. Bengi used to be quite aggressive with other dogs and my dog trainer told me it was fear related which made sense as he was scared of most things like cars driving past us when walking, hoover, lawn mower etc... it also appreared to us he was beaten in his previous home as he would flinch at the slightest movement from us now we have to drag him out from under our feet at times :rolleyes:  but when he knows a dog he is fine with them and will just ignore them. Separtley when i walk them they are wonderful buster will ignore every dog we meet and will walk to heel once he has settled down (approx 5 mins) he does get too excited sometimes. Bengi needs only to be told to leave a dog we meet and he is calm and looks to me for my attention he may have one bark but thats it (he used to keep barking untill the dog had dissappeared) My main problem is when i walk my 2 dogs together. I have solved the pulling issue (apart for the occasional pull) but when other dogs pass us in the street buster will bark/lunge which then sets bengi off and its getting me down. They dont do it to every dog and i do cross the road if i can to avoid close proximity. Just tonight on our walk we meet a man with his 2 dogs and they just ignored me. I got to the side on the grass got them sitting but they just kept barking and cause the grass was wet when buster lunged i lost my footing and slipped and fell on ny backside going to have bruise :rolleyes: I do go to classes infact im going tonight with buster and bengi goes tommorrow night so i will ask my trainer for any names. I think i just needed to get it off my chest just typing it out has made me feel better. Please help me

Don't have any advice as I am still learning myself but saw nobody  had replied yet and didn't want you to think you were being ignored. Hopefully someone else wil be along soon who can help out. :)

Hi Sonny,

Firstly try www.apbc.org.uk  (courtesty of Lindsay) to see whether you can find one in your area at all.

You have a case of one upman ship going on here which happens an awful lot with two + dogs, many people can have one dog walking beautifully, but then put two together and you have pulling and boisterous behaviour. (Generally during adolescents)

You have two older dogs with different problems and you are doing brilliantly and coping well with the problems, Buster seems quite copeable all you need is that ball for him to carry.  But Benji needs a lot more one to one.

Don't beat yourself up, a lot of people have the same problems without rescue dogs and plain and simple if there is no-one to walk with you it is just sometimes better to walk them seperately.

Hope that you will find a good behaviourist to help with Benji remember to only use the praise and reward methods.

Hi Sonny
I also have problems walking my two dogs together. Despite the fact that they're a toy breed they give me all kinds of trouble - one is a puller/lunger and the other is a 'humper' :rolleyes:  When walked separately I have very few problems but of course it's more time consuming.  I cope by resigning myself to having difficult walks when I take them out together (the occasional good one is a real bonus !) and do as many separate walks as I have time for. 

It sounds as if you've done really well so far with your two so hopefully you'll find a way that works for you :)
Good luck :-D 

Thanks for the replies. Thanks carrington I will have a look at that site. Looks like i will have to do lots of separte walks untill it gets lighter in the evenings then its feilds all the way and buster can have his ball back on walks. He just wont carry it - hes taught us very well to do that for him :rolleyes: hubbie has them during the day and i get the evening walks, well im off to start as i mean to go on new year and all. Wish me luck ;)

You could always trying using headcollars on them both for the moment such as a gentle leader as you would then have control of both of their heads and should stop most of the pulling - certainly this is what I do. 

I had thought if that but i'm still looking for a suitable one. I have tried Haltie - rides up in to eyes, Gentle controller just chokes them - long hair gets stuck and wont release and gentle leader just was not suitable so gave up using them. Do you know of any anothers i could try? I dont want to buy another if its not going to help me.

I like the Canny Collar which I bought from this company http://www.enjoyablewalkies.co.uk/index.php  There are lots of customer reviews you can read.

I use a canny collar having tried several other types of head collar. The canny is different in that the lead still attaches at the back of the head so he is unable to put his paws over the lead which was a real problem with the others.  We have a soft mouthed dog and I found the halti tended to pinch his lips.

My dog weighs two stone less than I do and is terrified of fireworks so I always use the canny collar if out after dark and have been able to control him when a firework went off unexpectedly.

Not the permanent answer but works for me with my juvenile, a brace lead.  It means that the dogs are joined to each other by a short length of lead and the whole thing is controlled by one single lead so I am not constantly watching who is doing what and might lunge where.

The more sensible dog gets to train the unruly one.  No substitute for separate training which you must do, but does make walking the two together much more enjoyable when you have to do it.