Please bear with me this is a bit long! As you may know i have a 2 year old border collie bitch - Megan, and an 8 month old golden retriever bitch, Ellie. They get on well at home, except Megan does occaisionally tell Eliie off when she oversteps the mark. After walking them separtely since getting ellie (Apart from the odd occaision) i have been trying to take them together now that Ellie is older and allowed a longer walk. However this is an absolute nightmare which exhausts me physically and mentally! They aren't too bad when on lead, as i use headcollars as Megan is a confirmed (seemingly unchangeable) puller and Ellie is strong and excitable so i feel safer. However the problem comes when i let them off. Megan is good off lead, with a 98% recall (The 2% is joggers and bikes - and the occaisional suscipicious man) although being a collie she doesn't walk - she runs. On a walk she usually dashes out to quite a distance in front of me (Probably about10-15 metres - not good on distances), stops and either waits for me to catch up or runs back to me. On her own this is no problem as i know she will come back as soon as i call and she is getting the exercise she desperately needs.

However the problem comes when i add Ellie into the equation. She has a less than perfect recall, Quite good on a long lead or extending lead, and without distractions really good, but obviously as she is going through the adolecence stage she isn't 100% trustable. I can't keep her on the lead as she does back flips and pulls on her headcollar - basically she goes insane. If i put her on her extending lead she is a bit better but as its attached to the normal collar she pulls. If i let her off she will dash off after megan and will probably not give me a second glance intil i catch her and put her back on the lead. She will come back to me when Megan does, but when Ellie is there Megan's recall drops to about 90% - I think she is showing off!! This concerns me as Ellie appears completely out of control. If i call Ellie she won't even give me a second glance. Food does nothing. Toys aren't as interesting as chasing after Meg. A whistle doesn't work. Bizarrely Megan isn't interested in Ellie at all, completely ignoring her and occaisionally getting annoyed if Ellie keeps nipping at her.  I know it is alot to expect from a pup, but i am concedrned as i think i should be the pack leader not Megan, and Ellie will not go anywhere Megan doesn't.

They are not too attached as they sleep in separate rooms, go to separate training classes and have been walked separately with no problem. I will try to continue to walk the separately and work on Ellies recall but with the short daylight hours i find that the dogs aren't getting as much exercise as i would like. Has anyone else encountered a problem and is there anything I can do to get Ellie more focused on me during a walk?
Sorry this has been a bit long and help really appreciated!!

Why not try walking one on lead while the other runs free, then swopping over? If Ellie pulls on the lead I wouldnt reward her by letting her off - made that misake with Manic Morse and gave myself incredible problems with recall.  Work on not pulling first.To get her more focused on you - does she have a fave game/toy you could only use when out with you? Start with her on the extender so she has no runaway option and play till she thinks youre the best fun person on the planet. Its going to take time. With Morse I used to take him out hungry and divide the days ration into 4 bags - 2 in the dish twice a day and 2 to feed on walks when he paid attention to us. Every time he looked at us to begin with we chucked a bit of food to him, them moved it up to doing something for it. Any food not eaten at the end of the walk was binned. It sounds extreme but it works.

hi

i know what you mean be being mentally and physically exhausted after walking your dog i have a 8 month old boxer and she is very hard work on a walk, like ellie she's great with no distractions but boy o boy with other dogs or people in sight she's a nightmare jumping up etc, and shes so strong on the extension lead i now suffer with a bad back in fact only yesterday she pulled me onto my knees i felt like a right idiot!, i have to let her off as she so needs to run i have found though that if i take 2 of those balls on ropes thingy's she will stay with me a bit more i have 2 so that when i throw one she comes back with it and waits for me to throw the other but i still have to keep a watchful eye for any potential victims of her over boisterous affections and put her on the lead

regards
jojo