Took both Jake and Dixon for a walk last night and had enough time to do a couple of turns around our route so I did one with Dix, one with both, and one with Jake. I'm wondering why they seem so much more relaxed when I took them individually than when we were all together? I keep them on traffic leashes when I take them both, and a 6' when I took them individually. There must be something I'm doing different (aside from the leashes) when I take them together, and I'm having trouble pinpointing it- any suggestions on how to figure it out?

They tend to put tension on the traffic leashes- not enough to resemble a correction of any kind, but as far as they can go comfortably, whereas on the 6' they tend to leave slack and just generally be more relaxed.. I should be getting my 2nd 6' leash today or tomorrow so I can try using those soon and see if its the leashes. I wondered if it had something to do with them being together when we get barked at by other people's dogs vs being alone though? Any psychology there?

Hope this post made sense, thanks-

Carolyn,

Although I can't tell you why, I can tell you that when I paired up my dogs for the first time, they were a lot more work than I could have imagined. My older boy who never normally pulls was acting like he was a pup again.

We had to do several short training sessions a day for a while until they got the hang of it. Now I can walk them both, but I still have to be prepared for a little more rowdiness.

It's because you are walking 'pack' animals in a 'pack'. Even with as little as 2.

That's part of the reason I went to the traffic leashes (got two cheap 4' nylon ones with them from the prev. owner, but they hurt my hands), because they were kinda rowdy and I had more control. Took them to another neighborhood where it was quieter for quite a while, and only just recently started walking them in my own neighborhood. I'm really going to try and make time to walk them separately- I think we'll progress faster, I just can't do it all of the time and wondered what was up-

"It's because you are walking 'pack' animals in a 'pack'. Even with as little as 2. "

I considered that, but aren't I part of their pack? so when its just me and one dog, do I as a human count or not count? lol-- sorry if that sounds silly

It's not silly at all. I know what you mean. Well, IMO, we are part of the pack and *hopefully* the pack leaders, but a dog can tell we are just not a dog.

IME, walking them separately until they are both well under your control helps a lot. And when I do walk two together, I walk one on each side. For me, it works much better when I am between them. Then they have me to set their pace and direction, and not each other.

LOL- I love that image Kacie, thanks

Connie, Thanks again- I do remember you offering similar advice to another of my posts and I was glad I took it. I walk one on each side and only rarely have to quash craziness. Now that I'm able to spend more time walking them separately I hope we'll improve even further!

They're not obnoxious- in fact I would venture to say they're gentlemen, but they were noticeably calmer apart. One way I know we progressed from the beginning was that yesterday a loose dog started barking at us from across the street and coming towards us, and my guys stayed calm so I could put them behind me and yell and stomp my foot at the stray to make him back off. I'm sure I looked goofy to all the neighbors but hey- it worked, and we went on our merry way. The second time around the loose one barked, but didnt' come any closer. One small victory.

Another cool thing- we're getting to socialize some now. The people who comment on how handsome they are, I stop and chat for a second. Just out of reach, but baby steps. It means I get to meet some neighbors, too!