Teaching the dogs to walk at heel together needs to be done AFTER all the other obedience work. The dogs must know what they are supposed to do prior to starting on what is a totally new situation. The most dominant of the dogs will walk closest to you.

I don't like the Y attachments for converting to a single lead for many reasons. First you can not correct each dog individually. If you correct you will correct both. The bigger reason is that if there is a problem either between the dogs, or with an outside source, the dogs are tied together and that can create a world of trouble. With seperate leashes you can seperate the dogs without having to reach in to the buisness end of a biting dog. Even if the leashes are wrapped around each other they can be seperated from the handle end. I have seen some very nasty fights where dogs have accidently gotten attached to each other. The fact that the dogs are attached made it that much harder to break up the fight.

I totally agree with R.C.'s last post. I have often had clients with two dogs and his is the way to go. Work both in obedience seperately and then simultaniously. Be very cheery and rewarding (beware of treats -they may cause antagonism in all but the least dominant dogs) and fair and quick in your corrections. Only if they are on separate leads can you correct well and fairly. I always train both dogs on the left of the handler (most dominant closest to leg) because its easier to glance in only one direction to be ready to reward or correct. The dogs will look and BE alot more 'controlled' and 'compact'. If they are on seperate sides of you, some smartass doggies wait for you to be watching the other one in order to lunge forward or not obey you making you dizzy with more correcting than you need if they both KNOW you are ALWAYS watching (as they do when both are on one side of you). All this is not as hard as it sounds and is well worth your time as walking two dogs at once is very tiring in most other ways.
Don't worry about the two leads. Hold them together in your right hand and use your left to correct each dogs lead when needed. Try to keep the leads very loose when not correcting. Turns and commands throughout the walk also help the heel and focus of the dogs.
Even after they walk like a dream you should stick to two leads for safety reasons. Good luck and have fun!

I guess it just depends upon your dogs/goals/individual situation. While these are some interesting points, I'm not going to stop using my coupler; I've been using it for two years now, with zero problems. Again, I use if for casual walking, while at the same time, having enough control over them to handle any problems.
I wouldn't suggest this for every person/every dog, but it works for me! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

As Lisa said, I would also certainly not reccommend a coupler for every dog and situation. But, as I did say in my previous post, both my girls are extensively obedience trained INDIVIDUALLY and are very close. You have to know your dogs. I know that there are never any problems between my two. But that is ME and MY situation -- not everyone's.

If you are unsure how your dogs will react to being connected, or if either one needs more work with obedience, do NOT use a coupler -- use seperate leads. Shorter leads (4 ft leather) work better when using 2. Shorter leather will not tangle nor hurt your hands as much. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Well if i was going to walk two dogs and just out for a walk in the park or something i like to have the dog that needs the work to be on my left and the trained dog on the right . But most time i do not walk dogs togeather as i like to enjoy the dog one on one relationship .I like to use seperate leashes . Peter

I walk them both on my left, the one I usually work is on my inside, and the other is on the outside. I use 2 separate leads amd try and keep them at a heel. One lead is firm in the left hand and the other runs loose thru my fist and is held in the other hand, so I can correct without yanking the wrong lead. This works much better than my previous approach of 2 flexi's and a dog in each hand. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Interesting topic here....I used to walk all 3 of my dogs with 3 separate leashes, woven nylon,and it wasn't ever a problem unless other dogs that were loose came around. I had to start carrying pepper spray because of a rottweiler attack once...at that point I dropped the big dogs' leads and picked up the little one. This happened on a Christmas day some years ago and luckily my neighbor was out and managed to get one of the leashes back....The other dog's owner was also out and finally got his *&$#% dog to go to him and I got the big guy's leash....ended up spending most of that day in emergency getting my big guy's ear and cheek stitched up. That's when I started carrying pepper spray and I agree wholeheartedly with Ed; if a body is so stupid as to let their dog run loose they can expect it to get maced or something....Once I moved to a house with a big fenced yard I gave up walking the 3 of them together....'course then I had to start going to the gym because I wasn't getting my daily work-outs!