Walking two dogs and them pulling

[andyb28]

I need some advice.

We have two dogs and I often run with them, so they are used to bombing along with me. However I also would like to be able to walk with them in a civilised way, which is now near impossible.

I do have anti pull harnesses for both of them, but they are annoying to put on and I would like to be able to teach the dogs the difference between going for a run or a walk.
I have been trying to walk them on a short leads, where both dogs are to one side of me and pulling the lead up, rather than back, whilst saying heel. I am not sure it does much. Every walk, they are too excited and it ruins the walk being dragged around.

Should I have them next to each other and to one side of me, or one either side?

Any other tips would be good.

[KrazyIvan]

What type of dogs?

We currently have a gsd and a mal, both pull like mad when they are together. So we currently train them to walk nicely individualy. Oddly our Alaskan Mal is getting it quick then the GSD, but the Mal is about 6 months Older.

When the dog pulls, we'll pull them back sharply and told to heal, (walk along side us for a few minutes) if she still pulls, the she get pulled back quickly to a stop and made to sit.

ETA, you might need to stop talking them running untill they are walking the way you want. Either way consistency will be the key

Edited by KrazyIvan on Friday 3rd April 17:37

[bristolracer]

Tie them together and leave them in a field?

[Willy Nilly]

Every time they pull bark "HEEL" and then and stop walking. When they stop puling you start moving again. IIRC Victoria Stillwell did that on one of her doggy behavior programs.

PS

Speaking as someone that has suffered a broken neck and whiplash in separate incidents, please don't yank on the lead, it makes me cringe when I see people do that.

[red_slr]

Dogs have high drive and low drive.

In general dogs like high drive, playing, running, chasing other dogs etc...

Low drive, meh, boring!

Running is high drive and your dogs will enjoy it - so getting them to calm down is now going to be quite difficult. Not impossible though.

Firstly, I would start with basic simple stuff. Checking the dog is closer to the top of the scale, so don't do that to start with. If you jump straight into checking the dog it does not leave you much else to go to after that.

So, first thing is I would go for a run. Get the dogs tired. Then slow down to a walk. If they pull stop, say wrong or no or whatever you say. Start again if they don't pull say good... If they start to pull again turn round and walk the other direction, if they pull straight away again just stop. Wait, a while, then start again.... good pace but not too fast. Pulling.... stop. Turn round.... it may take a while but its all about timing. The goal is SLACK LEAD!!!

If trying it with 2 dogs is a problem then start with the dominant dog first on its own. As above.

Report back!!!

If you are not sure about the above let me know I can film an example with my dog and put it on YT for you.

There are LOADS of other options, food rewards, ball reward, off lead training, long line training, clicker, American check, e-collar etc etc. So its just about finding something that they will click with.

[Jezzerh]

bristolracer said:

Tie them together and leave them in a field?

Lol, only clicked on the thread to post that :-D

[JJ55]

Buy 2 halti head collars.

[KrazyIvan]

JJ55 said:

Buy 2 halti head collars.

Stopped using the Halti on our gsd as it made no difference, other than she "snorted" really loud and people ran away like she's some kinda monster.

[Mobile Chicane]

I cringe when I see dogs in halti collars.

The problem with these being that the dog hasn't actually learned anything - it's behaviour is only modified while it is wearing the device.

[Big_Dog]

Takes ages to get 100 yards up the road. Stop and sit when they pull, maybe change direction really works. You will need some patience but eventually the dogs will catch on the only way to get where they want to is without pulling. I used a wall too leaving not enough space to get past my leg and the wall.

[mko9]

I had two dogs that would pull like crazy when we went for a walk. The female lab would be literally choking herself on her collar, gasping for breath she was pulling so hard. We got a splitter lead from a friend of ours who had a similar problem. It has a ring in the middle that your lead clips onto, then two short leather leads about 12" long to go to the dogs' collars. Probably works best if the dogs are near the same size (ours were). I don't really know how/why it works, but it seems to play them off of one another so they self-regulate, and the pulling was considerably less. Made walking much more tolerable, unless they were really excited about something. As an added bonus, since you only have one lead they don't get all tangled up.

[andyb28]

KrazyIvan said:

What type of dogs?

We currently have a gsd and a mal, both pull like mad when they are together. So we currently train them to walk nicely individualy. Oddly our Alaskan Mal is getting it quick then the GSD, but the Mal is about 6 months Older.

We used to have a malamute, they are lovely dogs.
Sadly when ours died, I let my very upset little boy pick the next breed, he picked a beagle. Going from a very intelligent breed to a scatter brain, was not easy. Our Mal was really easy to house train, the beagle wasn't and was also hellbent on destroying all our belongings, however he has chilled out now that he is 4 years old.

We also have a miniature schnauzer, which are great little dogs. Their temperament is all based around pleasing you, so are easy to train.

Many thanks to all of you for the tips, we have been walking back and forth a lot and getting strange looks from people, I will stick with it.

[Hooli]

Mobile Chicane said:

I cringe when I see dogs in halti collars.

The problem with these being that the dog hasn't actually learned anything - it's behaviour is only modified while it is wearing the device.

The dog we had years ago learnt. The Halti helped the process because she was nine stone odd & I was six years old & tended to get pulled along until she learnt.