Walking a three dog pack

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OntarioSheltie

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Walking my pack has proved to be much more difficult than I originally anticipated.

I didn't expect not to have problems, but I didn't expect them to feed off of each other's anxiety and amplify it.

Now that the weather is nicer I'm trying to get out with them daily for a walk and also take Toby running. I took them for a long walk on Sunday and boy was it ever a challenge. Sadie would set them all off if she had to walk past a person or if she saw an animal and Toby set them all off every time he saw a truck or large vehicle or heard a noise he found loud and startling. I live in the city so these sounds and sites occur pretty often.

I used a few techniques that definitely helped and they improved quite a bit by the end of the walk, but I wondered if anyone else has any suggestions that I might try?

I did the following with success:

When I saw something I thought they might react to, I would say 'look.' I'd then praise them in a highly happy voice and give them a high value treat as I walked.

If the distraction was really big I'd start to walk backwards and say 'Everybody Sit.' If they didn't go into sits I pulled up lightly on the leash until they did sit, then gave each one treats as they sat. Then I'd hold their attention with looks (if they looked away) or for continuing to sit.

This was a particularly helpful with Toby, who remembered his fall training quickly. This morning a scary pickup truck drove by when I didn't have treats but instead of having a fit he sat when I told him to. I lavished him with praise and cuddles instead. He was excellent in the parking lot at dog training last night too.
 
Our goal this year is to try to get Mia to walk even short distances on a leash.As of now,and since she came we have not had much luck. So we keep trying.

Walking Trapp & Jasper for us is extremely easy.Brian takes Jasper,and I have Trapp.They walk side by side touching each others hips.Jasper is a breeze,his focus is on Brian the whole time.While Trapp sometimes gets interested in scenery,people.He starts a wiggle butt long before someone approaches him.
 
My trainer, who I usually really like, had some very useful advice (heavy sarcasm) when I tried to ask her for pointers. She said 'Don't walk them together, walk them one at a time.' Gee, that was helpful! I'll get right on that one. :mad:

I was shocked that I was dismissed like that and so were several people in the class. It seemed like she just couldn't be bothered to address my question so she moved on to another one.
 
Hehe... this is totally un-sheltie-related, but it reminds me of an incident in high school. I had just gotten back from a month long trip and the two Akita mix "puppies" that my parents had when I left... were, uh, somewhat larger than I remembered. I was maybe 90lbs sopping wet, and Smokey could pretty much meet me on the scales and Sadie had at least ten to fifteen pounds on me. Somehow I got the brilliant idea to walk them together while simultaneously trying out my new rollerblades.... Genious, yeah I know. :rolleyes2:
One squirrel later it was game over.... I still have scars, lol.

At least Shelties aren't big enough to drag whats left of our dignity into traffic... I can vouch of Akitas on that front. :lol:
 
Well I sorta agree with you trainer to a point. I would start by taking each one for a short, short walk individually and when & only when they are each behaving correctly singley , then I would go to 2 dogs together and keeping the one more obvious trouble maker as the single for now, when that was working ok then bring in the third one.

That's how I have always worked with multiples, although sometimes its a one step forward 2 steps back process, sometimes the hardest thing is getting the arrangement order that works best sorted out. I usually try to keep the most difficult one to control in close to me and let the better behaved one have the
outside spot.
 
Hi

What exactly is the issue? Are they tugging? Leaping off in different directions? Barking at cars? Stopping and smelling the roses - together or individually? The solution depends on the actual problem.

One thing that might work is starting two by two, and keep switching out which two get to walk together. Once you've got the two's organized and behaving, introduce the third. By then they each will have walked with at least one other.

In getting the "two's" to walk together, I simply did not put up with nonsense.

I know alot of us don't like Caesar, but even before I ever watched Caesar, whenever I walked my dogs I intuitively had firm control of the leashes and a confident body language. I held them in one hand and twined my fingers to alternately give a little tug if one pup started to stray (kinda like a puppeteer). And if one pup decided to stop and sniff, I just kept on walking with a gentle tug and a "Let's go!"
 
This is a good question as there are three in my pack and it gets nuts on walks! I actually only took all three out with just me only once, lol. My pack includes two puppies so that doesn't make things easy. Hadley is perfect and never barks or does anything wrong so I can always bring her. When I throw in a puppy to make it two dogs and just me it's okay. not fabulous, but doable. Lily is crazier and barks at everything and is just a crazy dog so I usually take her alone and will probably continue until I can get her to remain calm all on her own. Sometimes though it's nice having Hadley b/c they feed off her calm energy so there's pluses to walking them together and having the one that's in control more so teach the other one how to act. Do you have one who behaves well that could perhaps teach the other two? Not at the same time, of course, but separately. The trainers response might make sense in a perfect world but who has time to walk three dogs individually? If we're only doing 30 minutes that's still an hour and a half. Plus, there's no reason that all three shouldn't be able to walk calmly together-- as in my pack and your pack. I guess just takes time and patience and rewarding any progress that is made and just ignoring the bad actions and show the bad one how the good dog gets rewarded which might cause him to chime in and be good more often.
 
I don't think my dogs are perfect on walks, but they are fairly coordinated and only pull/bark at neighborhood children who are ill-mannered and like to call them by name (thus confusing them, so not really the pups fault).

I spent lots of time with Abbie alone on walks after we rescued her. When I would be short on time and bring them all out, I would be tempting fate. I can't tell you how many times I came inside last summer and lamented to DH, "I'm never walking your dog again!" Once I got over my frustration with HER (hey, I'm only human), things went better.

The main thing that helped was that I got better about verbal cues. If I turn, slow, go faster, I have a certain noise I make that means, "Pay attention." If I walk them in the morning and pause to get the paper, I make the noise and they automatically stop/slow down. It's amazing. Also, I pick the side of me that they will walk on and keep them there. Depending on their mood, the day, the weather, the surroundings, I want them to be able to walk on either side of me. Usually the two little boys on one side and big lady Abbie on the other, but there are time when Pierre has a Papillon-brain and is our pull-hound, so I'll keep the well behaved Shelties together.

Talking before a distraction helps. Huge praise for just looking at the distraction.

If you are having problems with your arm falling off while you walk them, I would take them out in pairs. Alternate so each gets enough exercise, but also, each dog will get a little 'alone' time and feel special.
 
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