Walking two dogs together

[NoraBrooks]

I have 2 young dogs that I am trying to teach how to walk together. One is a bullmastiff/pitt mix who's almost 2. The other is a boxer mix who is about 20 months. They both walk relatively well on leash. When I have tried to walk them together, I use a splitter which makes it easier, but...You would think they were competing to be on a dog-sled team. They pull so hard it is all I can do to hold them back. If a something like a dog/person/squirrel catches their attention, I turn around and pull them the other direction. I have used treats, praise, etc. How can I train them to walk well together? 

[Adrienne]

Hello and welcome to the forums,

Training two dogs to walk together isn't without challenges. One of the biggest challenges is the fact that two dogs often feed off each others' emotions. In other words, they are more likely to get amped up and easily influence one another. They sort of become a "team." For instance, one dog may whine, accelerate, and look straight ahead attentively with the ears pointed forward upon spotting a squirrel, and the other dog quickly joins in the fun and you soon have the adrenaline rush of two out of control dogs pulling your arms out of your sockets and dragging you along for a ride.

Also, both your dogs are right at the adolescent stage (occurring approximately six months to one or two-three years, varying by breed and individual) and this may keep you working harder. You can read more about the adolescent stage here:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/survive-dogs-adolescent-stage/

Disadvantages of Using a Leash Splitter

Now, it sounds like they were walking relatively well when you were walking them on leash individually, until you walked them together using a leash splitter. This is not surprising due to the already mentioned fact of dogs feeding off each other's emotions when walked together, but the use of a splitter may have an aggravating effect. 

Here's the thing:  a lead splitter, also known as a coupler, allows you to walk two dogs at once without worrying about the leashes getting tangled, but as great as this invention may be, it does have some disadvantages.

One main one, is that, as you have witnessed, when two dogs are placed that close together, they may become more competitive, which may lead to more pulling. On top of this, when one dog feels pressure on the leash from the other dog pulling, he/she is going to pull as well creating a vicious cycle. Of course, it doesn't help that the splitter puts the dogs often in front of you which can cause them to act a bit like pulling sled dogs, where they may team up and forget a bit about you and it's difficult to praise/reward when they are in this position versus being next to you in heel position).

So how can we train them to walk well together nicely? Here are some tips:

Train each dog individually: training each dog to walk politely on leash to a high level of proficiency before adding the distraction of each other is an important first step. This means you'll have to do lots of separate work training firstly in quiet settings and then progressing gradually to areas with distractions. You'll have to aim for great attentiveness to you and prompt responsiveness despite distractions. Only once you have set these foundational skills and witnessed fluency and proficiency, you can bring both dogs together to gauge where you stand.

Take Baby Steps. Once your dogs are under great control being walked individually, you want to take baby steps towards walking them together. Think about your final goal, in other words, where you want your dogs to finally be.

For instance, you can walk one dog on your left, while a helper walks the other on his/her left too if your final goal is walking one dog on each side. If you are planning to walk both dogs on one specific side, you can walk one dog and your helper the other one, walking in parallel. In other words, you have your dog on your right and your helper has the other on his/her left so both dogs are next to each other.

If all goes well, afterward, you can then progress to walking both dogs, one dog on each of your side, or both on one side. If your final goal is still using a splitter despite its main disadvantages (the competition, sled-dog mentality, cons of front-position) you can aim to teaching a front position with a loose leash, but you may need to provide frequent feedback with verbal praise when walking well and consequences when there are distractions you haven't practiced much on. For instance, when they are speeding up and about to pull, you may need to make heavy steps to communicate to them that you are slowing down and if they keep speeding to the point of actively pulling you'll need to come to a halt until the leash is slack again. Turning around is also good when there is something very distracting ahead. Using a verbal cue to communicate turning around and coming to you for a treat may come handy. 

Consistency is key here. If you have worked on training your dogs consistently to walk politely on leash without puling for many weeks, but then one day it's pouring cats and dogs and you’re feeling rushed and allow your dogs to pull just for a teeny bit, you can easily undo all your hard work and you're soon back to square one if you allow this to occasionally happen. 

This is because when we allow an undesirable behavior sometimes yes and sometimes no, we put it on a variable schedule. A variable schedule encourages persistence. The dog comes to learn to try his luck in pulling just as a person tries his luck when addicted to gambling at Vegas because he sometimes wins playing the slots.

When Things Don't Work Out
Sometimes, things may not work out as planned. Don't feel bad if that's the case. Many dog owners struggle walking two dogs together and some dog trainers even discourage this because it's difficult to give dogs the one-on-one attention and guidance they need to learn to walk politely on leash and maintain this skill. Loose-leash walking is something that isn't taught over night, but it's the result of lots of guidance and direction and the formation of a strong bond with the owner. 

In such a case, you have a couple of options.

-You can walk one dog while a family member or friend walks your other dog. This is what I have done mostly with my Rottweilers. I had Petra trained to walk on my left and hubby had Einstein trained to walk on his right. When I was away for conferences/work, hubby was still able to walk both of them without any major issues because Petra was still walked on the left and Einstein on the right. 

-You can walk one dog at a time, while the other dog stays home enjoying something super duper valuable such as a stuffed Kong. Once back, you can then swap them. The added bonus on doing this is that it gives each dog the opportunity to practice being left alone (an important skill all dogs should learn).

I hope this helps,

Keep me posted on how things go.