tips for a puppies first walk

[1moreRep]

we welcomed 2 french bull dog puppies 2 weeks ago and the will be ready for their first walk on wednesday

has anyone got any tips?

i'm worried about them being attacked (after reading earlier threads)

they run about in my garden at the moment (for 15 minutes at a time) every hour

i'm aware they shouldn't walk too long or too far

i literally love them so much

[BiteyShark]

Be prepared for them not actually wanting to walk especially on lead. The outside world can still be a scary place.

[Booboostwo]

Have you read up on litter mate syndrome? You are going to have to work hard to avoid the serious behavioural problems that come with this.

As for the walk, try them in lead round the block and see how they react. If they are confident and happy try to do a different walk, in a different environment every day. Let them off lead quite early one, but separately (see litter mate syndrome aboveboard for possible problems) and in an environment that is safe and ideally away from other walks. How old are they? Are they signed up for puppy class?

[missbattenburg]

Agree not to think of it as a walk - it might just be sitting in your front garden for a few minutes then coming back indoors. I think I'd take one at a time also, rather than take both together. It will be good for them to develop independetnly of each other, plus it prevents the reaction of one infomring the reaction of the other.

[fivedogstofeed]

I'd take each one separately. Your aim is to get the pup to focus on you and not their littermate and if you take them out together at this age you're unlikely to get that.
Raising littermates without issues is very hard.

[Innernutshell]

Start by taking them out on part of the walk but in someones arms so they can get used to the sights and sounds whilst also feeling safe.

Lead work can be hard but is also good to do indoors and only progress to outside once they are getting the hang of it.

[dangermouseisace]

I started by being in the garden with treats, and rewarding them every time they came really close to my leg. Then my puppy started hanging out there as I walked around the garden, popping the occasional treat in his mouth and offering lots of praise for being at my side. Then I added the lead...puppy was already used to getting treats at the side of my leg so it was a lot easier to keep him there (with treats).

Walking 2 puppies sounds like double the work though!

[BorderlineExperimental]

If you're not already a member I'd really recommend joining the FB group Dog Training Advice and Support. In the 'Files' section there's some really great resources on littermate syndrome which are well worth reading through.

You really want to be doing as much as possible with them separated rather than together. So walks, play time with you, training classes, training at home, etc. all should be done separately most, if not all, of the time. As well as teaching them to be happy being left by you (the aforementioned FB has some great articles/guides for that as well, here and here) you need to also make sure they're happy to be apart from each other.

As well as ensuring you're their primary focus rather than the other puppy it's better for their emotional development to spend most of their time apart and it's also far easier to manage having multiple dogs if they're not emotionally dependent on each other. It's much easier to get them used to this when they're young than try and rectify it when they're adults and you're in a situation where you need to be able to do things with them individually.

[1moreRep]

thanks for the advice, ive discussed with dp and we will walk separately and socialise separately. We already train and feed separately.

i have never heard of litter mate syndrome- ive been googling it all day thou and coming up with an action plan

they are very responsive to training and already have a strong bond with us