Two dogs, different needs. Am I being 'fair'?

[SnakeyMcBadass]

Stupid way to put it, but bear with me.

The spaniel is a nervous boy with some fear aggression ishoos. I love him, but he is hard work and needs constant supervision. He also has a ridiculous amount of energy, hates being on lead, and is out with me for a bare minimum of an hour a day, more likely two hours. He spends the rest of his time sleeping, playing with the puppy and patrolling the living room window for rogue cats. I think he's happy. He hates the car, shivers and drools the entire time he is in it.

The puppy is generally quite chilled out. He greets every new experience with enthusiasm, likes other animals and people, and is quite happy on the lead or off it. He thinks the car is awesome, and likes to stand up and body surf the curves .

Anyway, to the point.

Tomorrow, we're thinking of going on a long walk through a woodland that we haven't been to before. There will be cyclists and other dogs walking. My plan was to take both dogs with us, but as soon as I started planning it I felt the tension in my shoulders. The spaniel will hate the car, and want to run. He has reasonable recall, but if he gets a scent he might take a moment or two to respond. As I don't know the terrain, the possibility of running into people/dogs/cyclists is high. The pup will quite happily trot along with us on his extender lead and always recalls (he dislikes being more than about 6 feet away at the moment).

Does anyone have more than one dog, and do you sometimes leave one dog or the other out of a family outing? I know this makes me sound like a twat, but I feel guilty Obviously, if we leave the spaniel at home he will be well run beforehand.

Oh, and if anyone has been to Cannock Chase, how dog friendly was it?

Cannock chase is wonderful for dogs. Take the spaniel he'll have a great time

No, I don' t leave one out but only because I feel guilty and worry the one at home would be lonely. In reality they are usually fine at home with the tv on and don' t seem to realise how long you go for. Can' t you just have them both on extender leads. Got to just do as they are told sometimes.
It would annoy me to have to walk the other one seperately after a day out....

My dad has a similar problem with his dogs. Sometimes he leaves the collie cross at home as she has dog agrees ion issues, and spooks and runs off. She will only walk reliably in two places.

He will sometimes leave her at home, to do walks etc with doggy friends, it's tricky, but OK every now and again!

Cannock chase is great for dogs. Don't park at birches valley visitor centre - mountain bikers galore.

Lots of other car parks - a fab place. Marquis drive better but busy- nice car parks by the commonwealth cemeteries. Enjoy!!

If I put the spaniel on an extender lead, he will dislocate my/his shoulder. He runs like a bullet. I'd really only take the spaniel if he could have a good, off lead run. It's not worth the stress of the car for him unless he can burn off all the energy. I can't find any information as to whether dogs have to be kept on lead at Cannock Chase. Walking him separately doesn't bother me, tbh. I spend an awful lot of my time traipsing around boggy fields throwing balls

I had to do this eventually as I had an older rottie who could be slightly unreliable on recall and if approached aggressively by other dogs, and a young Portie who has impeccable manners with other dogs/recall but needed more exercise than the old boy could handle. Eventually I got to the point where they were almost always walked separately - younger dog is so much easier, I can take him to popular walking spots etc and he has an absolute ball without stressing me out - I can entirely feel your pain OP!! Sadly we lost our old boy on Christmas Day so its not an issue any more but would say definitely take just the puppy. Spaniel doesn't know where you are going!!

Any owner of a reactive dog has put in hours and hours of training to make thing easier for their dog - I do understand how hard it can be. You put your dogs needs ahead of yours but maybe it is time to widen his world a bit.

I would continue to work really hard at getting your Spaniel happier on lead - this means that he can also get his charging around activity and learn to love days out that you and your puppy enjoy.

I would take him tomorrow but first give Spaniel a muddy run in the fields before putting him in the car. Then armed with a clicker at Cannock Chase give and treat him all the time he is on the lead.

Dogs can run free on the chase. Lots of open heathland. Lots of deer too.

Deer, huh? The spaniel has never met a deer. Not sure now.

I have three dogs, two hate each other. Two hate all other dogs, one dislikes people and anything new. Two love the car, one is less impressed. We often do different things with different dogs.

Sometimes I just take nice dog somewhere sociable with the kids and enjoy it, they are all rescues and probably never going to change much more than I have managed thus far.

I'd take puppy for a nice day out with the family, and walk your other dog before and after you go. If he hates being on the lead and his recall is a bit suspect them it might end up being stressful for all of you (including the dogs) He won't be any the wiser, have a lovely day

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I think you should have a nice trip out without the spaniel, if that's what it takes for a relaxed outing. So long as you make it up to him with a good walk beforehand. I think we are better owners for our dogs if we don't pound ourselves on the head too hard with guilty idea of having to do things one particular way. If you end up feeling tense and resentful of him by bringing him along, you won't be doing him any favours.

It isn't really a question of unfairness to one dog over another. I only have one dog and sometimes I decide to leave him out of an outing if I think it will be one where his ishoos will make the trip tense and complicated.

Why not go and check it out with the puppy? It is an amazing place. We live not far away and walk almost every day. Explore with your puppy then work out which bit you would feel happy on- heathland/ woodland etc. enjoy!

We took our young spaniel to Cannock chase recently and she loved it. Although she is very good off lead, we ended up keeping her mostly on lead because she was very distracted by the bikes/ horses and i was worried she would cause a collision. We were also very concerned about deer.
A lovely day out though and we met lots of other dogs.

Just back. We took both dogs, and they had a ball. They were off lead as soon as able, and good as gold. We even met a couple of other dogs and the spaniel greeted them most politely We avoided the visitors centres and parked on Marquis Something, which was free, quiet and mainly used by other dog walkers.

Glad you had fun! It's a wonderful place.