Walking 2 big dogs together. How?

[Minniemoo6]

I have a 2 year old golden retriever who is well trained, fantastic off lead but on lead will pull slightly but the biggest problem we have is if she sees a dog or owner she knows in the street she will pull harder to get to them. She will calm down after seconds but that's the only problem we have with her. We have now got a 5 month old german shepherd who I've been training and socialising but can be nervous around other people and dogs and most of the time I can distract her from barking but the odd time she will ignore anything I say so I just walk the opposite way and this works. Now the problem is walking them together. My shepherd has more confidence when with my goldie and will greet dogs and people with just an excited whine rather than being nervous or barking. The downfall is she becomes more distracted and doesn't listen and having to try and distract a pup whilst holding the lead of another is a challenege in itself, my goldie will sit and wait for me but my shepherd will run around and lunge and we end up dancing with the leads. For those of you who have 2 dogs especially big dogs, do you walk them separately to begin with? I'm not sure how to go about this. I look like a mad women. I try to stay calm and shepherd knows alot of commands but chooses to ignore when certain distractions are in the way but I've noticed it's more when I walk them together. Any advice please?

Until they are perfect on lead I wouldn’t chance it. I say this having owned Newfoundlands. It’s a pain walking separately but you’ll have to train them separately to get them perfect.

I have a lab and a border terrier now and still walk them separately unless really pushed for time on busy days. Even big and small dogs can be a challenge together. They are young and still a work in progress!

I walk two at once, sometimes three.

I never allow greetings on lead (or off really but that’s my preference having giants). All it does it create bad manners and teaches the dog there’s a reason to react when there’s someone or another dog. If the thing you see does not interact then there’s no need for it to be exciting (or scary!)

The dog that’s overexcited needs to go back to basics and learn that no matter what silliness goes on you won’t allow them to go up to anyone, the focus should be 100% on you not anyone or anything else. I would walk the baby shep separately to build confidence, teach her she does not have to greet people and that’s totally fine providing she can walk past comfortably that’s all she needs to be expected to do.
This is very GSD behaviour and I tend to shield my more nervous girl from it all which has brought on her confidence.

I also do loads of training at home, separately and together. Each one walks on one side only so I never get crossed leads, they also learn to sit, heel and recall at the same time at home so when I’m out it’s not such an event. I also go to training clubs which help them get used to being around others but not bothering them.

Oh and finally I do use headcollars on adults. People sometimes don’t like them and that’s fine but for me at 50kgs with dogs weighing 80, 60 and 25-30kgs they are a safety feature more than anything!

Good luck!

Thankyou for your advice. Wow newfoundland your very brave they look like really strong dogs I definitely wouldn't beable to hold them on a lead.

We don't always allow greetings as I don't want her to think she can greet everyone but everyone I'm my street has a dog and it's impossible to not bump in to someone who wants for the dogs to go to them and it can be a pain to be honest. She's very good in the house with training and when walking on her own with no distractions she's perfect. We have started training and only had one session which wasn't too bad and the trainer is coming to do a private lesson next week. I'm training her alone on walks at the minute but as my oartner was home today we took them together but pup was been a bit pully and barking at other dogs that were across the road but fine with the ones she passed. Some days can be perfect when walking and other its almost like she says I'm going to be a complete pain today. My worry is if I walk them separate and it comes to the point of me walking them together will all training then go out the window because they'll be used to walking alone. I can walk separate as I have been for a while now but would be so nice to just do one walk especially since we like to take them on good runs in the car in the summer.

I walk two, but I didn't take them out together until the younger one was ten months old. It's the older dog who pulls and I didn't want the puppy picking up that had habit. I was walking miles a day, as well.

If they're not solid on the lead alone, then it's not safe to walk them together. If one of them pulled you over or into the road you'd be in real trouble.

Get the lead work and behaviour sorted first, then try them together.

I have 2 big golden retrievers and I walk them in Haltis or figure if 8 leads. They do not pull at all in them. They didn't much like the leads to start but they got used to them. I used to hook my dogs leads onto the pram with the babies - that is how good those leads are!

Until they both walk better I wouldn't walk them together.

I've got two goldens, one is 6 the other 7 months. The adult is worse for pulling when excited but I can walk them both on lead OK. But it's important they don't do everything together all the time and I very rarely do off lead walks with both at the same time. Adult and young dogs have different needs and I think you do need to concentrate on them separately.

Thanks for the advice I think I'll walk separately for a while then. They ate both fantastic of lead when together they will both come back and sit when asked but I only let them off lead together if there is noone else on the field. My goldiw is Brill if someone is on the field if I shout her she'll come straight back but I haven't attempted pup when people are around incase the dog isn't so friendly and she runs to them. My goldie was attacked on her first ever walk when a pup by a dog off lead and it's took me a while to build back her confidence. She likes other dogs and will sniff them but much prefers a fuss from the owners. I only allow her to greet the people and dogs she knows or if people ask if they can stroke her but otherwise I ask her to sit and wait when someone goes past. They are both fantastic in their own ways. The only problem is goldie pulls when she sees someone she knows and pup becomes distracted if too many dogs are around at once or they bark at her. If she's on her own 8 times out of 10 I can get her to focus on me so we are getting there with the help of training but walking them separately will take the pressure off me a little because it can become stressful if too many distractions are around.