How do dog walkers walk multiple dogs, considering they’re trying to make a living doing so and need to keep the situation safe? To begin, dog walkers use the right leash and specialized equipment to prevent dog conflicts. They also abide by several principles regarding the pairing of dogs and their ability to heel.
When walking multiple dogs who aren’t familiar with each other, a dog walker considers each dog’s size, age, temperament and breed. If you weigh 120-pounds and choose to walk three 100-pound German Shepard, Rottweilers or Pit bulls, you’re going to meet with a whole lot of trouble if all that sinew rushes simultaneously after a squirrel and you’re holding all dogs in one hand. When those dogs make a run for it, your forecast is pain.
Dog Walkers Prepare For Their Group Dog Walks
This is why before you take multiple dogs out for a walk, you must invest time learning their temperaments. You want to avoid painful situations. Walk with your dogs daily and individually first and know what you’re dealing with to start. What draws their attention? What passes undisturbed? How easy or difficult was the solo walk? And age matters too.
Puppies are naturally more energetic than older dogs and will stop to smell the roses, sprint after a butterfly, say hello to the nice lady and then run off after a bird again and again. To get the best out of group dog walks, invest time training your young dogs to walk on a leash, individually, to keep up with the older dogs.
When the time comes to combine dogs, remember that some dogs don’t take kindly to walking in groups, others do. Introduce each dogs ahead of time to the rest, making sure they become buddies. Once they’ve met and know each other as a walking group, dogs being so sociable will simply be excited anticipating their venture and will focus on that and not on the dogs that they already know.
Your confidence and strength will come with practice. Of critical importance is to grow comfortable using a hands-free leash, once you’re walking well-trained dogs, so you can have the option in an emergency to clip leashes together, especially opting to step on several connected ones to prevent them from moving when stooping down to pick up dog poop. This is when you could be most vulnerable and out of balance with your dogs, in case they dash off after something.
Training Them Beforehand Is How Do Dog Walkers Walk Many Dogs
This training is a process you invest for your safety, that of other pedestrians, their dogs and yours. Start by teach the dog basic obedience. ‘Sit’, ‘Stay’, ‘Come’ commands are fundamental. Get verbal control of each dog. If you’re walking deaf dogs, you may value some insights we offer on how to train them using hand signals in this article. By spending time training each dog, you will know how obedient they are. You can then introduce intelligently one after the other to the pack.
In the ill-advised case where you do not have the luxury of time to train each dog, dog walkers have realized that by keeping only one dog in one hand and the others in the other, you ensure the single dog doesn’t crossover and, likewise, the others in the opposite hand don’t zigzag, which makes it easier to keep leashes from getting tangled. Instead, by keeping fewer dogs in one hand than the other, you can untangle some leashes by contorting your arm without losing control of all the dogs at once, had you held all of them in a single hand or too many in both hands.
You can read more here on picking the appropriate leash for multiple dogs walking. You’ll learn about the use of the coupler leash for well-behaved dogs and the use of splitters to allow each dog more independent mobility, though consider the trade-off. Couplers and splitters make control of individual dogs more difficult as well.
Likely Problems And Solutions When Walking Multiple Dogs
When walking multiple dogs, the responsibilities are equally multiplied. Because it’s highly unlikely that you will be walking dogs of identical size, temperament or breed, the following are some problems you may encounter.
Dogs Throwing Tantrums During Walks
It is not uncommon to have dogs that get distracted by the scenery, want to get ahead of others, lunge at other dogs or just lose interest mid-walk entirely. Take charge of the situation. Place the more stable and less physical dogs in the middle of the pack and the more animated dogs on the edge.
Take stops during your walk to give your dogs a chance to enjoy the scenery. This way they will be willing to continue the walk. If a dog gets aggressive during walks, scan the environment for things that may be triggering the behavior and distract the dog or move to another environment.
When your dog pounces at other dogs not in your pack, you must take responsibility for controlling that situation. If the lunging is not violent, reach down to the collar. Cover the dog’s eyes with a piece of cloth. Hug the dog’s neck, and shush and comfort the dog. Defuse the situation.
Walking The Same Side Or Different Sides
Whether your dogs walk on your left or right is totally up to you. Dogs that are familiar with each other and your walking routine will walk by your side and not zigzag across the street. When you see a dog about to move to the other side, quickly step into that space.
When you do this enough times, the dog will understand that you need it to walk on one side only. And to ensure the dogs stay by your side, use a hands-free leash attached to your waist manually to control any erring dog without losing control of all the others and keep them from zigzagging as well.
Leash Tangles
It is commonplace to have your leash tangle when walking multiple dogs and there are specific techniques to keep your leashes from getting tangled. But the simplest is to use a double-ended dog leash if you won’t use a hands-free leash. When the leashes get tangled, stop in your tracks so the dogs stop with you or tell them to ‘Stay, assuming you’ve taught each to obey your commands. When the dogs stop walking, you quickly use your free hands to untangle the leashes.
Cleaning Up After The Dogs
Walking multiple dogs means droppings will multiply. Keep poop bags open in your belt pouch to save time taking one out to collect the poop. Command the dogs to ‘Stay’, wrap the leashes around a sturdy anchor like a tree, a park chair, etc., if available, else step on the leashes and pick up the waste.
Dogs Getting Into A Fight
At one point or the other, your dogs may get into a fight and you do not want to get in the middle of that unprepared. The best policy is to prevent a fight. If you see a dog getting aggressive towards another from a distance, quickly get that dog under your control by reaching for its collar and keeping the dog close to your aside. How do dog walkers walk multiple dogs? They keep them from fights!
When dogs are in fight mode, they are fighting on instinct with a desire to survive, and will attack even you when you get in the middle of their stupor. If the fight begins, the first thing to do is not to panic. Don’t add fuel to the fire by making a lot of noise yelling and screaming. However, act fast so the conflict doesn’t lead to worse injuries or even death. If you can get someone to assist you, grab one dog by both its hind legs. Ask the other person to do likewise and simultaneously but slowly pull the dogs apart like wheelbarrows.
Don’t release the dogs so they don’t return to fight or turn around to bite you. Instead, pull back in a circular motion, slowly, carefully and not releasing until they both have calmed down or you’ve been able to restrain at least one of them in an enclosure or tied to post.
But how do dog walkers walk many dogs if one gets into a fight? What happens to the rest of the dogs? What do you do when you are alone with a dog fight in your hands? This is a very distasteful prospect but entirely within the realm of possibility for you to face and being ready is what matters.
The key concept to hold to here is that the aggressor dog is the one to go after to get under your control. When dogs are in combat, their heads are usually locked into each other, lashing. This leaves their tense loins fully exposed and unattended. Remove the leash of one of your calm dogs and tie it firmly to a tree or something sturdy, else be ready to anchor it to yourself.
Next, carefully wrap the other end of that leash around the aggressor dog’s loins and securely tie it. With that dog anchored down, say, to a tree, grab the other dog’s hind legs and pull the attacked dog slowly away in a circular motion, leading it to a secluded area.
But if you’re the anchor to the aggressor dog, then pull the fighting dog’s body away from the other dog using the leash and also in a circular motion sufficiently to give that dog a disadvantage in the fight and a chance for you to seize a fist full of fur and skin on the back of its neck. At that point, you may try the technique below if the aggression continues, depending on the situation.
Walking multiple dogs can be risky, so being prepared is critical. But if you know the dogs you’ve chosen to walk, you’ve trained them sufficiently to understand your basic commands, you’ve equipped yourself with the right type of multiple dog walking leashes and hands-free dog walking training belts, poop bags, and techniques for introducing dogs to each other and to break up a fight, you will know the fundamentals of how do dog walkers walk multiple dogs.