Before Delilah joined our pack, Hubby, Sampson and I use to hike at least once per weekend.
Once Delilah joined the family our hiking kind of tapered off. Part of the reason was we were in the process of moving and settling in to a new home in a new town.
Then I discovered the field and trails at the top of our street and while it isn’t an off-leash park, mostly it’s only locals who frequent the area and most of them leave their dogs off-leash. Wood walking was open to us once again.
Sampson and I both adore walking in the woods. Sampson is usually a pretty good little guy, with the exception of the one time we lost him (if you’ve never read this post, at least go check out the video) and the time he thought it would be a good idea to leave us behind and go running with another pack of dogs. Typically he runs ahead a bit, but then stops to look and wait for me. Normally he doesn’t get too far ahead.
After Sampson’s ACL surgery last year, his recovery restricted him from walking on uneven surfaces, so our wood walking time dwindled down.
Delilah’s wood walks of late have become challenging to say the least. I find myself dealing with one of three problems, either she’s scarfing dog poop, causing deep revulsion for me, or she’s pulling me through the woods, causing intense discomfort.
Oh and did I mention she likes to run off? Yes, the darling Diva that lives in my house is a neighborhood trash picker. She doesn’t just run off willy nilly through the woods.
Oh no. That’s just too tame for our Delilah.
No, Delilah likes to leave the woods and scavenge for food in the places she knows will have it, people’s houses.
Oh yes, one time she walked right into somebody’s garage. WHY the hell their garage door was open is beyond me, but open it was and in she went. Thankfully I got her out of there before their dog discovered her.
As Lauren Miller noted in last Thursday’s post about her dog Zoe, “I’ve always struggled with loose leash walking with Zoe because the environment is way more rewarding than anything I could ever offer her. There are squirrels, rabbits and deer oh my and she couldn’t give a crap about what I’m doing.
You said it so perfectly, this is true of Delilah as well. She does amazingly well for the longest time and then one day, pfft, she’s gone off on a tear and I’m left in panic mode.
Last weekend I decided to change all that and in doing so, I rediscovered just how much I enjoy walking my dogs.
My secret?
I decided when time allows, I will take the dogs on individual walks. So last weekend, Sampson and I set off for the woods.
We had the trails all to ourselves, we walked the trails, just him and I and it was so nice.
Try and keep up Mama, I know it’s been a while but you can do it.
I kept his walk to about half an hour and then headed home.
Then I grabbed Delilah and we walked the neighborhood. We did our traditional route and Delilah wanted to continue so we did. All told we walked for about 50 minutes.
I find it’s much easier walking with only one dog, although I don’t always have the time for it, but I figure if I can work each dog individually with their triggers, eventually walking together will get better as well.
Divide and conquer?
Hell yeah, I have opposable thumbs too. 🙂
Do you work your dogs individually or is it easier for you to work them at the same time? Give me your secrets in the comments.
Alternative titles: Rediscovering the joy of walking my dogs
Great post!! I like “Divide and Conquer” LOL! I completely understand “dog running off, panic!!” We’ve had that happen once when the girls took off after deer and were completely gone. They were wearing hunting bells and you couldn’t even hear them. It was a thickly wooded forest and a big hill that we wouldn’t be able to scale. It was the most terrifying 5 minutes of my life. Luckily they came back and were pretty proud of themselves. We immediately ended that walk with them on leash and going home. Luckily for us, the park we go to now has very little game. Mostly it’s birds and gardener snakes.
I do walk the girls separately! I think it’s really important to get one-on-one time with each dog. Plus it’s so much easier to train one at a time! Phoenix can’t go to the big park on the weekends because there are too many dogs and a lot of the times friends will want to go there on the weekend. So I just take Zoe and then Phoenix and I will walk to the nearest park and play fetch.
Way to go with divide and conquer. Have a marvellous Monday.
Best wishes Molly
After walking 2-3 dogs for years now, Mom says one dog is so easy it is almost boring. With one dog you can train things, relax more, it is a piece of cake. Bailie and I walk together a lot which Mom says is more fun, but it is also much more work!
Divide and conquer sounds like a smart idea. It would be Mom’s ONLY idea since she can barely keep 20 pounds of ME in check.
Love and licks,
Cupcake
Hey Sampson and Delilah…. Don’t cha just HATE it when the Peeps BRAG about stealing all the THUMBS????
Walking four dogs is a dog duty, walking one is a pleasure. It’s like with kids, being with one is more fun than trying to manage more.
It is SOOO much easier to walk them separately, but finding the time is a challenge. Jack is not the challenge, it’s Maggie – she never met a straight line that she liked so she is all over the place.
Walking Callie and Shadow separately would probably be easier; but, since the only place I feel safe walking them is a 15-minute car ride in both directions, it’s just not feasible. Besides, these two want to be together as much as possible, and I must say they really are good on a walk at the park. There is a leash law — except in the confines of the tiny dog park enclosure — though it’s not well enforced, so I just keep them leashed at all times.
Positive dog trainer friends have always told me I should walk my dogs individually, and of course that would be ideal for working with reactive dogs. But I seldom get to do it! I don’t trust Fozzie for off-leash walks near home — way too many stray cats for that to be safe–but on our hikes that are out in the woods he is really good about checking in with us! Dahlia always stays near too– fortunately, because I couldn’t call her to come!
Right now I only walk individually, because they all walk so differently, and walking three dogs at once is not in my skill set (my dogs don’t walk that well). I could probably handle two, since Sheba and Luke walk similarly, but I don’t want to leave one dog home alone. As it is, when I leave with one, the other two are often back at the house howling and carrying on.
They get most of their exercise playing in the yard, and walks are a bonus. I enjoy giving them each some one on one time walking, but I do wish I had more time to do it so they could go more often.
walking each dog singly you get to spend your own time with them which is rewarding. You still have that much snow?
Please tell me that is an old photo of Sampson in the snow!
We walk the dogs separately at times. More because if a dog charges it would be more difficult to control two. But if we can be somewhere off lead, we take two or three. Running off is usually not an issue though.
This is probably the main reason I don’t want to get a second dog. I’m already walking Rita for almost an hour every day, and with her occasionally being reactive to other dogs (depends on the dog) and me having to focus COMPLETELY on her while they walk by, I just can’t see adding another dog into that mix. And I don’t have time to do a 2nd walk with another dog. Anyway, it sounds like a great idea for S&D – as long as you have the time for it. There’s never enough time to do all the things we want to do, is there?!
Nice to hear that you’ve discovered the joy of single-dog walking Jodi! I long ago gave up on the multi-dog walk. Maybe if I had Chihuahuas I’d do better with the multi-dog walk, but for now, I’ll stick to one on one. Even if they get walked less often…because I have to rotate through three dogs and I don’t have infinate hours in the day…I think the walks are more enjoyable for all. They get more one on one time with me, and I don’t have to be all stressed out about tangled leashes, who wants to be ahead of who, and multiple dogs trying to draw and quarter me by pulling in different directions.
Blessed be those with thumbs I always say. 🙂