Despite challenging weather and sometimes being bombarded by bugs, I enjoy walking with my dogs.
Most of the time.
Ideally for me, both dogs are off-leash, sticking close by me and responding when I give them a command, more specifically when I recall them.
And my dogs always come when they are called.
Siriusly, you didn’t buy that did you? Because if you did, please contact me privately, I’m sure I have something very special that is one of a kind that I can sell you, for a large amount of money.
Delilah has proven time and time again that she is not reliable off-leash. So now Delilah walks on a 15 foot leash, I also have one the same length for the times I need to leash Sampson as well. No point having one dog on a six footer while the other leads the charge.
I carry treats, plain old treats and I also carry beef hearts. The plain old treats are for when I say, “This way” or “No” or “Leave it.” The beef hearts are for when I say “HERE!”
I try and use HERE at least once or twice per walk, because I want to reinforce that I have good treats and when you come when called, you get the goods.
My biggest struggles are when we encounter people or other dogs. Last Sunday for instance, I had let Delilah off-leash in the deep part of the forest to practice her off-leash. The first time she’d been off-leash in six months. She was doing great and then she spotted some people.
Here did not work and both my dogs ran up to a woman with two children and a small dog. Thankfully the small dog was super good with other dogs, so there was some sniffing but no barking or growling. My dogs are not typically jump up on you dogs, so I think the kids (who seemed to be in the 7 to 10 year of age range) were mostly startled to see two large dogs charging at them.
Naturally I apologized profusely and leashed both my dogs.
And here is where my walks become stressful. While it’s true, Delilah on a long leash can be a pain in the bum, for the most part we manage well.
When Sampson gets on a leash, he turns into a different dog. If you don’t believe me, here are the pictures to prove it.
Sampson off-leash; notice how he’s ahead of Delilah, enjoying his walk.
Now add the leash. As you can see he’s crossed her more than once and tangled his leash up.
You may have also noticed how close he is to me.
I can’t get him to move out of the way.
That and his leash drags on the ground, which means I’m either jumping leash or stepping on it. Neither of which is very fun, not to mention all the crap that the leash picks up from dragging on the ground.
This has a tendency to turn my nice, relaxing walk, into a frustrating, stressful experience.
I’d love your suggestions for ways to handle this. I’ve tried so many of the recall methods, but nothing I have in my pockets can compete with other dogs or people. And in Delilah’s case, I can’t figure out what she’s hunting when she runs off into people’s yards.
AND for those of you who walk more than one dog on leash, how do you manage?
P.S. Have you seen the Dogs of Blogville Calendar? Julie has the entire calendar up on her blog so you can check it out. Remember ordering is finishing up today!! Be sure you don’t miss out on this opportunity to have this one of a kind calendar.
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