Walking dogs together help
Hi everyone, I’ve been trying to find information that might help me and it’s not been very fruitful at all. I have 2 dogs I adopted a few months ago, they had no relation to each other. They are completely opposite ends of the spectrum in personality. one is an adult (2.5) and the other is still a puppy (1).
When walked individually our walks are very pleasant. I am transitioning them to longer leads and for the most part they walk loose leash and can direct their attention on me, recall training we have done, like sit when I stop, come, etc. the younger dog is extremely reactive and her reactivity has actually become manageable for the most part when walked independently.
All of that goes out of the window when I have both dogs out. It’s like they don’t understand they are on a leash and don’t care about anything we have practiced before. The older dog cant think independently but also doesn’t want to be guided, so she is wandering all over the place and pulling on the leash, and if the side walk is next to the parking lot or a road, she will randomly just try to run there. The younger dog just pulls incessantly. I am fine with tension on the leash but the pulling drives me crazy. They don’t listen to any command and it takes me 20+ minutes to get them to my apartment’s fenced in yard when it should only take us 5 minutes to walk there. I go out with high value treats, I mark and reward how I should, I use toys to help with engagement, it just doesn’t seem to matter. Or they will get it for 5 minutes and then become completely uninterested in everything.
Interestingly enough, they actually walk decent together when I take them for sniff walks outside of the apartment, the further we go the better they do, they seem to be more willing to guide each other, but as soon as we walk in proximity to home it genuinely feels like their brains have melted.
Something I want to mention,
They don’t engage with each other while on leashes except they like to use the bathroom at the same time right next to each other. They don’t play together. So it’s not a distraction. It’s like complete lack of engagement to me.
They also display this same behavior indoors, by themselves they sit to get harness on/off, don’t rush the door, go to their crate, etc. but together they are deaf.
I want to walk them together because x2 walks is very tedious, I live on the second floor and have a toddler so it’s just a lot to do that separately all day long. Tyia