How do you with more than 2 manage?
 

For the most part mine are good but their training is not the best, if we are outside they act like they can't hear me and all pull on the leash like they are racing. I read training books and try to train them one by one and one will do good but then when they are together they influence each other and is a whole big mess. In ceaser millan's show he said you have to walk the pack together, well i cant do that when they are all pulling in diff. directions, and acting crazy lol How do you that have more than 2 keep them well trained??

Mine are not good when walking together either. I don't know how Cesar does it. Do they respond to the Chhhh sound. Or whatever sound you use. That seems to snap mine all out of whatever they are doing.

i don't walk mine regularly, but i make them sit and wait for the OK before they get to eat or when i open the gate and let them have the run of the house. If one of them moves I use the Chhh and they all respond to it.

That would be my only advice is to train them to a sound. Well you could also try wearing them both out one at a time, and then walking them together.

What about the leashes with the double leads so they can't race away from each other and can't get ahead of one another??? I don't have 2 dogs, so it's just a thought.:D

yea i do the chh sound all the time, it works inside when they are fighting or barking or something but not outside. When we are outside they dont listen to anything i say, the one that listens the most is Sophie, i cant actually take the leash off her at the park and she wont run away but when they are all together she is trying to race them and they all want to be together.

It is so hard! I'll be looking out for the responses.

isn't it??? it's like one of them does something then the other one sees and does it too:rolleyes:

i tried those before, but its not that, i keep the leashes at the same length, its just that they pull thinking one can go infront of the other

Let me tell you Cesar when he started could not walk more then one dog at a time and he only can do it now cause his dogs are to scared to mess up.
You will notice that he only works two at a time in the shows and if it his gang not all are on leash. Scaring the stuffing out of a dog so it can not think or do anything but be a robot is ok if your running a herd of 20 ( ok it not ok) but for family dogs in a home that not ok ever.

One at a time is just fine or two it all about you and them being happy and safe. It not important to do them all at once and with some of the dogs I work with is is much better to do it one at a time.
Have you read would it help reading Feeling Out Numbered by Patricia McConnell and Karen London.

I also see if you can track down Pat Millar she is Peaceable Paws training, she has more then one and some are dogs with concerns and she manages and from gentle.

JL

We have three and I can't walk all three by myself. My Mother and I go together.
She takes Crosley, since she's bigger (16lbs)
I walk Camden & Wrigley and we just bought a coupler. It helps so they don't get tangled up. Wrigley walks faster than Camden, so Camden doesn't get to stop and smell the roses as much! Her sister is dragging her too fast. lol! :p

I do walk one at a time, or sometimes i will walk the girls together and then walk Teddy alone cause it is almost impossible for me to walk them all 3 by myself, usually i have to have my bf help me walk them. So if he's not there i walk them seperatly but even then they still don't pay attention. It's like they're walking me. And from some books ive read it says to always walk out of a doorway before them so they know who's in charge and i do that, and i make them sit before they eat or get a treat, or go out but then it's like as soon as we're out the door they start pulling and barking. They each have issues, not big ones though. I am going to look at that book...thanks!

lol is your coupler long? cause the one i had was like one leash and then it seperated in two at the end, and i didn't like it cause they couldn't walk anywhere, they were dragging each other around...so i use both leashes, but they do get tangled and crisscrossed and i hate that! it's funny cause ppl would think it's no big deal to walk them cause i have 2 tinies and a teapot but when it's all 3 of them together, oh boy! i go crazy! lol

h dear oh dear.. walking out the door first is not going to do a thing...
Ok follow me a second...when you take them out in the car do you climb in the car door first and pull them in after??? yeah think not....
When you do this it is only for safety concerns so you can know what out there and what you are walking your dog into. Nothing is gained by you about being a dogs boss or not.
If they start pulling and barking shut the door.. no walks till you shhh.
If they pull stop no moving if you pull sorry.
No treats unless you are doing as I ask and I try doing this without any words. Words tend to mess you and the dog up and should come after teaching an action. Plus if your tense and chatting they will pick up and run with it.

I suggest not knowing what you have read and if you want to PM with the list I will have a look.
But your working with wolf and dog stuff and be the boss... yeah try learning theory stuff it different I look at Pat Millers book The Power of Positive Dog Training and On Talking Terms with Dogs by Tuird Rugass.
It ok dogs are works in progress and they are never going to be perfect, we need to allow them not perfect and decide what we are ok to live with. That is different for each of us.

JL

No, it's not long. We have the one leash and it sounds like what you are describing yours was like. Wrigley is dragging Camden around right now, I think that is the point though is to get them to learn how to walk together, eventually! We probably should have bought a little bit longer, but the next size just seemed so long. It is better than them getting crisscrossed and tangled though, which is what happened all the time before! Plus I felt like I was always going to step on them and land on my face!
I can relate to the crazy feeling, three is hard, even with small dogs!

When they want to pull, just hold the leashes together down to about 2 feet from them and just stop till they quiet down. Then start walking but hold all three leashes together and only letting them have a couple of feet at most. Each time they act up, just stop till they quiet. Most times it's best "not" to let them have too much lead. I keep my three on a very short leash for their walks and we walk quickly and away from all grass.

This is what we are learning in our training class too. Don't give them alot of slack and that way they can't pull. We let up a little when they are walking nicely, but if the pulling starts again, then take up the slack!

With 4 I find it impossible and scary to try and walk all 4 alone. Today my dtr and I took all 4 for a walk, Cali likes to run ahead, Pixie hates to be outside and you practically have to drag her or carry her. Roxie is getting a liitle better on leash, but runs and then stops, Maya I can have on leash but let her drag it as she won't run off. I realized today how untrained my gang is!!! I am going to try and walk 2 each day to get them better. I also am afraid that if a bigger dog unleashed came by I could never gather them all up.

the doorway thing was an example. I def. have tried to make them stop pulling or whining. In one of the book i read it says if they pull, pull the other direction and say 'lets go' and if he pulls again, do the same thing until he gets the point that he won't get anywhere by pulling. I have done this and it works but after a while he starts to pull again and it gets so tiring, idk how he doesn't get tired of pulling so much. He chokes himself even though he wears a harness. I rarely give treats unless they pay attention and are behaving. But it's not just the leash waking, it's also when im home and want to go somewhere they all go crazy and bark at each other, it makes it hard just to get out the door. And other little things, but other than that at home they are not bad at all, for the most part they are good.

oh yea i know what you mean about thinking you will step on them. here's my 3, Teddy...pulls until you hear him gasping for air, Sophie pulls right along with him but is a nervous little one and will not walk on metal rails on the street, or anything like that so she run to the side, or in front of me at the point that i almost trip over her. and when other dogs pass her she barks at them like crazy but then runs away when they come near, and then i have London that pulls also trying to catch up to them, and whining along the way, but then sometimes stops completely and will not go unless she wants to so unless i want her to drag and hurt herself i have to pick her up. lol

i do that and as soon as i start walking they start again doing the same exact thing, and its like they never tire of it. it's a race to them, i was joking with my bf that we should tie a sled to them and let them pull us lol that's what they look like sleigh dogs. And when i am training Teddy i don't let him have any leash, i put him right next to me and roll the leash up so he can learn to walk right beside me. And even then he pulls and pulls, i have to get a video of it. Grass is another thing, London loves it, so if she sees it she will whine very high pitched until she can get to it.

hey look what i found

I dont think its hard I walk both of mine together and sometimes the big one too. If you do it as a regular thing then they get used to it and they know the drill. Also, I dont think cesar M is a bad guy and I dont think he is too rough on the dogs, dogs are pack animals and they like to do things together. We try to walk as a family (hubby too).

Well I have walked up to 5 before.
What I did was train them each individually. First off neither dog should set the pace. You set the pace. This keeps them from one wanting to run and one walking slow as they have to stay at your pace.
Every time they start to pull or don't stay at your pace, stop and make them sit.
If you see that they are starting to lose concentration, speed up your pace a little to keep them focused and praise them for doing so.
Once you train them both individually to walk properly and always at your pace then you can start walking them together.

Our trainer told us this too! She said if they are pulling and when they start to bark to change directions and walk that way and if they start, to change again. She said for awhile you may not get very far and you may be walking in circles, but they will learn eventually!
She also said if they are going nuts barking, jumping,etc.. when you are trying to get their harnesses on to go for a walk. She said to put them down and leave the room or turn your back until they calm down and try again. She said don't chase them if they run or don't even put them on if they are barking and acting hyper!

I want you to try something. With a human push against them.... what is the response. They have to push back to balance.... ok now pull they have to pull back to balance. It one of those instinct things that we dogs and human a like do. if you pull they pull back.. so you have to do the opposite.

At the door start with just not going out do practices when they really do not need a walk and work on just sitting calm and if they do not you do not have to go out the door. Plus it tosses them off so they do not know when they will be going out.

JL

i try to train them individually and they will do fine on their own but once they are all together they act like they never learned anything:rolleyes:

That is because you have changed the context of what they leanred.
Dogs do not genralize well so they understand walk nice by Mom down the street by themself but maybe not in the park and for sure not with another dog. It not the same and they truly do not understand.

JL

I have 3 and I walk them together.. Diva mostly is off leash unless I see another person or dog within eyesight...I know she shouldn't be, but she is...and we have such open space...it's not near streets or anything when she is...th eother 2 are on leashes but the couplers don't work for me. They don't like to walk that close to one another the whole time. And when they want to go off to the side to poop, the other doesn't want to be with them. So I use the retractable, yet I keep them at the same length...sometimes they walk beside eachother, sometimes a littler further apart. Diva always walks right ahead of the other 2...never really had a pulling problem though so I guess I'm lucky there!

meant to add that I actually have 4 now but Lexi, well she's 2lbs 14ozs so she doesn't go on the fast brisk walks with us...she can't keep up. Sometimes, we'll put her in her stroller when my 7 yr old tags along. Other than that, she gets to romp around with the girls in the yard and go for her own (shorter) walks 3 times a day (which usually just consists of up the long sidewalk and back...by then, she's pooped..lol)!