Dutch Shepherd Forum

I do not use a leash terribly often, but in the city was walking the 2 older puppies on leash simultaneously and it was going surprisingly well with Sakima and TexXander [ as opposed to experience in prior months with Saki and his prior house-mate]. I thought I would simply avoid the necessity of having to walk 3 at the same time, but with time I have realized that doing so is going to be inevitable with any amount of travel - even outings here and there in the country. is there a good way to do this that does not require holding onto 3 leash handles? I know such leashes are out there,but is there a particular one that is better for DSs that has less chance of creating tangle-chaos?
I would appreciate hearing if any of you have tried 2- or 3-dog leash mechanisms and the resultant good or bad experience.
I have gone from thinking I would not have all 3 with me away from the house to thinking that all 3 are fairly well-behaved and so maybe it is not so unreasonable to go out with all 3 on occasion. strangely enough, the weather here has accelerated this thinking; since the intense heat wave ended [ the end marked by a 2-hour, 40-degree drop in temperatures one late afternoon some weeks ago], it has much of the time been very cool, even downright cold, so the practicality and attractiveness of driving around with one or more dogs has shifted dramatically.

When I walk my girls in town, I stay with two leashes. Im used to holding two from my horse days of double reins and driving a carriage. on the trails, however, I sometimes hook the two together, I found, shoot, now I forget where, a plastic coated line with a snap on either end and hook them together on their harness. I dont like them tied together, mostly because I trust Thalie and I can always drop her and deal with Sadie. It depends on where you are going and what you are doing.

Prefer two leashes. But, I've trained the dogs to walk either
a) one on my left and one on my right with the leashes either held in my hands OR over my neck and the dogs in heel position the whole time.

b) with both dogs on my right side.

Why people insist that a dog must heel on the left is beyond me. When I'm walking on the trail or sidewalk having the dogs in a heel on the right keeps them away from oncoming people/bikes/rollerbladers.

Plus with two leashes they can move a little independently. Or if you want to stop tie them up for a few you can separate them.

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Side story - when I first got Abigail I insisted on teaching her to heel on the right. When I took her to class the instructor was not happy with me. Finally got him to be quiet about it when I told him I have bad vision in my right eye - not the real reason but it worked (I do have bad vision on the right). Having a dog on the right has helped me many times. When walking she has "pushed" me to my left many times when there was something there that I didn't see.

I appreciate the commentary, particularly your observations on heeling positions, Eric. when walking 2 dogs, I am with Lisa: I have and would continue to use 2 separate leashes [ and will aspire to Eric's practice ], but THREE at one time in difficult/dicey situations [ where I would be using a leash for all 3 in the first place, like in manhattan or active, crowded spots with which they are not familiar ] AND/or when i must be doing other things [ opening doors, carrying something, dealing with wallet, etc.] is a daunting prospect where I can envision potential dangers of all sorts by trying to handle 3 separate leashes.

I have not attempted 3 leashes yet - have had no need as Saki and even sometimes Xander can walk streets around home with me and Tracer, with Tracer on leash. but I now think it is inevitable that I will need to do so at some point and when that comes, it will probably be such a difficult circumstance that I will need it to go well. for example, the last time I was in manhattan [ to collect Tracer at the airport the next morning ], I had only the 2 dogs, both fairly easy to manage, but I had to enter and leave several buildings with papers and full computer bag with me where the buildings had an outer door and an inner door - both heavily sprung to close hard - separated by a narrow and shallow vestibule [ 3 ft wide x 2 ft to second door - where 2nd door opened INTO the space of the vestibule !!!]. [ and note to non-manhattanites: not doing all this simultaneously was not an option.] this exercise was a nightmare with just 2 dogs. there was no real danger in the area as there well could be at another time and place, but it made me very aware of the easy potential to loose track of my grip on separate leashes while trying to manipulate so many things at once. [ the heavy doors alone WERE so dangerous for the dogs!] I think in complicated situations with 3 dogs, I have to be prepared with ways I can consolidate leash handling; it would not be my normal way of daily walking [ which in fact is off-leash for all 3 already - unless we are in more heavily trafficked areas].

for our normal walks, I am so pleased with how 3 puppies [ 16, 6 and 3 1/2 months ] are functioning even when all three are off-leash simultaneously. and each of the 3 when walking alone with me have a precision that I did not expect to see at this stage - at least for the 2 younger ones [ tho the older Sakima lacks precision under stress so cannot be relied upon - but his confidence is improving rapidly, which will fix the problem ].

I don't have any advice to give, but have a funny story to share related to this. The other day we were outside playing and the UPS man came up the drive in his truck. I didn't have time to put them inside so I took a leash and hooked it to the D rings on both Elli and Odin's collars. When the UPS man jumped out of his truck he saw this strange 2 headed hyena barking at him in the garage and dropped the package on the side of the driveway and sped away.

without the 2-headed hyena, I have had the same ups experience in the last few months - either tossed over the gate / or, really infuriating, opening the gate, coming in, then dropping and running WITHOUT CLOSING the gate.

I thought surely, of all people, that you, Stephanie, would know the exact product I need even if you have never needed it yourself! now I know this is a tough inquiry.

HAHAHAHA, I just love these stories ! I had a different UPS driver one day and he saw a water bowl outside, dropped the package so fast and ran back to his truck.

What about making an attachment to keep them together?

When my daughter is home I walk 5 dogs with 5 separate leashes. When walking 5, I keep DS and two Dalmatians on my left and my easiest Dalmatian and Maltipoo on right. My two female Dals are easy and my Maltipoo I try to keep her from getting stepped on. Medy and my large male Dal lean into the leash a bit as we get closer to the creek as they anticipate release from the leashes. It does not take much leaning to become uncomfortable with this many dogs. I think 3 young DS could be a very large handful, especially going though Manhattan. If I was faced this type of situation I would try very hard to find another person to hang on to a leash or two.

I like all the stories especially the two headed heyena story!

I have done the 3 dogs at a time routine. Not really anymore, though, because Snickers (10 y.o. min-pin) just can't keep up with us anymore. He's done after 3 blocks. It can be a zoo, but I always did 3 separate leashes in case I needed to use a collar correction.

in case anyone is ever interested, i finally found a well-made and -functioning 2-dog leash and used it for the first time yesterday to take all 3 dogs for their annual Santa visit - I.E., that is 3DS puppies with a really scary, stupid-looking Santa and other dog CHAOS ALL AROUND ! under the circumstances, it all went pretty well, which i do not think would have been possible otherwise.
anyway, it is a FOZZY DOG double dog leash [ #58812 00404 ], solidly made in the USA. it even has 2 pockets built into handle - they suggest for cell phone and waste bags. it is 5-ft in total length; for a walk in most places [ where i would be aiming to have no leash ] this is perfect. however, for Santa visits or in tight quarters or in crowds in the big city, i would prefer a total length that is at least 20 inches shorter. i am glad i have this for when it is really needed. for environments in which most people would be WALKING dogs, i think this product deserves praise. the times for which it is REALLY necessary for me and my 3 pups is when i am not WALKING them but trying to navigate through a complicated, small, or chaotic environment, so i will continue to look for a short 2-dog leash that is as good as this one.

As most of the people here said, I've used multiple leashes to walk multiple dogs versus the Y attachment that you hook on each dog with one leash. But what you were saying about complicated situations and leash management, I bought a rock climbing carabiner that I could hook all of the leash handles on. That way all the dogs were held in one hand, so I was free to use my other hand for stuff. And when I needed to us both hands, I could clip the carabiner on my belt. You just have to get one big enough that you can keep a good grip on. And when it's not being used, you can either clip it to a single leash, your belt, in a pocket, or whatever.

much appreciate it. will look into it [ i have no idea what that is ] but it does sound like you think that is exactly what i need. and a 3-dog possibility for difficult situations where i AM likely to need a free hand would be so great. thank you!

Hey John. Here is what I had in mind:

http://www.amazon.com/HTS-273P0-Jumbo-S ... +carabiner

Something along those lines. You can also get smaller ones if you don't need something that size.