Doggone Dogs

I have decided that I need to walk the two dogs separately for a while. I had started walking them together on separate leashes but that was nearly impossible to deal with. The leashes got tangled all the time as the dogs switched positions, and shuffling the handles hand to hand was a constant. I don’t require the dogs to walk at a perfect heel all the time as long as they don’t pull me everywhere. So, I got a split lead that is a Y shape and clips to each dog’s harness and one leash. It was better, except that I found I needed to attach it to the back ring on their harnesses instead of my preferred front ring. But on the front, they still got tangled even with the split lead shortened as much as it would go. It was working pretty good with less tangles and confusion.

Fast forward to this past Friday, and we are out walking as usual. We were on the far side of the circle below our house when a lady came along the other way, walking her two dogs. She stopped and got hers into a sit and motioned for me to walk past. As I did, Tucker got a bit excited at seeing the two dogs and started pulling toward them. He got Lambeau riled up and the two of them started running to the other dogs. Now, these are not small dogs I have here. Lambeau is 75 lbs. and Tucker is 50, and they are all muscle. And with the leash attached to the back of the harness, they were pulling with the strongest part of their bodies. They ripped the leash out of my hand and ran up to this poor lady and her dogs. She picked up the smaller of the two and I was pulling mine away when her bigger (but not as big as mine) dog slipped his harness and ran off down the road. I got my dogs away and got them moving off, while she went after her escapee. I ended up with a nice rope burn from the leash that bled very nicely on the way home!

Mine were not mean or aggressive in any way. They just wanted to say hello, but that is simply unacceptable behavior from them. I should have had better control. In hindsight, I really should have taken them around the lawn side of the car parked there instead of the street side. Losing the line of sight to the other dogs might have helped. But Lambeau knows better, anyway. He’s been really good about ignoring other dogs for a long time, now. I think Tucker just got him overexcited and he lost his focus.

I’m also not sure what was up with the dog able to slip his harness. That seemed a bit dangerous to me. Not that I blame anyone but myself. I should have my dogs under better control when we are in public. Which is why we are walking separately for now. Lambeau is getting a refresher on leash manners, and Tucker is learning some. I was hoping Lambeau would teach Tucker some behavior but it seems Lambeau is just picking up Tucker’s bad habits. I thought I had them walking well but I guess not.

I still feel terrible about the whole thing. I hate being “that dog owner” whose dogs are a problem. We’ll get it figured out, though, and with a bit of time, I should (fingers crossed) be able to walk them together without being the disruptive maniacs.

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