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Need help on walking 2 dogs - 1 newly adopted rescue that won't listen

Posted : 3/12/2008 9:21:28 PM

Hi everyone. First a little background. I'm a mommy to two beautiful hounds. Joey is a 2.5 year old beagle-mix and Phoebe is a 10 year old purebreed beagle. We've had Joey since he was 8 weeks old and just adopted Phoebe from a rescue about 7 weeks ago. The rescue thought that she came from a puppymill (she was found as a stray). She's been a really great dog and they get along really, really well.

Here's my problem... our daily walks. We live in an apartment so we walk A LOT. There's a walking trail right next to our apartment building that we use a couple times every day. Until now the weather has been bad so we've been pretty much the only people/dogs on the trail. Now it's getting nicer (finally) more and more people walk on a daily basis. Joey walks well on a leash. He's very responsive to me and pays attention when I ask him to. When we meet other dogs I can get him to focus on me by saying "look at me", so there's no pulling toward the dog/person. Phoebe's a different story :(

She's not aggressive at all, just very, very curious! She wants to meet and greet everyone (people and dogs alike) and when she can't get to a dog she starts howling (a big beagle AROOO) and pulling on the leash. That behavior gets Joey excited and he wants to join in.

I CANNOT get her to pay attention to me when this happens. No treat will do. Joey will be sitting next to me, waiting for his treat and she's howling and pulling away. It's embarassing and for the last 2 times this has happened Joey's raised the hair on his back (no growling or lunging). I don't know if that means that he's getting excited or mad??? My parents have a dog that's terribly leash aggressive (he's come a long way) so now I'm terribly afraid that Joey will start getting leash aggressive because Phoebe gets so excited?!?!?!

Does anyone have any advice on what steps to take next? How do I get my girl to pay attention to me? I've done a lot of training with Joey, he's got his Canine Good Citizen but have had no success with her. She's so excited for food in the house that she starts dancing when I give them treats/food but outside even the smelliest treats don't get her to look at me!

Thank you so much for any input. I won't be able to check back on this until tomorrow evening but I'm really looking forward to all the replies and hope that someone can point me in the right direction.

Here's a picture of the pair.... (Joey's the one with the long legs and Phoebe's the shorty :)

Nadine

dgriego

Posted : 3/12/2008 11:08:41 PM

Before walking two dogs at the same time you need to make sure both dogs walk well alone. If you walk them together you will not be able to work with the one that is having difficulty because you are to busy trying to hold on to both dogs.

I would advice taking her out alone or having a companion handle the dog that walks well while you work with the new one on leash manners.

nadinetreadway
She's not aggressive at all, just very, very curious! She wants to meet and greet everyone (people and dogs alike) and when she can't get to a dog she starts howling (a big beagle AROOO) and pulling on the leash.

Sounds like a typical beagle who does not know leash manners and is just being a beagle.

nadinetreadway
Does anyone have any advice on what steps to take next? How do I get my girl to pay attention to me?

Work on the attention at home until it is perfect. Hunting breeds can be difficult to distract. What I have found helpful is getting the commands 100% without distractions and then on walks I pay attention and look for things trying to see the distractions before the dogs and asking for their attention before they get excited about the distraction.

Sorry my son is ill so I can not finish this tonight.

schleide

Posted : 3/13/2008 12:47:51 PM

I agree that you should try to walk the dogs separately at least sometimes, to allow you to better work with Phoebe... You have also only had her 7 weeks, and you got her at 10, so it is not so surprising that she doesn't stop everything to pay attention to you - you may not have the bond yet, or the training yet - that's ok - keep working on it, one step at a time.

Can you take her to a training class, just the 2 of you to work with her and to bond with her?

Nadine Treadway

Posted : 3/13/2008 5:47:38 PM

Thanks for all the suggestions. I will try to walk them seperately sometimes. My DH doesn't get home til very late during the week so he doesn't walk with us but on the weekends we'll be able to do that more often.

I called a k9 country club today and will go and register Phoebe for a class on Monday. They told me to bring her, they'll do an evaluation before we register and then we'll take an 8 week beginners class (starts the week of March 24). I'm hopeful that that'll help with our bonding and her training! She's really a good dog, I don't want to complain too much. She's an angel in the house (no begging, no food stealing, potty trained, likes to lay in her bed but prefers to snuggle with us), our only "problem" is the walking.

Thanks again and keep the ideas coming :)! Pheebs says thank you!

spiritdogs

Posted : 3/13/2008 6:48:35 PM

The number one reason dogs pull is that the humans go with them when they do. Big Smile

The number one reason dogs keep barking and howling at the dog they are looking at is because the human just stands there wondering how to stop them.

Wink

This really is a perfect example why it's best, until you get Phoebe trained, to walk the dogs separately. Once you train her and she is fluent in her leash walking skills, things will get a lot easier when you walk the dogs together. Class is a great idea, but you might also want to pick up Turid Ruugas' new book, "My Dog Pulls, What Do I Do?" Also, for starters, try the attention exercise here: www.clickerlessons.com. Good luck!