glenmar
Posted : 9/25/2006 8:27:01 AM
Tamara, I normally do just two at a time, and make multiple trips into town to do it. I hate wasting gas, but I'm too much of a wuss to be out in the grass yet....soon tho....we've got several frosts and one freeze, so pretty soon we'll be able to do our thing in the fields around us. I do that a couple times a week and always on weekends. But even with Todd with me, it's easier to take two at a time. There is just a whole different dynamic with three....more of a pack than a couple puppers out for a walk and more competition to be in the lead, etc.
I'm not sure why, because in MANY things, the boys will listen better to Todd...such as being quiet when he gets breakfast or dinner served up, or being quiet exiting or going back into crates......but on lead, he has less control than I do...and he's a whole lot bigger and stronger than I am. And maybe that's it.....I don't rely on my upper body strength because it just isn't there since all the surgeries......so I rely on the training, commands and keeping them focused on me. For ME, if someone is looking sideways at a squirrel I can say "leave it, let's go" and we continue walking....he might have to say "leave it" more than once. And since I don't want commands repeated, I'll say it myself to keep things on track.
For quite some time I was doing a walk into town (which is about 6 miles each way) once a week and just alternating who got to go which week...that's a good walk, then they got their weekend romps, and daily games of fetch out in the fenced yard to get some good running in. Then I discovered that the snakes actually LIKE crossing the road...and that ended that for the summer! A dead squished one on the shoulder where I walked was just as scarey to me as a LIVE one!
Again, I CAN walk three of mine at once, but I don't like three leads in one hand and I'm really protective of the right shoulder. Plus, if you wanna see folks cross the street FAST, try walking three shepherds at once! I'm not all that big and because of the distribution of my body weight I look smaller than I really am and even with TWO people keep a pretty close eye on me and my dogs. That type of reaction puts me a little bit on edge and I know that they feel any stress that I do......
I think even with small dogs, you've really gotta have the training to walk several at once. Those little dogs can pull like freight trains! My cockers sure could!