Fun with Dogs!

My secret to successfully walking a group of dogs (which I do frequently for the daily dog exercise options I offer through my pet sitting business, Creature Comforts) is a few simple but very serious rules.  Or a few simple rules taken very seriously…you can see how seriously Butter (the yellow Labrador Retriever) is taking the rules ;-)

1. The dogs never change sides behind me (which would result in the leash getting tangled around my legs.)  If a dog starts to do so I will hold my foot out on that side so s/he just can’t do it and give the dog a treat when s/he comes back to the proper side.  They can change sides in front of me as much as they would like to do so.  These walks are 100% for the dogs so I allow and even encourage sniffing and marking and frolicking with neighborhood kids :-)
2. Because we more than take up the entire width of a sidewalk, the next rule is that we move to the side and sit quietly (well, I stand since it would be strange to walk past a woman seated on the ground next to a sidewalk <g>) to allow others to pass us.  This is accomplished with a happy, “hey, come on guys!” as I step to the side.  Most of the dogs automatically sit and the rest are asked to do so.  Everyone gets treats for sitting quietly while we are passed by people walking, people pushing strollers, people walking other dogs who are all pretty universally shocked by how good all sometimes six dogs are at being still while another dog passes them.  It is not unusual for the flow of traffic to stop (especially on Wellington) so people can lean out their car windows and say, “oh you must be a dog walker!” (you will forgive a little bit of eye-rolling on that one, right?) or, “you look like a teacher out with her little charges they’re all paying so much attention to you.” or, “who is walking whom?” which actually irks me slightly since the dogs are so well behaved and do NOT pull.
3. Okay, on pulling…well I just don’t let the dogs pull.  Period.   None of the dogs put more pressure on the leash than would pull a draped leash off my finger.  Think of the leash as a seat-belt.  You always wear your seat-belt (right??) but really only to prevent you from flying through the windshield in an accident.  The leash is not for controlling the dogs.  I could probably walk the entire group completely off-lead with very little difficulty.   The dogs are watching me and listening to me for directions.  Just like you are a safe driver who uses your turn signals and doesn’t speed or run red lights (right??) so that you can get your safe driver discount from whatever your insurance company is (the equivalent of human treats.)  But, you still need to wear your seat belt in case someone else does something crazy so the dogs wear their leashes in case a stray dog runs at us agressively (had that happen more than once) or a pack of wild squirrels kamikazes from a tree (okay, never had that happen, but you see my point.)  I use head halters or no-pull harnesses to prevent dogs from developing a pattern of pulling (or to stop dogs who are already in that pattern from doing so for a period of time) so that I can reinforce the dogs for not pulling (which is a behavior in and of itself) and create a new habit of walking on a loose leash.  None of the dogs who started as puppies with me in gentle leaders ever start the pulling thing because they never found a need to want to go away from me for reinforcement since I had everything they wanted: treats, petting, toys, etc.
4. I am, of course,  a very responsible dog walker and I always pick up after the dogs I am walking.  We have rules for this too.  All the dogs move to the side of the sidewalk and let whoever needs to poo do their thing and stay put until after I have scooped.  I gather up all the leashes and no one starts walking again until I ask them to do so.
5. The last issue is trees/fire-hydrants/bushes.  And the rule is, do not let an object get between me and you.  My solution is to just stop (when I stop, everyone stops) when a dog gets his/her leash caught around a tree and I say, “uh oh, that doesn’t work?  What do you need to do to go forward?”  or often just, “figure it out.”  Then sometimes with new dogs I will encourage them with body language or a treat lure to come back around the tree so that we can all continue on with our walk.

So, it is really that simple.  There are only five rules to follow and the second and fourth are pretty much the same.  I am a small person (okay a short kind of chubby person <g>) and I am not particularly strong.  Between them, the three labs and Roger  (on the left with the snazzy orange bandana) alone seriously outweigh me and are a lot stronger than I am.  Using a few tools (head halters, EZ Walk Harnesses and such) and lots of treats/praise I am able to very calmly and easily walk six dogs at a time.  And, I want my clients and pretty much everyone else to know how they can do the same thing (okay not all six at a time but just your own dog) so that everyone and everyone’s dog can walk happily as often as they like!

This is what the First Fun With Dogs meetup is all about!  Bring your dog(s) out to Kirklevington Park on April 25th to walk with us!