Thursday 31 May 2012

The Art of Walking Two Hounds


As part of the foster hound experience, there are times (every morning) when I take the two hounds out for walks together. I’m slowly getting there, but it is fair to say that I am yet to master the art of walking two dogs at once, nicely on-lead. 

Tommy is a good little walker. He doesn’t pull and his preferred position is being tucked right in close to my side. By comparison, Mila is all over the show – sniffing bushes, craning her neck to see what is going on across the road, and generally wanting to be the leader of the pack. She also has a very funny habit of deciding that she needs to go to the toilet and then spending the next 15 minutes looking for the perfect spot.  Add to this the fact that we are 2x 30kg hounds and me, competing with parked cars, overgrown bushes, other pedestrians, and sometimes even other dogs for space on the footpath and it can make 6 am an interesting time of the day to be out and about! Thankfully, they are both pretty good listeners - so our 'waits' and 'leave its' usually happen on command.

I’ve tried a number of different walking techniques – from having one dog on either side of me with a lead in each hand, to walking both dogs on one side, with the leads in one hand and the other free to hold poos bags and avert a crisis should one eventuate. We can walk along nicely for a while, sometimes even for most of the walk and the dogs enjoy having little races amongst themselves. They LOVE it when we get to the bottom of the hill and turn the corner, pretending it is just like the turn in a race track, taking the corner wide and picking up pace just a little bit as they come out of it. There is much jostling for position and wanting to be in front and I’m sure the dogs think that I am part of the race. Usually Mila will win the battle of the corner (I think Tommy is just being polite), but just lately our newbie that has started to show his skills and edge in front. It seems that Mila doesn’t appreciate that she is racing alongside a doggie who actually won some races in his day. It’s okay though, I never win – so at least she won’t be last.

Out for a walk to the shops, checking out all the people walking past - Mila at the front, and Tommy in his GAP vest at the top.
No matter which walking technique I use, I always seem to end up in a tangled mess. One dog decides to stop and sniff something interesting and the other has seen something on the other side of the road that it would like to know more about. Or both dogs have seen the same thing (cat) but want to see it from different angles. Usually I am not paying enough attention (it’s early!!) to put myself in a position to avoid getting caught up in the middle of it all. Either way, I end up with one in front of me and one behind me with my legs tangled up in the leads. It’s like one of those problem solving puzzles that I was never very good at as a kid. I have to stop and physically think (you can hear the cogs turning) about which arm and/or leg needs to move in which direction to release me from the trap. One wrong move and I am winding myself more tightly, about to knock myself off balance, much to the amusement of the hounds.  Of course, the thing they were interested in has gone and they are now staring up at me, wondering why we aren’t moving and how I have managed to get myself all tied up. It’s that incredulous look of ‘I turn around for ONE minute, and you manage to do THAT!’ followed by the impatient sigh that says ‘Pull yourself together woman! There is walking to be done.’

Funnily enough, Mike doesn’t fancy the idea of a 6am start so we can enjoy a brisk morning walk together with one hound each - are you crazy!?!? There is more sleeping to be done at time of the morning and besides, the stories of partial paralysis at the hands of an errant dog lead are far too funny to do anything about!

7 comments:

  1. I remember those days Rachel! It's definitely a pain in the butt, so I invested in a lead splitter (only $20) which means I only have to hold the one lead, and the boys have to figure the rest out for themselves... has made 6am morning walks much easier!

    Having them on the one lead means they can only go so far away from one another, rather than the couple of metres that two leads gives them - and most importantly there's no opportunity to tie you up in knots. We still walk them at night on seperate leads (you're right, one hound each is much easier!) so they get their own dedicated sniffing/exploring time.

    That said, two leads might work best for you, but if you're interested here's where I bought mine from: http://www.aroundahound.co.nz/.

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    1. Thanks Falyn - great idea!! I actually saw those lead splitters advertised and wondered if they were any good...nice to hear from someone who uses one. Sounds like the way to go!!

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  2. Oh god :) Despite having at least 4 greyhounds in the house at any time -i have not bought a splitter yet! :( I sometimes walk 3 at the same time and it can be quite an adventure LOL! My dogs are ok walking along, but put a new foster dog in the equation - different story! :) MUST invest in a couple of splitter FINALLY!

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  3. I have similar problems with Frankie and Beryl. With Frankie being shorter than Beryl he has developed a happy knack of going behind her and getting his lead jammed under what's left of her tail:( She reacts like someone is trying to stick a finger up her bum, yelps and squats, which makes it more difficult to extricate the lead. All the time Frankie is oblivious to Beryl's mortification! Hmm, a splitter might work.

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  4. Ezeleash make splitters as well - up to four dog ones - perfect for Fatima :-) http://www.ezeleash.co.nz/Default.aspx?page=1811

    The only thing I'm not sure about is using a splitter with a gentle leader, which I notice Mila wears (so does Mynx, but she and George like different positions on our walks - Mynx at the front, George behind, and they don't deviate from this very much, fortunately). You could give Frank at Ezeleash a call and ask - they have a GAP greyhound and also do fostering, so he may well have come across this.

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    1. Good point Sally, I hadn't even thought of that! I will give them a ring and find out as soon as I can.

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  5. Yes, do call Frank, he is lovely :) He is currently fostering GAP oldie doggie Angel, he is a big GAP supporter and gives us loads of free Ezeleash stuff for the kennels :)
    SALLY! OMG! I did not realize he makes 4 dog splitters! That IS perfect for me - we have five greyhounds at the moment, with another one arriving tomorrow :)

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