[Miss Mila]

Hi Im new here and I have many many questions. First off let me tell you a little about my fur-kids. I have a 6 year old female Mutt named Fallon that I have had since she was a puppy. I have a 5 year old female Husky/ACD mix named Talena whom Ive had since she was a puppy. I aslo have a 4 year old male Siberian Husky named Lucky who I rescued when he was 2 1/2 years old.

I am currently working on training my dogs to be well mannered so I will probably be posting a lot of questions.

I need to start taking my bored kids for walks but they are so unruly when we go. It's only me and I have no friends in this town so it's tough to get three medium sized dogs to listen and obey. I try to work with them one on one and in a group. I went through a time where I got plain lazy and didn't do much for them as far as walking a training goes. Plus Lucky is a bit of a special needs dog (I can explain this if needed, its medical). I now need to be trained on how to get the control back in my life. I have the time and the motivation I just need to know how.

Okay here we go... My dogs get overly excited when I grab a leash or harness. If I periodically throughout the day pick one up, carry it around then put it back or drop it someplace do you think this will desensitize them to it? I thought maybe if they didn't think that every time I pick it up it will be used that maybe they would get numb to it instead of going ape and jumping all about.

Yes/No??? Or other suggestions?

My ultimate goal is to get them all walking with me twice a day. ALL OF US together calmly lol Right now getting suited up and calmly getting out of the house is our first obstacle. Next we will work on not all trying to chase after the other dogs at the park. They just love making new friends

[reverend_maynard]

Welcome to the forum!

I would start by picking up the leashes and as soon as they start acting too excited, put them back down, sit down and ignore them until they calm down again. As soon as they are calm, pick up the leashes again. Rinse and repeat until they can sit calmly while you clip the leashes on their collars.

It might take a few hours before you get out the door the first time, but if you don't give in, it will get a lot better pretty quickly.

[Curbside Prophet]

I'm with the reverend on this one. The exercise he prescribed is a good one to start with.

Welcome to our forum!

[reverend_maynard]

A few more tips on using that technique...

Plan ahead so that the first few times your going to do it you have plenty of time and wont have to give in or stop the exercise because you have to be somewhere.

Stay calm throughout. Don't talk to them or pet them. Use the times when you're waiting for them to calm back down to refocus yourself on not feeling frustrated or angry. If you stay calm, it will be easier for your dogs to be calm.

The only time I would talk is to tell them to sit if they know the command. Just once. Give them a few seconds to respond. If they don't, start again. If they don't know the command to sit, just wait until one of them sits on his own, and leash him up first. As long as they remain calm, just wait for them to sit. If they get excited, start again.

You can also say something like "too bad" at the moment they start getting too excited or when they've refused to sit. This is the cue to let them know they haven't done what you asked.

[Miss Mila]

awesome, thanks for the advice.

They all know sit (doesn't mean they do it all the time) but we use the sit before you get rule in the house for things like food, petting, and going out in the yard.

What I have been doing is when they get excited about the harness, I drop what I was doing (putting the harness on) and I go sit or do something else like wash a dish or some small quick task. I don't say a word. I also use the turn your back and ignore maneuver. I try and keep the session really calm by not saying much...pretty much only giving commands to sit.

Now what if I get one to sit and cooperate and the others are jumping all over me. Then what do I do? Keep suiting up the one behaved dog and ignore the others?

[melgrj7]

A couple of little booklets you might find helpful:
Feeling Outnumbered? How To Manage And Enjoy A Multi-Dog Household By Karen London and Patricia McConnell
and
My Dog Pulls What Do I Do?
By Turid Ruggas

Generally what ever it is you want to teach your dogs, you need to first teach them singly, then in pairs, and then move onto the trio.

[poodleholic]

I'm with the rev on this one, too! And, the book by Turrid Rugaas is excellent.

I've got 3 dogs of my own (2 Standard Poodles and 1 Shih Tzu), as well as 2-4 (or more) foster dogs. I walk my 3 together. I taught them all that if they want to go out with me, they have to come and sit quietly in front of me while I put on their collars and leads. If they don't, they don't go!

My SPoodles know the drill, so when the wriggly, wild Tzu came, he sat home by himself - exactly twice! When he didn't sit still, I ignored him, got the other two hooked up, and we left. The Tzu stayed home. Like I said, being left behind twice, he got with the program! Smart little buggar! LOL

It's really hard to take 3 untrained dogs at the same time. You're going to be getting behavior on the leash that you don't want, and this behavior will be reinforced every time it occurs, so . . . I'd recommend that you teach them first individually to walk nicely on lead, and only then take them out together.

hang in there, you can do this!