how to manage two dogs???

jellyfish

I am dog sitting an 8 month old puppy over spring break who is possibly a husky/irish wolfhound mix. She 23 inches tall, Toki is 25, so they are matched well and they get along very good.

How the hell do you walk two dogs at the same time?!?!

the puppy PULLS, oh god. She is very strong and pulls SO much, its wild. Last night my boyfriend and I and the two dogs went to Petsmart and she drug my boyfriend ALL OVER PETSMART, lol. Toki has never pulled like that, even when he was an unruly and rude puppy. (sometimes i wish he would pull to build up his muscles, lol).

So how do you discipline one dog and not the other when they're around each other? I don't want to use her name in a negative voice, but I want the specific dog to know what he/she is doing wrong, not the other. How do you manage?

Is it normal for dogs to play so hard they throw up??!?!! She just through him her dinner last night on my carpet as I typed that last paragraph...

NotoriousScrat

Well, I'd say you have two options. Either stop her when she pulls (tree method) and Toki gets to keep going or you walk them separately and stop whenever she pulls. I personally don't think that giving a verbal correction would do much for pulling. They're still getting what they want (moving forward) so why would they stop?

jellyfish

if walking them at the same time, how do you deal with the problem of their leashes getting tangled up? What do you think about those kind of leashes that are made for two dogs? (The kind that has one leash but branches out at the end).

I'm not going to get it for her stay, but I will be adding a dog sometime hopefully later this year.

violet_in_seville

@jellyfish - Does Toki naturally heel? You may need to walk them separately a bit. I would start teaching verbal commands for leash manners and use the tree method when she's not listening (which given her strength, may necessitate some solo walks). The ones we use with our pup who doesn't heel are wait (for crosswalks), let's cross, slow down, and hurry hurry. The more advanced ones were left, right, and turn.

Vi picked up on these quickly but she was walked anywhere between 2-6 miles daily. Once they have a basic grasp of the commands, they start observing leash manners when the commands are used in conjunction with walking a well leash trained dog.

Also, stick with the mindset of positive training (which I already know you do). It's not a matter of indicating to her what you don't want so much as showing her behavior you do want and rewarding her when she does it. It probably won't hurt to treat Toki for the desirable behaviors that he already has mastered (unless you just don't want him consuming that many treats). We're slowing teaching the dog we got as an adult with that method. He's learning faster also by observing our younger dog.

As for the vomiting....good luck with that one! I've never encountered it.

[edited to add]

I do one leash in each hand (I loop their 6 ft leashes). My little o e has worse manners but is incredibly good at disentangling herself, whereas my boy freezes up if his leash gets entangled and I need to disentangle him myself. one in each hand makes this easier. From what I've heard leash couplers are mostly effective when both dogs have good leash manners. Ruffwear has a leash I really like and with pullers it is noticeably gentler on your hands than a typical nylon (or even cotton covered nylon) leash.

jellyfish

Toki does not heel. At all. But he does listen. He knows "lets go", "hold up", "this way" and he looks to me for direction because I point, or, ya know, go that direction. He walks with the leash taunt, but he doesn't pull. I don't have problems controlling him, though I do let him stop and pee/smell things whenever he wants most of the time. He is very calm on our walks, so I don't have a problem with letting Toki do some things he enjoys.

Sasha, the puppy, doesn't seem to know many commands when walking. I tried out the "be a tree" thing which may have helped somewhat. At the end of our walk, she was much more manageable and walked alongside Toki instead of pulling me all over people's yards. I would credit that to Toki. He was being more calm and focused on our walk today with Sasha. I did praise her when she walked well.

Vomitting.... lol! It was like, play play play play VOMIT play play play. I had to crate her because both of them were going to eat the vomit.... yuucky!

jellyfish

As a side note, I think it is cute that Toki self-handicaps to Sasha. He clearly lets her run circles around him, let her taunt him with toys, plays super easy when they wrestle. He is so gentle with her and lets her win all the time. its adorable.

I DO think that having her around when we go out in public helps out his anxiety. I've just started to take Toki out to the patio at World of Beer regularly. The first time, he wasn't out of control, but he wasn't thrilled. The second time was with Sasha and he was much calmer and didn't scoff or bark. He still wasn't thrilled, but a little less than the first time.

Calia

Since this is not your dog, you may want to ask the owners what they do for such and such behavior. Even if it is harsher than you are comfortable with, at least you'll know what she is used to and what her discipline experiences are.

How long after meal times does she puke during play? Both breeds in her mix are somewhat prone to bloat, so that vomitting is something to be careful about. You may want to give her an hour of rest time, either crated or seperation from Toki, so she can get those digestive juices working

jellyfish

@calia, well...she ate dinner around 9:30pm last night. She threw up at 9:30am this morning

I know kibble stays in the digestive tract for a while, but I figured it would be gone by the morning... Maybe I underestimated.

I was thinking about bloat last night. I let them play right after they finished eating their food and I got to thinking that might not be such a good idea, so I let them rest for a little while.

Her owner does the tree thing and generally practices positive reinforcement. Though, I don't think she really knows the science behind operant conditioning, she is just a really nice person

jellyfish

for funzies, here is a couple photos of them together being calm, which is rare. Toki looks pretty derpy in both of his photos. Silly guy.

Calia

Well being that Sasha ha husky blood in her, she'll be naturally inclined to pull. Sometimes giving them opportunities to pull can help make it easier to teach them not to pull. For example I do two styles of walks with my pups, one where they pull and one where they don't. I started out with just pulling walks, hooked them all to harnesses that are safe for pulling (not all harnesses are btw) and let them do their thing. At home, where there is less distractions, I would practice heeling and loose leash exercises with the leash attached to a collar. They've learned that harness means pull and collar means don't pull.

jellyfish

@calia thats such a good idea. I feel like such a novice when it comes to leash training because I'm starting to see that Toki has been a pretty easy dog and I never had it bad with a "pulling dog" before. I mean, I used to think toki pulled bad, but now that I've taken over sasha for the weekend.... i'm starting to realize otherwise. lol

ttddinh

@calia suggestion is good. When I have kaiju on a harness he is allowed to pull but when he is on the collar, he pulls less.

shibamistress

I just don't walk two together. I used to be able to, but the two I can handle don't get along at all. But two pulling dogs? Too much!

Honestly, you may not get very far with this with a visiting dog. To me, loose leash walking is the HARDEST thing to teach (or at least it is for me), and it takes a long time for them to get the commands, and also get it without distractions, and walks are SO distracting! We just went to a loose leash walking class with Leo, and the trainer wanted me to try him on a head-collar (which I'm not thrilled with, but they do work), so I did. Within 3 minutes, he was heeling beautifully. He already knows some verbal "walking" commands from agility, so he was perfect! Until we went outside, and then he was suddenly "la la la I can't hear you and what's this horrible thing on my face?" and he never really got past that in our brief class. So yeah, I think it's hard. You have to be really consistent with the "be a tree" (or reverse directions) thing and then really only take brief "training" walks til they get it. (Which is where training falls apart for me--I get so bored on those training walks that go nowhere that I give up and let them pull!)

So it takes a lot of time and consistency, which you may simply not have with this visiting dog.

Love the pics, though!

rikumom

For a quick fix, and to walk both dogs together, try walking the newbie on a Easy Walk harness, cost ~$20.

Meichan is usually great loose leash except in new environments, but i mostly walk her on the Easy Walk also to prevent any neck injuries from her pulling or human inadvertently jerking the leash

jellyfish

that looks like Toki's which i was told was a "no pull harness". he is a lot more manageable with it on, for sure. Maybe i should try her wearing his harness.... hermmmm

curlytails

Sasha is totally adorable... love that face and what an intriguing texture her coat appears to have! (Sorry, I'm of no help with practical advice though -- what I would have suggested has already been mentioned.)

PoetikDragon

I've had more luck with halters than no pull harnesses.

jellyfish

so Sasha vommited during playtime again this morning. This time... she projectile vommited a spray of kibble over my carpet. At least there wasn't much liquid.

It was like, she was in mid-air on her hind legs, battling Toki, and all of a sudden, out comes a shower of kibble. It was gross, lol


But does anyone elses dog do this?!???? Is this normal? Should I control her intake of food more? I've been giving her only dinner because feeding her three times a day made her not really want to eat.

WrylyBrindle

I think with deep-chested dogs more, smaller meals is better (prevents bloating over a big meal, stomach twists and then they *can't* puke up the extra or poop it out, gas builds up, etc.) Watch water intake with feeding as well...water is great throughout the day, but a tummy full of food topped off with a big drink is just too much for these guys.

PoetikDragon

@jellyfish Try two or three small meals and no excitement (exercise or playtime) for 2 hours afterwards.

jellyfish

Alright ill try giving her smaller meals throughout the day, like origionally. Should have just stuck with that, and if she doesn't eat, then so be it.

Its just weird cause toki has never had this problem. Then again, he is much more laid back and low energy, so he doesnt move as much, even in play.

shibamistress

I had to try a whole bunch of different harnesses (no pull and other) to find one that even worked remotely ok on Oskar, and then when I found one that kind of worked, I recommended it to my godmother who has a standard poodle, and it didn't work on him at all (hard to fit it right on that narrow bodied guy), so it's hard to find one that works! Head collars do work, but dogs hate them so much I kind of hate to use them.

But yeah, re: vomiting, smaller more frequent meals is better.

rikumom

I'm w/ everyone else that recommended smaller more frequent meals re: vomiting, though the timing doesn't sound right-- dogs have very short digestive track, they usually finish digestion in 8-9 hours.
http://www.vetinfo.com/dog-digestive-system.html

If you've been only feeding dinner, and she vomits the next morning, I almost wonder if she has a stomach obstruction and the food can't go down. It doesn't sound like she'd be suffering from bloat, but how has she been doing w/ #2? Has she been given any chew treats that she might have swallowed whole?

cezieg

Haha I feel you on the two dogs thing. When I had Tsune and Ren it would sometimes get a little crazy, with Tsune pulling one way to get at something that smelled interesting (usually behind us) while Ren would continue forward, and I'd end up looking like a cartoon with arms crossed and two dogs going in opposite directions. I do the "tree" when the pulling is too much and they eventually began to get the idea. I did do a lot of separate walks though. There was no shortage of running around the house so it's not like it was taking anything away from them by not doing walks together. Easy Walk head harness is excellent! Cheap and very effective.

jellyfish

@rikumom ya know....the thought did cross my mind, but I dismissed it as maybe I was wrong and her digestive tract is just different than Toki's. But now that I think about it and you've brought it up....the kibble she threw up was pretty much solid. Soggy but had definite form and made a thud when it hit the ground. (Tmi? Lol). I would think that kibble would stkeast digest after 12 hours in her stomach if nothing else....

No throw up this morning though. Been doing small meals.

But givin her track record.... she has a history of destroying toys. She destroyed one of tokis plastic toys and I think she ingested some of the rubber... I couldn't find the tore up bit. I got the remainder of the toy out of her jaws before she could do too much damage. She has a definite appetite, still drinks and eat and plays fine, ive been watching her closely.

I havent got a chance to see her poop because she hasn't used the restroom on walks, and when the dogs are in the backyard, its for maybe 10 minutes while I get ready for work. But doug lets them run around in the yard a lot when im not home, and of course he doesnt look for poop.

jellyfish

What do you think? Blockage possibly? She doesnt seem to be in pain and is otherwise an active, hungry and happy puppy. Poop is unknown.

sjp051993

If she is still eating, and no longer vomiting then I doubt it would be a blockage. Definitely need to watch closely to see if she is having bowl movements.

timkim

I do both dog at same time. Tachi pulls and Karin doesn't. still I can manage with my man~ power. lol somehow I can't train tachi not to pull.T.T

rikumom

Glad to hear she's drinks, eats and plays fine. If this is a dog I'm pet-sitting, I'd call my vet and ask for an opinion and watch her bowel movements like a hawk.

The kibble coming out solid isn't normal, for 12 hours the stomach juices should have started the decomp process. It's possible the blockage is minimal so small amounts of food can pass through but large amount get held in place and regurgitated up.

Can you estimate how much of the kibble you fed came back in vomit? % and # of cup fed when you call the vet? How does her belly feel?

jellyfish

Estimation: I would guess maybe a little less than halft a cup came up?? So...perhaps a quarter of a cup? Im at work so ill have to wait until I go home in a little bit to feel her belly.


I called doug after I read your post and he said he just fed her. She gobbled up her food quickly.

Ill call the vet tomorrow. It is 7pm over here and I am off tomorrow.

rikumom

I hope you guys just witness her going #2 and can rest easy.

Also, if she gobbles up her food quickly, you might want to soak her kibble in water before feeding. That will help the food break down and prevent choking too. We did that w/ Meichan's food when she was very little