Travels with the Pack

In case you are wondering how life with three big dogs is progressing, I thought I would give you an update on my daily travels with the "pack" as I commonly refer to Phoebe, Amos and Sammy.

One of the biggest challenges has been to figure out a way to walk all three--ideally at the same time. I tired many configurations of leashes and dogs--when it was too hot, I would simply leave Amos home because I thought he would get heat stroke with all his fur (even with his summer "do"). When I did take all three, I would end up a tangle of leashes, especially when they would stop and sniff every bush.

I had purchased a double dog leash from an internet company, 2dogleash.com, and loved it but the thought of three actually scared me, in terms of weight alone. How would I ever be able to control three dogs who clearly outweighed me by a considerable amount with only one handle?

I finally gave in and purchased a triple leash and from the first walk, I am happy to report it has changed my life. I had clearly underestimated the advantage of one handle! Much easier..although still challenging. We have been experimenting with different configurations for a while--two dogs are linked together and the third has a slightly longer leash and is free to travel around the other two--and I think we have hit on the perfect combo.

Sammy ends up in the middle and in the lead most of the time and Phoebe and Amos surround him. Phoebe gets the longest leash--because it seems to work better that way and Amos just goes with the flow.

I cannot report tangle free existence--the hook up requires vigilance on my part to stop and put my handle through the leash ends if Phoebe wanders to the middle--but most of the time the dogs actually manage to untangle themselves. In this photo Amos and Sammy are a little twisted but that too usually solves itself--Sammy usually just dances around Amos a few time in the opposite direction and Voila!

Actually, the more I try to control them, the more tangled they get. So if I just give them a loose leash, they work it out. Trust me it is still no fun when all three decide to exert their protective instincts at once--I took quite a tumble last week across a gravel road when all three decided to bark aggressively at another dog who caught up with us from behind--but all in all, we're all getting better at walking as a team.

As it is with most things in life, practice, patience and routine seem to pay off eventually. The moral of the story: hang in there, don't try to control everything and try to catch potential knots before they become too big.

Pretty good advice for a lot of things.....