Meshing the Front and Back Dogs: Phase 1

We had a very exciting Sunday that we wanted to share with you.  We paired the Front Dogs with the Back Dogs for a walk.  It is something we haven't done in a long time and now we are hoping to make it a weekly thing.

The pairs were:  Brut and Silver, Zappa and Blaze, & Fiona and Chance.

Each of these pairs have walked together a few times the past few years.  

I used to walk Brut and Silver together until Brut started copping an attitude and we had dogs charging at us from other houses.  So hubby took Brut and I took Silver.  Brut can be so territorial and since Silver is his girl, he acts like he owns the neighborhood.  So Daddy and him took the lead, while Silver and I followed behind, keeping them just enough apart that they couldn't touch.  No problems there.

Then Daddy took Zappa while I took Blaze.  These two dogs have had the most contact out of the two packs.  Zappa was the only one who got along with Blaze when she first came back with us, but it has been a while since they have been together again. We did the same walk pattern, Zappa in front, Blaze and I in back.   Zappa was a little more aggressive, don't know if it is leash reactivity, but I do believe he didn't care for Blaze being part of his daddy time.  He is such a spoiled brat who almost always gets his way.  And I think he felt protective of Daddy.  About halfway through the walk he calmed down, but stayed on his toes.  Which later made me realize how much I need to work with him on some manners and commands.  And Blaze...she didn't hardly pay any attention to Zappa or his threats.  She did what she always does on a walk, she hunts for ground rodents.  :)  Zappa didn't phase her a bit.

So that left Daddy to walk Fiona and I took Chance.  These two have walked before really well before, but this time it was Chance that was being more reactive.  Thank God for all of the leash training I did with him last year.  I had to stop him a few different times to get his attention back on me.  I did my best to nip any signs of his reactivity in the bud and by the first turn, he was calmer.  Fiona paid no attention to Chance and walked quite nicely for Daddy.

I do believe that Chance was a bit hurt and feeling protective with another dog walking with us, same as with Zappa.  This was a huge change for everybody after not doing it for over a year.  So we are going to take it slowly and keep all the pairs in this order for a while and see how we can build from there.  We really wanted to work on this last summer but with Daddy's schedule it wasn't possible, but this summer is looking good for it.  It will be good practice for everyone.  We will still be doing our one-on-one walks and do these pairs once or twice a week and see how it goes.