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How many dogs should a dog walker walk at once?

How many dogs have you ever walked at once?

I think two dogs at a time is usually best, sometimes three if the dogs are well behaved.

It’s important to me to keep the dogs I’m walking under control and at my side. I will not allow a group of dogs to pull me down the street. Through my dog walking business, I learned to handle three dogs pretty well, and I’m sure some of you can also handle three with no problems.

Sometimes one dog is far more difficult to handle than three or four dogs. It depends on the dogs.

There was a group of four golden retrievers I walked together regularly. I also walked a group of three small dogs and a pitbull mix together, even adding my own dog to the mix once or twice for a total of five dogs. I knew all these dogs well, and I could predict how they would respond to passing dogs and anyone else we might run into. Most of all, they could all sit and stay reliably, and they would all come when called. How well the dogs are trained is the most important factor when walking multiple dogs, in my opinion.

I’d love to hear from all of you. How many dogs do you walk at once? Do you think it’s irresponsible for someone to walk three or more dogs at once?

The first five pics are some of the dogs I’ve walked. The rest are some Internet treats. Some look a lot more responsible than others, if you ask me. I’m not a fan of allowing dogs to walk out ahead on tight leashes. You’ll have to let me know what you think.

1
I will walk four dogs at once

2
Walking a pitbull mix and three small dogs

3
Walking four golden retrievers at once

4
Walking a Lab and two springers

5
Walking a springer and two Lab mixes

6
Walking 15 dalmatian puppies

7
Unsafe to walk three dogs like this

8
Don't walk three dogs in front of you

9
Dog walker with multiple dogs

10
Three dogs attached

11
Four English bulldogs together

12 – From Dallas News
Walking 7 dogs at once

13
Walking five dogs at once

14
Walking five dogs and texting

15
Dog walker with 10 dogs

How many dogs will you walk at once?



Keith Amdur

Thursday 17th of November 2016

It depends on the dogs.All it take is one dog out of four to mess things up.I like one or two dogs the best but lots of times I`ll take three or four dogs out for walk.Now I take dogs to the woods running on trails or to the lake for a swim too.You can`t keep controll over that many dogs off leash or on when your out in the sticks.Lots of times I`ll take a dog that needs a little more work with a dog that knows what to do.They learn by watching.Aint dog walking great?.Your always learning and moving .When your all in the groove its the best.

Chuck Taylor

Tuesday 2nd of August 2016

What about cleaning up after the dogs?? Do you have a clean up person with you??

Lindsay Stordahl

Tuesday 2nd of August 2016

The more dogs along, the more challenging that is, obviously. I always clean up after the dogs I walk and if I can't control them all while cleaning up, then I'm walking too many. So they have to be fairly well mannered.

Paul Van

Thursday 28th of January 2016

My wife or I are using our 3-dog 3-leash UTurn handle to walk 3 or 4 untrained smaller dogs every day. With the UTurn handle you can untangle all leash tangles (between the 3 leashes/3 dogs) in seconds WHILE walking. By using a separate fourth leash we can even walk 4 small dogs with one person. Th quick untangling capability is the key, it makes walking 3 or 4 great fun!

Barbara Rivers

Wednesday 11th of March 2015

It really depends on the dogs' polite leash walking skills. Like you, I don't allow leash pulling & will never put myself in a situation where I'm being walked/pulled by any dogs. I have walked quite a few dogs who were a challenge on leash, and I discussed the topic with their respective owners. I ended up using a gentle leader/Halti or a sling leash to gain control over those dogs. It always worked out very nicely & the owners were thankful for the helpful tips :-)

That being said, I have walked 4 dogs at once - I don't think I'd be comfortable with more than that :-)

Lena

Sunday 18th of January 2015

Thanks for all of this wonderful information! I think it's really important to be a legitimate dog expert or trainer if you're going to walk more than two dogs at once. What happens so often around here in NYC is inexperienced random "dog walkers" are handling way too many dogs at once, focusing on profit, and in the event of a dog slipping off leash there is nothing they can do. It's everyone's worst nightmare, but it's way more common than you'd think. If you've got 5 dogs and you're not a professional with a strong command over your crew, how would you get the loose one back? I know some wonderfully talented pack walkers who can handle large groups, but I've also seen Amateur Hour and the sad outcomes of that.

Lindsay Stordahl

Sunday 18th of January 2015

Oh gosh, I've bet you've seen it all! :) How many do you typically walk at once?