Diana Myers
It’s not that easy to control several dogs at the same time. We have a few tips for you.
7 tips for dog duos & more
- Communicate with your dogs through body language (the primary means of communication) and vocal or whistling signals (which always need to be learned).
- Train with each dog individually, but also together with both.
- Both dogs are placed next to each other with some distance between them. Have both of you “stay down” and move away from a few steps in the dogs’ line of sight. Now call one to you while the other should stay where you are. This can be life-saving in dangerous situations. It assumes, of course, that each dog already masters the command on its own.
- If one of your dogs isn’t quite willing to cooperate with you, just put him down a distance – if he’s not sure, tie him up – and let him watch you train with the other. In this way, he will notice when you praise the other person and are happy that he has done something great. This can definitely have a motivating effect on him.
- Give your dogs a middle name. For example, if someone should come (or make room, etc.), call out “Nela – Here!” If both should come, give the command “Both – Here!”. If you practice this consistently, the dogs will soon also respond to their middle name.
- Exchange ideas with two or more dog owners. You will get a lot of information about where you can go on holiday with more than one dog, which public transport you can use or which insurance for the second dog does not charge as high a premium as for the first.
- When looking for a second dog, you can often find what you are looking for in animal welfare. Carefully search for a dog that you can provide detailed information about, e.g. that has already lived in a foster home. Here you often get valuable information about the behavior of the dog in a dog group.