Question for those with multiple dogs

[nadine_mn]

Do you ever walk them separately? We have always walked our dogs together...even whe I had 4 large dogs I walked them together.

We have 2 now.. a GSD (Durango) and a Lab/Chessie mix (Jazz). I have mentioned before that Durango is having some socialization issues...esp when we are walking with Jazz..he gets very reactive when he sees other dogs. He gets so worked up he is uncontrollable and when we first adopted him, he wasn't this way. But each year he is getting progressively more protective of Jazz. I think that is what it is....when she has been out of eyesight (I walk ahead with her while my spouse stays with him) he is a lot calmer. They are both neutered, BTW.

I want to walk him separately...to expose him to dogs again without Jazz around...to slowly get him desensitized again. He always has a muzzle on...he doesn't bite but he does mouth other dogs... so on walks he is muzzled. It is so hard to correct behavior when walking them together because they feed off each other...one will calm down then the other will bark and it starts up again. 99% of the walk will be fine, people passing us have commented on how well behaved they are. The minute Durango sees another dog I have to hang on for dear life. I get him in a sit then a lay and stand on his leash so he has to be in a down while waiting for the dog to pass or for him to calm down. You know how dogs can pick up on your tension...well crap, because of how strong he is, I automatically tighten up on the leash when I see a dog so I don't go flying or worse he gets loose. which of course makes it worse because now he is sensing that tension and reacting to that and the dog stimulus. I usually walk them by myself, but lately the spouse has come with....for exercise and because we are walking in public parks where there are more chances at interactions. I used to walk them mainly in the middle of the night when I didn't have to worry about running across other people walking their dogs. But I can't keep avoidng other dogs... I need to help my GSD get better at this. My husband is not good at the whole training thing so Durango really only listens to me and walks all over my husband, so this is my responsibility to correct.

But...this sounds so silly even as I type this.... I feel guilty leaving Jazz at home. She is 12 so she is slowing down a bit so that's another reason for wanting to take him solo for longer walks then come home and do a shorter walk together.


Whew that was longer than I expected to write...the gist of my question is am I the only one who feels this guilt? Do the dogs really care or is it just my silly human feelings?