Walking Advice Needed

[melonie]

I haven't (ever) been able to walk Cleveland and Winston at the same time, or have another person walk one of the dogs while I walk the other. (at the same time) Cleveland has viewed these events as a race or contest.

I was reminded the other day when I had Aryn take Winston outside on leash to the car, with me and Cleveland following her. he went nuts pulling so hard that I had to let go because I couldn't' hang on with out hurting him, or myself. When I did let go he stumbled, caught himself and raced to where Winston and Aryn were by the car.
If I'm alone I will normally drop Winstons leash at the door after I make sure there are no dogs off leash or being walked. (Winston has a pretty solid recall, and is more trustworthy off leash if a cat/rabbit/dog pops up)
Then I tell him to go to the car, and Cleveland and I follow. He pulls, but I'm able to control him and get his attention. Where as in the other instance all control is lost and I can not regain his focus. I have in the past tried to use beef jerky to get his attention, but it wasn't valuable enough I guess, because it didn't work.
I need to correct this. If we end up moving to an apartment, I'll have no choice but to walk both of them unless. I'm not going to take two separate long walks, plus multiple times two short ones everyday! It's not always going to be feasible.
I have bought two freedom harnesses for Cleveland, but the medium is too small and the large is too big. I need the one in between I think. That would give me more physical control with out hurting him. (I think)
Aside from that, I'm not sure what can do to change this.

Without Winstons presence, he is a normal dog. Winston does pretty good on leash and doesn't try to pull me when I've tried to walk both dogs. Aryn is able to handle him without any issues during Clevelands mad dog race.

How can I start to fix this?
I haven't tried to keep Aryn by my side with Winston to see Clevelands reaction. I assume it would be the same since he will do this if I have both dogs in hand.
I also haven't tried just hanging out on leash in the yard.
Once Cleveland sees his leash his excitement level shoots up pretty high. Winston gets excited as well, but not as much as Cleveland.
I should probably work on calming that aspect down I guess. He just knows all the ques. Leash, keys, etc.

[Dave]

It's simpler than you think, but takes tons of time and practice.

Work each one separately, and get them to heal on command. Stop when you stop. Go when you go. Tune them into you. Then when they are together, you command one and both obey.

Back when I was an obedience nazi, I used to walk four dogs at heal in a line on my left side. That's how I got there.

[melonie]

I will give that a shot.
One on one Cleveland does pretty well with learning new things, and old things. Add Winston and he forgets his own name.

[RealPitBull]

Darn, I meant to post my loose leash walking booklet here last night. I'll have to post it later....

[melonie]

He does alright when we're one on one. If Winston is not out with us he walks fairly well. If he starts to pull I stop, he stops and looks at me and relaxes and we go again.

When you introduce Winston to the walk is when Cleveland forgets everything he knows. It's like his excitement level hits 10 instantly. Thats when he pulls as if to try and beat Winston to where ever it is he thinks we're going. If I do happen to have them both on leash, say to go the vet, there have been times where it has taken everything I had to keep on my feet because he gets so nuts.
To get them to the car when I'm alone, I let Winston go out first and I follow with Cleveland on leash. For whatever reason, this doesn't trigger such an intense response in Cleveland.
I've found ways to work around this instead of fixing it.

This evening I think I'm going to try and just hang out in the yard with him on leash with Winston. Not going anywhere, but just chilling. I will also work both of them separately on the heel command. If I pat my side and call their name, they will come to me. So it shouldn't be too hard to switch it into a heel and make it more reliable.