Best Way to Walk 4 Dogs

What's the best way I can manage to walk all 4 dogs at once? I want to start walking them more regularly but can't really see myself doing more than one walk a day (for around an hour total).

To get to the road we walk on, we usually either cut through the woods or a nearby trail (so they are offleash for that). But on the road I like to have them leashed in case of cars and don't want them going into peoples yards, but other than that the road is pretty dead.

I was thinking of getting them step-in harnesses (less likely to tangle) and using 2 couplers and using a long line for each set.

Any ideas?

get them all x-back harnesses and put them in either a 2x2 formation or just all on the same length lead and voila! resistance training!

I <3 my coupler. I think two couplers would be your best bet.

^This! They work great!

What's resistance training?

Coupler? Why didn't I think of that? I've been juggling three leashes for years!

WE have walked with 6, but had two people. I prefer a leash each. Not fond of couplers, because I can't communicate movement through the leash if that makes any sense, we walk so often that a little lean of the leash left or right is a lot like reigning a horse. I would start with two and when that;s good add another and another until you are comfortable with all. Using your best dog to teach the ones that are not as good on the leash.

Tada! It can be done

But get use to 'are you a dog walker' comments!

YouTube - Walking Four Dogs At The Same Time

Separately?

Exactly what I was coming to say.

I've always just used 3 separate leashes. I don't recall ever doing 4 at one time. I did have 4 dogs at one time, but I guess we must have done only hikes where they could be off leash. Anyhow....the coupler might be good as long as your dogs are reasonable when they walk and one doesn't pull while the other on that coupler doesn't. It's kind of hard to stop the walk for the one that's pulling without "punishing" the other dog. But if you don't care about training them when on your walk and it's just for them to have fun, it doesn't much matter. I don't really use the leash much to communicate anything. It's just there to keep them from running in front of a car. I recommend separate color coding for each dog just in case they switch around and cross in front of each other. It can become a tangled web, especially if your own legs get wrapped up. LOL. No, seriously, I've never used a coupler. Better to take advice from those who have used them. But I have walked 3 dogs at once. They were trained to walk nicely and I'd keep the two Chi's on my right and Lyric on my left. It worked out pretty well unless Lyric went on one of his reactivity rampages...how he did when he was in the throws of this issue. Then it was a different story.

I personally hate couplers. I've always walked them on four different leads and never had an issue. They know not to cross over and stop when someone stops.

Thanks for the advice guys!
I think for the first week I'll walk once a day with two dogs, and alternating with the other two until we have nice leash manners again.

Now only to train that zig-zagging is not okay LOL

I found the couplers to be annoying. I personally only have one dog but my dad has two dogs. I've walked up to 3 at a time (with 3 different sets of dogs) and I only have issues with my dads dogs because they're not really trained on the leash, LOL. When I tried the coupler with them... it just didn't work very well. I don't know, I just prefer to have separate leashes. However, I've never walked four at a time so I could definitely see that being a lot more difficult. Maybe put two on a coupler, the two who you maybe don't pull or something, and then have the other two on regular leashes?

Just three reasons I don't like couplers.The number one is what if a loose dog approaches and starts trouble. You would have no way to free your dogs. If your out walking in the world you have to accept the fact that it could happen.


Second reason is your dog is following the other dog's signals, not yours. I dont' ever want mine to do that.

Third, I can switch to one on each side, or have us walk in single file if the need be, all if I have separate leashes. I could not do this on couplers. THere are times when I find this to be necessary. If I see a problem up ahead that I think Pepper may have trouble with, but Victor won't, I will switch her to the side away from it and she may never notice. Single file is necessary especially on busy roads. If your walking two dogs to air them, it is much harder for them to eliminate on a coupler. Pepper flat out won't if someone is too close to her.