How To Walk Multiple Dogs At The Same Time

Whether you are a professional dog walker or just have a lot of dogs, you know how annoying it can be to walk everyone individually. If each dog needs 30-60 minute walks a day, that time can really add up.

I’ve got four dogs in my household. If we walked them all separately for 60 minutes each? That’s four hours of just… walking. Add in any other dogs we take care of for our dog boarding business, and it can quickly get out of hand.

So instead, we walk them together. It’s not always quiet, but it’s often pretty fun. And if you want to know how you can do the same, I have a few tricks up my sleeve.

Step 1: Assess Your Pups

Before you clip anyone into a leash splitter, take a good look at your dogs:

Temperament Check

Your walk will only be as smooth as your least trained dog. If one of your dogs is a leash demon who lunges at cars, guess what? That chaos will ripple through the whole pack. Dogs feed off each other’s energy — if one dog spirals, the others will usually follow.

Relationship Check

Don’t group-walk dogs that haven’t met or don’t vibe. Even familiar dogs can have trigger stacking issues. One dog loses it over barking? Another can’t handle scooters? When a scooter passes by, a panic will break out.

So introduce dogs slowly before trying a group walk. Even 15 minutes of sniffing in a neutral area can make or break your walk.

Size Check

I’ve walked a 20-lb terrier and a 150-lb Newfoundland at the same time, so it’s doable. But smaller or frailer dogs can get stepped on by a clumsy big dog. Some dogs can handle it, other dogs definitely can’t. So know your pup.

Health check

If anyone’s got kennel cough or is post-surgery, keep them separate. If you’ve got a senior with arthritis or a three-legged sprinter, make sure they are comfortable walking at the pack’s pace.

Training check

At a minimum, each dog should:

  • Know their name
  • Have a halfway-decent sit-stay
  • Ideally, know basic leash manners (or you’re in for an arm workout)

If you don’t have a pack that passes these checks, you are better off finding a friend to help walk these dogs, or finding alternate exercise strategies to save time. Trust me, your arms will thank you.

Step 2: Pick the Right Equipment

Standard leashes and collars work just fine on solo walks, but with multiple dogs? Leashes tangle. Dogs explore in opposite directions. We need to gear up smart:

  • Leash splitter: Prevents tangling.. Look for an O-ring design so the leashes rotate smoothly.
  • Harnesses, not collars: If one dog pulls the rest of the pack like a sled team, you want that pressure on their chests, not their necks.
  • Shorter leashes: Four foot leashes are ideal here – the shorter the leash, the easier it is to control the dog. No retractable leashes either – those flimsy leads are impossible to manage in bulk.
  • High-value treats: If chaos breaks loose, you’ll want to distract them. Think hot dog level, not kibble level.

Step 3: Walking the Pups

Alright. You have your pack. You have the right gear. What’s next?

Decide on Your Leash Split

How many dogs do you want to have per arm?

For me, I decide based on the weight of each dog and the amount of dogs you have. As a general rule of thumb:

  • Walking 2-3 dogs? One hand’s fine. If you have a “challenging” dog you want to experiment walking in packs, I’d recommend putting them on a different hand for finer control.
  • Walking 4-5 dogs? Use two hands and split the dogs into two groups. So if you have 5 dogs, split the dogs into one group of 3 and one group of 2.
  • Walking 6-8 dogs? First, make sure you can handle the load. Then, make sure there’s enough space on the sidewalk or trail for all those pups. If you’re confident, then leash up no more 3 dogs per leash splitter (or whatever its max weight capacity is), and hold multiple leash splitters per hand. So if you are walking 8 dogs, you’ll hold 4 leashes – two leashes on each hand, each leash holding two dogs.
  • Walking 8+ dogs? Now’s the time to start walking multiple times – unfortunately, it just gets too difficult to start managing multiple puppy personalities alone after a certain point. I recommend splitting the group based on personality and trigger. So if you have a group of 9 dogs, 6 are angels and 3 are “working on it”, then you’ll have a 6-dog calm walk and a 3-dog rowdy walk.

Note: Your Mileage May Vary

Of course, situations can vary wildly.

For example, if you have 10 well-trained chihuahuas you need to walk that are five pounds each, there’s little need to be too concerned. That’s 50 pounds of doggy muscle, and if they all have great recall, then there’s less need for concern, especially if you choose a private trail to limit external factors like a rogue dog. If you have ample space, such as on a hiking trail, it’s perfectly manageable.

But what if you have two 150lb mastiff puppies? That’s 300 pounds of pure rambunctious muscle. A rogue squirrel can definitely make management trickier if your training isn’t rock-solid. In this case, I’d either:

  • Put the best trained dog on one arm, and the second most challenging pups on the other arm. This way, in the event that a trigger happens, you are more likely to be tugged in one direction.
  • Do two walks – leaving the least-trained pup at home for a solo walk to work on his manners. On the walk: walk each dog on one arm.

Set the Right Pace

Tailor the entire walk to the slowest dog in the pack. That means walking at a pace that is comfortable for that dog to maintain, rather than forcing them to trot if that makes them uncomfortable. Walking too quickly can lead to injury.

If your speed demons are impatient and begin to tug to go faster, or your slow walker is too slow for the pack, then leave one of them home for a future solo walk.

Add in Treat Training

Group walks are high-distraction, high-opportunity environments. This is the perfect time to refine their obedience skills. Grab their favorite treats and practice easy skills such as:

  • Name recognition
  • “Look at me” under stress
  • Impulse control around squirrels, bikes, etc.

Over time, those little reps compound. You’ll find the chaos gets more predictable.

Final Thoughts

Walking multiple dogs at the same time is many things. It’s a time-saver, a group-bonding ritual, and almost always interesting. Maybe one day, your best trained pup will bark at something new. Other days, you’ll be cleaning up poop from the worst possible spot as two dogs tug you forward. But once you hit your stride? It’s magic. Just assess the dogs, gear up smart, and don’t be afraid to split the group if things get too much.