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Did you search for "2dogsandapushchair" - try here


I've come to realise that there are a lot of people coming to my (original blog) Home page through google-ing (or similar) for 2 dogs and a pushchair and then going away without reading anything else. That was originally one of my aims in starting this blog, I do feel I eventually mastered walking 2 dogs with a pushchair. It seems many new parents are worried about it, I was, and I'm 'bang-out-of-order' to not share some tips with you. You'll need to read my welcome page, if you haven't already, to understand the context of what I'm writing. Please, please, please drop me an email or leave a comment with any feedback on these methods. I have a couple of inventions up my sleeve in this area and one little line of feedback might just make my good idea into a stupendous one. We shall see...
Problem: 2 excitable dogs with newborn baby in pushchair. Dogs not had much exercise lately due to birth of baby; they're excited due to new 'thing' that has joined their walk along with lovely smelling baby; if you're Mum, you've just given birth or had ceasarian not too long ago and aren't really sure about walking them anyway; if Dad, dogs are alright but you've got baby to care for too; finally, getting the hang of a pushchair with pavements, dropped or not-dropped curbs, crossing places, buses,  road users, puddles, (other people's?!) dog poo, other pushchairs, bikes, wheelchairs, dogs etc. eeeeeeek! You get the idea.
Solution number 1: Tie dog leads to pushchair, 1 on each side or both on same side - This does work but has huge problems 'attached' to it. They might be obvious, what happens to the pushchair when both excited dogs lunge towards another dog, person or try to cross the road? It goes too! You have to hold on and resist really hard, and if they are barking at other dogs or you get one of those useless dog owners that want to stop and chat, or look at the baby, or let the dogs play it's absolute HELL! You're stuffed until the interesting thing passes and at the side of a road this is simply terrifying. One dog either side makes it hard to start off again as the pair are pulling around the pushchair opposite ways and can get the lead around the front or under the wheels or your feet. Having them both on the same side has the advantage that you can push them into the wall/hedge when you see something coming and can hold both leads in one hand, but it means when they pull they have double the strength as they are pulling together and not against each other. Also means you are putting your new baby between them and an unknown quantity of dog.  I once tested to see how quickly I could get the dogs off their leads and under control incase something happened and I had to get to the baby, say they tipped it or something, God forbid. Actually, it happened to me just a few weeks after DD was born. I had a dislocating kneecap before I got pregnant, that was no problem all the way through pregnancy until that day. I had taken the boys out for the first time, one tied either side of the pushchair. I'd made it to our local shops when my knee went, simply gave out underneath me. I fell to my knees, pulling the pushchair handle down to the floor, and the dogs took this as a great opportunity to try and pull round me to say hello to the dear old couple who spotted me and tried to help. They inadvertently made it worse because the dogs could see they were interested in us, and tried to pull around to see them, dragging the pushchair round on it's end, preventing me from lifting it up. I had to bellow at them to stand still, so I could gather strength to lift myself and up the pushchair. I then had to very politely try to get the couple to move back so the dogs would calm down enough for me to check on the poor baby! Luckily, she was in one of those soft carrytots that strap into the pushchair, and had just slid further down into it. Had she been in a carseat clipped on top or lying in the regular pushchair base she could have been hurt. Tying the dogs on is not a realistic option, I decided the risk of them pulling the pushchair into the road or over again or BOTH was far too high. I would still say this even with a very small or quiet dog, they are animals and we don't kow the trigger that can make them go one day. I have seen product that clips dogs onto a metal arm attached to the side of wheelchairs so disabled people can walk their dogs. I think this could still be disastrous for a pushchair, but had the (Copyrighted 2007!) idea of something similar to act as a heel-bar for the boys. Sort of a "don't pass this point" sign for them. Watch this space.

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