For a long time, I was exclusively baby-carrying the baby, which made dog-walking pretty easy. I had my Ergo on and we were ready to go. Plus, we lived in Olympia, WA where our dog could run free through the forested trails, so I often didn't have to worry about leashing him.
Then we moved to California. The leash laws seem much stricter here. Probably because the population density is a gazillion times more here and, while there are some open spaces, they're not contained by wooded borders -- they're actually much more open.
We lucked out and have a dog park about a half mile from our place in Cali, at least, but this still means that the dog is leashed during all of our walks around town.
Plus, the baby has gotten so big that it's become harder to carry him for long distances, so I've started using the stroller for many of our walks.
Working with a leash and a stroller is not easy. My mom was using our extend-o leash: the one that can go up to 25' long, but I've always hated carrying that one because the plastic handle is not comfortable. Plus, you still have to have one hand on the stroller and one on the leash.
So, the research question is: What is the right way to walk the stroller and Max (who pulls) around town? I've been conducting my experiments and I've finally found a great way to do it. One that leads to a happy dog, a happy baby, and a happy mom.
The answer is two-fold.
- Harness. Since the dog doesn't heel, and, instead, pulls and pulls and pulls, the right harness is clutch. The answer for us was the Easy Walk Harness.
We had done the Gentle Leader for quite some time, but Max would pull hard enough that it would leave marks on his face if we did a long walk, so a dog trainer at our local dog park suggested the Easy Walk. The key to our Easy Walk was thought up and executed by my mom, who is fantastic in every way. She took a piece of foam and wrapped it around the part of the harness that goes underneath the dog, so that he wouldn't get red marks on his underside if he pulls too hard.
Yes, Max still pulls. It seems that no matter what product we try, he pulls. But he pulls in a manageable way. It's not so hard it's going to knock me over. I can control him.
- Leash. I was talking to an avid runner while visiting the dog park one day and she was telling me about her running leash. Of course they make a hands-free leash! Why haven't I seen these in the stores? So, I ran home and checked Amazon and found a fantastic leash that straps around my waist.
I purchased The Buddy System, which is really convenient because of its versatility. For Max, I use the Buddy System with the Lunge Buster. We also purchased the Extend-A-Buddy for hiking, or any time there are 2 adults walking with a dog and a baby. But, with the Buddy System, I was able to find the right length where Max can stride right next to the stroller.
The bonus of using the waist-leash is that when I go somewhere, I can easily affix the waist part of the leash around a pole. This has been useful at the playground and the post office. So Max can hang out near us, but not immediately next to us.
So, it took a little bit of time, but we finally found a great system for walking around town with a stroller and a dog, and I'd highly suggest these for other moms who are trying to wrangle babies and dogs simultaneously.
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