mentalness when getting ready for a walk....help!!!

[jools]

Right, my two go mental when we are getting ready to go out. As soon as they get wind of me getting ready, the madness starts.....running about with lead in mouth....jumping.....barking, you get the picture.
The mentalness continues on the way to the car. They toy fight, jump up at me, Brammie tries to take Poppy a walk, the whole thing.

When we get into the car,(having had most of the neighbours twitching at the curtains due to the noise of the toy fight) Brammie jumps into the boot and waits while I life Poppy up. While i do this, Bramble starts to bite my ear (a new thing).

When we get to where we're going, bramble is first out of the car and waits to pounce on poppy.....the play fighting continues until they calm down and start to enjoy their walk.

It doesn't bother me toooooooo much, but it is starting to become a real performance getting the swines ready   

Anyone managed to stop such mentalness? If you have, how did you manage it?

[CarolineL]

My routine is exactly the same before I walk Hurley. I get home from work, I get changed, get his lead and we go straight out. By the time I am walking down the stairs ready to go - he is going absolutely mental      However! I am a strict mum and Hurley knows his lead will not leave the cupboard unless he is on his bed in the down position 

He also knows he has to wait before me before he can leave the house through the front door (I dont bother putting his lead on until we get to where we are going.) We do struggle with this one and he usually charges ahead of me down the driveway. If he does this, I just go and get him and take him back to the house.

He has to wait on the driveway in the down position until I open the boot.

Then I tell him when to jump in the boot.

Likewise he's not allowed to leave the car until I tell him.

Im guessing if you have 2 you might have to train them seperately - probably stage by stage. 

[bracken]

I have the same problem the retrievers still beautifully in silence 

But the cockers go mad when my key goes in the door, then its upstairs change and go. Its has got worse recently. I know they are bullying me and I need to wait until they are quiet but its so hard 
My parents were here on holiday last week the minute I got in from work we had to leave for our walk as the noise was deafening,didn't even say hello to them just got out the door. They were really shocked by the volume 
Also its so hard getting the harnesses on as they are so hyper.
Jo

[*Lucy*]

Your descriptions are exactly the same as to what goes on in my house!!! 

They just set each other off all the time - as soon as one has calmed down the other does somethimg and they are at it again!!

My two are finally getting used to the car though 

[Cob-Web]

Because we leave the house so early in the morning, the level of noise my two would make if left to their own devices is totally unacceptable 

We have similar rules to Caroline and Hurley - but because we walk to the fields from home, we walk through a housing estate and need to be quiet there, too 
I carry Bonnee down the driveway and to the end of the road in order to keep her quiet; this is an improvement, I used to have to carry her all the way through the estate to the fields, so she is getting better 

We use dog walkers occasionally, too - and I can't expect strangers (or even friends that I might ask to look after them) to deal with two screaming, hyper cockers, so maintaining their training so that they sit still and quiet is a priority for me 

[bev6951]

the exact same in my house too, infact wilson nearly gave me a bloody nose the other day he was his usual excited self barking and jumping around and pulled the lead out of my hand, as I bent down to pick it up he jumped up and caught me on the end of my conk with his head, the pain was massive!!! and brought tears to my eyes for long enough for the walk to be postponed for 20 odd minutes 

[Sian P]

Murphy goes beserk too but yesterday shocked me by staying quietly in his bed (while I repeated 'stay') when I got myself ready, then staying pretty much where he was and not grabbing the lead when I put it on him (while I repeated 'leave'). I guess he may have got the message that nothing happens if he acts like a little you know what!!

[Elmo]

I make Elmo lie down in the kitched while i get ready. I find if hes in a down position he is not getting himself worked up by whirling round like some sort of out of control spiining top

[JenSam]

Sam is exactly the same too.  I see a cocker pattern here..... 

I get him a treat from 'his' cupboard in the kitchen and tell him to sit and stay.  I then get his lead out of the cupboard and put his treat on the floor and tell him 'off'.  This lets me put his lead on without him jumping all over the place and barking.  Once his lead is on he wont eat the treat until I tell him to take it.

I try to do this before I get ready to keep him quiet.  If I don't he's a complete nightmare and nips the back of my legs, and it hurts like you wouldn't believe!!   

[Jan/Billy]

While i do this, Bramble starts to bite my ear (a new thing).

  that really made me chuckle   It's such a strange thing to suddenly start doing  


Billy is a strange one. He barks with excitement when we're getting ready to go out, but the second the front door opens he shuts up. I then never hear a peep out of him.

[Elisa]

We have the same problem.  Harvey screams like a banshee, and Bailey (usually quiet) has started to copy him    My two usually shut up as soon as we are out the front door, but occasionally start messing around, and I usually end up tangled up in leads, wanting the ground to swallow me up 

[Luvly]

 

[SJP]

As soon as Lola gets wind of walk in the offing she starts biting my wellie sox as I'm trying to put them on, whining, spinning, jumping on and off the furniture.  I've tried getting her to sit quiety but she then starts to howl at me, I've tried opening the door to let her wait by the side gate but then she bombs in and out of the house like a possessed woman.  As long as I'm not home alone, then I get somebody else to distract her whilst I get ready otherwise I just grin and bear it but it takes twice as long to get ready.  At least when the summer comes it will be less clothing so a lot quicker.
If anybody has any useful suggestions......

[Beth]

I shut them in the kitchen whilst i get ready, then grab them one at a time to do leads.

[jools]

  Your replies have given me a right laugh and also made me realise that I am not the only one with this problem.

I took the girls out with my daughter last night. She is 14 and usually too cool to walk with dogs, so she hasn't witnessed their full mentalness.
When I parked the car in the country park, I told her that the routine would be:
brammie jumps out the car and barks at poppy.
poppy waits for a few seconds then jumps out of car
brammie pounces on poppy and the toy fighting starts.
poppy stalks brammie on the bridge and then pounces on her.

My daughter was killing herself laughing as that is exactly what they did.