dog walking partner / mentor

Silver City NM

Description

Our first dog Spark, who we adopted as a re-home in May is larger (60 lbs) and has never shared a home with a male dog before (but had a mid-life female companion in his puppyhood). Our second dog Shine, which we adopted last week from a rescue is smaller (35 lbs) and was picked up as a stray in June. They are both near 2 years old, tho Spark may be 3-5 months older. Shine is happy to meet most people, but tries to approach most dogs with puppy levels of excitement rather than politeness. Spark is significantly more sedate and isn't necessarily enforcing his boundaries in the way we'd hope (but that may be a human-expectation). We're struggling with on-and-off food/treat aggression, attention mooching, and getting them enough exercise that they stop pulling on the leashes. They are much too unruly for me to walk both of them at once alone, and my husband isn't available for more that a few blocks during the work day. We could afford a group class under $30/hour, but not really private training rates. If it were just Spark, the dog park would probably be enough, but we're in a little bit over our heads with Shine at the moment.