"Boys Down"

In this book I'm reading, "Feeling Outnumbered? How to Manage and Enjoy your Multi-Dog Household" it talks about assigning your multiple dogs a group name. That way I can say "BOYS sit" or "BOYS wait" instead of "Basil wait Guinness wait". It's especially useful when you need both dogs to do something like "wait" before exiting a doorway.

First, each dog must know the command very well. In this case, it's "down". Now that they know the command. I just say "Boys down" and immediately they both went down, say "yes!" then give them a treat.



I did this several times and when I felt like they both understood they both had to go down in order to get the treat I rewarded them with a new toy to play with.



This is a double headed snake toy from Ellie Mae's mom. It's been a great toy because each dog can get one end of the toy. Basil who hogs toys can't hog both ends of this toy even though he'll try. Guinness gets an opportunity to play with one end while Basil hogs the other end and at least they are playing together and Basil can get used to the idea.