Today, while driving my kids to school, the fuel light went on. Now, really, I'm the kind of person who fills the tank when it's 1/8 full. I like to know that I can make it to my favorite gas station; I even have a favorite pump. Is that so weird? Maybe.

Having to stop at a new, unknown gas station not only cost me time, but it took some mental energy that I did not have.

What's the big deal? My kids are in school, my work is under control, the refrigerator is full. What could I possibly have to not only worry about, but think about even.

Well, it was hot. And it was going to get hotter. That means, I had to walk both of my big brown dogs together, at the same time, in tandem, side-by-side. No matter how you describe it, I could only imagine mayhem. Think whirling dervish on the end of a leash. Now, multiply that by 2.

I have been walking them separately for many reasons:

1) they deserve some time apart (that puppy energy will get on anyone's nerves).

2) they're both more than 80 pounds - I really see no reason to get pulled down the sidewalk by 160 pounds of dog muscle.

3) they want their quality time with mom. Yeah, right. When my boys were young, I tried to find snippets of time to spend with each of them separately. Naps helped. But it was really impossible. Same with dogs. And they're dogs. Hello - not humans, not such needy beings. Well actually, they do have much better days when I can spend some time training and walking and paying attention separately. Can you say 'spoiled'? Can you say 'less destruction to my couch'?

So I leashed them both up. Chief spent a little time on a tie down because of his over excitement at the prospect of actually walking out the front door (it happens every day, twice a day. Should he really be that surprised?). Charlie followed me around as I prepared. He kept his eyes on me, but made sure not to get in my way. At every appropriate moment, his butt hit the floor in anticipation of a treat.

They waited nicely at the front door. They whimpered. I opened the door, just a crack to survey the sidewalk. Chief barked. Back on the tie-down. Charlie gave him such a dirty look - what I'd expect from a school kid whose friend blurted out the answer without being called on. Ok, calm, quiet, unhooked from the tie-down. I opened the door again, all was quiet on both sides. We proceeded off of the porch, onto the sidewalk.

This sounds like a military operation. And I feel like it is. I want my dogs to have only success, I want to set it up so that I'm there to intervene and make it all better.

Digression: I got a call from the principal at the boys' school today. She's pretty on top of things at school. This year, they're doing something different at lunchtime. Gordon hates it. I emailed his teacher about it. She encouraged me to have him talk to her, but she passed this all on to the principal. Totally appropriate. We all agreed that this is the perfect situation to let the kids advocate for themselves. No one is getting bullied or hurt. The kids just want something different. They can take their concerns to their teacher and principal. The sticky situation is that the teacher is new to them, so they don't feel so comfortable approaching her. But this is what growing up is all about - taking a chance, speaking up, being different and getting heard.

Back to the dogs: How could I set it up so that they both got a good walk but that they both had success? Success for Charlie would be to walk for an hour without barking/growling/snarling at another dog. Success for Chief would be to walk for an hour without pulling my shoulder out of its socket. Both of these successes requires that I walk them separately.

What a challenge! So I decided that they'd both walk on either side of me. Which meant that I would hold one leash in each hand. And last time I looked, I only had 2 hands which meant that there would be no opportunity for me to reward them with treats.

Was I crazy?

Much like I sent my son off to school this morning, trusting that he'd talk with his teacher, maybe even the principal about his concerns and end up with a successful beginning of a dialogue, I walked confidently down the street with my 2 big brown dogs by my side.

Charlie stayed in a heel with no prompting from me. Chief took a few blocks to get with the program, but he finally realized that he didn't have a choice. The 3 of us walked for 20 minutes like this, then found a park and took a sniff break (the dogs, not me...). Then we repeated the exercise until we found another park. It was awesome! A little nerve-wracking for me since I was on the look-out for other dogs or potential triggers for Charlie. But I was amazed at how well it went.

We made it home in one piece, my shoulder was not pulled out of whack, both dogs were exhausted. Isn't that the point?

And when I picked Gordon up from school, he reported that he'd talked with his teacher and they were already working on a solution. But he said I didn't need the details since he had it all under control.

Trust - it's more powerful than you think.