How can I begin a walk in a calm state?

So I took Axl on his walk this morning but we were running late and by the time we got to the park the dogs were already there. When we first arrive at our walking spot is when Axl is most excited. If I had stopped at the park and took him out with all those dogs around he would have lost his mind. I would definitely be setting him up for failure. So I went down to a trail through the marsh and parked there. No one was there and Axl has never been there. I thought it would be a great place to stretch him a little but be basically a controlled environment. So we walked along the marsh path for a little while and then we headed down into Kailua town. We walked all through the downtown areas, through buildings and walkways, by people sitting out eating, and Axl was great the entire time. He never even attempted to act inappropriately, he never even paid much attention to those things. It was awesome.

After taking Axl I took Lola on a private walk. Lola does not have the energy level and stamina of Axl so taking them on long walks together is really not practical. Anyway, I headed out with Lola and she was completely awesome. She was a perfect dog and could not have been better. Even when the horse approached her, she just backed up and didn't bark at it. It was great walking both of them.

Here's the dilemma.... walking them together causes them to feed off each others energy and in the beginning of a walk that's not good. At the start Axl is very nervous and gives off nervous energy. Lola picks up on that and it raises her energy in a bad way. After we've been walking for 10-20 minutes both of them calm down and the walk is fine. My question is, how do I prevent them from feeding off each others energy?? How can we start a walk in a calm state? We always begin the walk by sitting and getting some treats and starting slow, but that doesn't seem to help. What can I do?? We have come so far in the walk and I know it will take time and patience but when I get flashes of how good they can be I want to hurry things up. Maybe I should stop feeding them the best multivitamins I can find. Then they wouldn't have so much energy and be so healthy :)