Are three dogs too many?

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We have an almost 8 year old lab girl and she's been us since she was 8 weeks old. We also have a lab cross rescue who is about 5 and we've had him since he was about 18 months.

Too much time on my hands over the holidays and I foolishly started looking at rescue sites and have seen a lovely 2 year old lab girl at a rescue centre.

Heart says yes but head says no - 2 dogs are enough. We have an average sized house with an average sized garden. Also have 3 teenagers and 2 cats. DH is retired and I work part time so someone around pretty much all the time. But what if it upsets the dogs we already have? And how do people manage 3 biggish dogs on leads? And will people think we're odd?!

i have considered a third dog but the walking put me off. i have two jrt, one is a bit of a shit with recall and doesn't have any manners. the two of them on a walk is fine. i often walk my mum's dog who is big and old. the three of them are managable but its not so enjoyable. they all go off in different directions and i don't have enough eyes.

Hmm - that's one of the things I'm worried about. The rescue dog doesn't have great recall and he can sometimes be snappy with other dogs if he feels threatened. I keep reminding myself that having a third child was an awful lot harder than when I just had two. Hopefully I'll stop feeling so broody for another dog once I get back to work!

Having had my friends dog here for the past three weeks, alongside my own two, I would say three dogs is one dog too many! I'm just not enjoying walking them that much at the minute, and the snow was hell with three, as my JRT was terrified of it and my friends dog is a bit of a puller - how I didn't end up on my arse is s miracle!

Plus when two poo at the same time, you can keep your eye on where one went whilst cleaning up the other, but when three do it at once, all miles apart from each other, you clean up the closest them spend the next hour hunting for the rest!!

I had three before, several years ago, but I think my tolerance levels were higher then and I wouldn't be in a rush to do it again. In fact, most days, I question why I got a second!

I had three for a couple of years, and for me it was one too many. Like you I had three teens and two cats as well, and it just felt like it was one extra thing I had to look after. I wouldn't do it again.

Thanks for talking some sense into me! I sponsor the Dogs Trust and so, of course, they send me lots of literature about the work they do which doesn't help!

We've had two and three (various combinations). As a rule I'd say two is perfect. I've been tempted many a time, but since our last one died in 2011 we've stuck to two. They're elderly, so people keep asking about 'succession planning' but I don't want to upset our oldest.

I have 3
Walking is fine
They all pull like mad as I haven't trained them not to
however they all have pretty good recall, the spaniel completely ignores people and other dogs
the jackshit is pretty good with other dogs and people and will come back instantly for a treat.
The collie is a complete arse with other dogs but has a very good recall and is always on lead around any approaching dog.
I walk the two bigger dogs on a double lead and the jackshit on his own lead, I quite like having 3 as they are all very different but the mud and hair is a bit much

We have three, two working cockers and a Staffie/ whippet X who's about 9 months now.

Generally the (unplanned) arrival of the third has been only for the good. The dynamic between the boys has changed dramatically as they now have the pup to deal with, rather than competing endlessly to see who can run faster or flush more birds. In fact we liken them to a gay couple with a favourite niece, very fond of her, more than happy to have her about yet at the same time, just a little unsure how to deal with her :o

The only real issue is shorter walks in the day eg. just 10 minutes in the field to break the day up. I cannot take two and leave one behind as all hell breaks loose (prior to her arrival one would wait patiently while I took the other) All three together defeats the "quick walk with 5 minutes training" idea so I often end up doing three short walks instead

I am also finding it really hard to find even a campsite that will accept three dogs.