Anyone have 3+ dogs?!

[Maneandfeathers]

Is there anyone else out there who has more than 2?!

Did you intend to get more than a couple or did it just escalate?
How do you manage to walk them all, do you split them?
Do you leave multiple dogs home alone together?

I currently have 3 very well behaved lovely dogs who get on well. We would love another (we compete and the dogs are my hobby!) but I think 3 is the limit for me…has anyone else gone past this amount, how hard has it been?

Maneandfeathers I think training dogs in multi household does mean training different things. One of the first things I train is boundary or mat training. It means that all of the dogs are totally happy to wait on their mat until it is their turn regardless of what the other dogs are doing.

So if doing agility the other dogs will wait on their mats in the field whilst I am training one of the other dogs.

Same in the van if out on a scent job the wcs will wait happily and quietly for their turn.

If any are left at home I think they enjoy the peace and quiet tbh. But peac and quiet is relative in our house

Its the human family members who make the noise not the dogs though!

@PollyRoulllson they sound amazing!
Mine are luckily very well behaved at home, they don’t bark or misbehave in any way thankfully. Literally the only issue I ever would have would be leaving stressy Gsd alone but she would be happy left forever as long as she had one of the others with her. Neither boy cares a jot
I’m not sure if having good dogs is pure luck or good management…hence worrying another might rock the boat a bit!!

Sounds like you need to have an even number

Experience helps in having "good " dogs but there can always be an outlier that livens things up a bit

Mine are very well behaved.. Ndn's don't hear them as they only bark hello greetings to me (2 of them) 1 if any hooded teens come home!! And 1 never barks. Like ever!! 2 go into kennels for their holidays and 1 come with us!!

@PollyRoulllson I think your right. Sadly the waiting list from the breeder I like is about 18m or so and I’m not sure my 13 year old will still be around then and so I would be back in uneven territory

Do you all have a mix of bitches and dogs? My male is entire and I wasn’t planning on castrating him any time soon. This leaves the debate would a female be easier but have the drama when she comes into season or a dog but risk two evenly matched entire males?
At the moment I have 2 dogs and a spayed bitch. She is ultimately boss but there’s never a cross word really. Ideally I would prefer another female but then I’ve read two bitches fight?

Hypothetically discussing this of course

I have 4, part time. I have one, and partner has 3 he has “custody” of half the time. Honestly I don’t know how people do it really. I don’t know whether it’s harder because technically they’re not “my” dogs but they’re incredibly stubborn, very barky dogs who don’t listen to a word I say! Pull like crazy on the lead so I can’t walk them all together and I don’t have the time to walk them in pairs.

We also have 3 cats. It’s a bit hectic.

I have three bitches, with no issues at all. I have beagles, so they're generally pretty good at pack living - your mileage may vary.

I think bitches are usually fine together but, if you get a problem, it's awful and they never give up, whereas males tend to fight once and reach a resolution.

I have found 3 very much harder than 2. I love them all individually, but I don't know if I'd have 3 again.

I started out with 2, lost one then added another, took on a foster dog that stayed. Those 3 were fairly easy as I could walk them altogether or have 1:1 time and leave other 2 home. They were all fairly low maintenance breed which helped.

I then took in a youngster supposedly a short term foster and turned out never left. So for a while I had 4 ( 2M 2F) this was more tricky because I hadn't picked this dog to fit with my needs he got along with pack fine but required a lot of input and could only manage him alone on walk, so ended up doing 3 sets of walks.
I've been down to 1 but much prefer having a pair, I like the different characters and how interact with each other. I quite liked 3 too but it does effect more decisions especially as I like bigger breeds. Ultimately it's getting the right mix that makes it easier.

My friend had 9 dogs and other sighthound owners frequently have 4+ so it never felt like I had loads although pretty much everyone wondered why we needed to adopt 2 to start with surely 1 dog is plenty