Acquired a third dog - help!

[CissOff]

For various (very valid) reasons, I am now the proud owner of a close family member’s 8mo puppy. We love him but didn’t ever plan on having three dogs, though equally we couldn’t see him go elsewhere. So here we are.

My current girls have had plenty of interaction with him so don’t mind him. I could just do with some advice on practicalities - like how do you walk 3 dogs at once? We tried a splitter when we got our second DDog but didn’t love it, so we just have one lead in each hand. We’ve obviously walked DDog3 when he’s been staying for holidays but it was stressful and impractical.

Also, he’s obviously a boy and we have two (spayed) girls. He’s small - about 6/7kg at 8 months and is a poodle/bischon mix so not expecting him to be big. When would it be recommended to neuter him? He’s a bit Randy and is sniffing the girls a lot, which they give him short shrift for 😂🙈

Also, he’s obsessed with balls (not his own!) and will bark to get you to throw them. We ignore him when it’s not play time but he’s persistent (he really does love them!). How do we make him stop? He’s going to puppy classes, which we are taking over but it’s concentrating on the basics, which he’s fairly good with.

Argh, so much to think of!

The newest addition ❤️

Oh he’s lovely! Looks like a teddy bear! I’ve only ever had two dogs to walk, like you I didn’t like the splinter lead as my two kept going either side of lampposts etc! Also if they pulled in the same direction it was difficult as together they weighed the same as me. Hopefully a professional dog walker will be along with a pearl of wisdom on multi dog walking.

Not sure on balls etc, I had Basset Hounds and they don’t do balls and sticks, they just looked confused if you throw one. They like sniffing every blade of grass instead.

Regarding neutering, we did our male at 9 months as recommended. A few weeks before this my male dog started marking inside (had never done this before) and humping things. Once neutered he didn’t do either again. Good luck with your new puppy!

Thank you! He’s very sweet!

I wouldn’t mind sniffing, but the endless ball throwing requests aren’t great. I hope ignoring and distraction do the trick (in the absence of any other advice!)

I wouldn't neuter until he's at least a year old and fully grown and developed.
And I'd get rid of the other balls too. Firstly, chasing balls is bad for dogs' joints. And secondly, it's not good for their mental health if they are so obsessed they can't be distracted. Constant barking for a ball to be thrown is stressful for all concerned.

Our late dog was ball obsessed so he just wasn’t allowed them at home at all unless someone was actually playing with him . It worked really well as it made them even more high value and I used them to train his recall and all sorts of things when out and offlead .

I have three dogs and if walking on my own, I do two walks and middle dog is a reactive arsehole so he gets walked on his own and other two together, if my husband comes we walk them all together, often humping isn't sexual but more a way to release energy from being over stimulated/overwhelmed or over tired, but it's best to try and wait until they are 12-18 months before castrating, although I think the thinking is changing again and it's being recommended not to castrrate, I have had both my boys done, one at 18 months and one at 7 months because he had abnormal testicles and vet decided they better to come off, he is a very cute fluff ball,