I have a slight quandary and would appreciate the opinions and experiences of other multidog owners. We have over 20 years of dog experience and have 2 well trained and behaved dogs currently. A 9 year old male collie /lab type mixed breed, and a 3 1/2 year old black female lab. There's me and my husband in the house along with our 16 year old daughter (our youngest). The dogs have crate space of their own, and there's enough room for another crate for puppy. We live in a rural area with plenty of good quality off lead walking areas. The dogs are purely pets, we enjoy their company and walking with them, but won't be working them or breeding. So... Are we mad to be thinking of having three? I've had a variety of reactions from dog walking companions, but only one has 3 dogs, and those are English springers, so a lot smaller. Some say the more the merrier, some think it could be a nightmare. What do all of you think? And I'd especially like to hear from multi dog owners. Good and bad experiences, anything at all. This is not a case of, ooh, we love dogs, let's have a many as we can, I want to be sure we won't end up with 2 packs in the house. The human pack and the dog pack, I want a single unified group with us humans in control. Will three dogs be more likely to challenge us? A little about the puppies we are thinking about. We know the owners and both puppy parents. Laid back, easy going dogs. A brother from a previous litter is also very laid back. We trust the owners, known them a long time, and to be honest, it's partly that we'd rather have a puppy from them, than a breeder we don't know. I'm sure they must be some people here with three dogs, so let me know anything you think is relevant. Thanks in advance. Kim
Re: Two dogs or three? It depends very much on the temperament of the dog you are about to add to the mix. I had two lovely easy springer girls, my life was complete, and then I acquired a 14 months old rescue devil dog cocker who turned everything upside down, and my life has never been the same again! Now I have four dogs and I'm constantly thinking I need a fifth dog. Seriously, though, I expect you have thought through all the practicalities, like can you fit three large dogs in the back of your car, have you got the time and energy to give to a young pup in training it separately from your other two etc. You will also have to expect a period of time when things are a bit unsettled until the new pup fits into the routine and your older dogs have accepted that new routine. Good luck.
Re: Two dogs or three? I think I need 5 dogs...just got to break it to the OH. He has come round to the idea of a cocker spaniel - he agrees there is enough room in Charlie's bed / car crate etc. to tuck in a cocker without problem. Mind, it's taken months of positive reinforcement - "wouldn't a chocolate cocker look good on that bit of cream fleece Charlie isn't using? have-a-home-made-chocolate- brownie-chocolate-is-GOOD". But I'm thinking another lab. And a cocker. Or two...
Re: Two dogs or three? Kim, I usually have had just 2 dogs, but occasionally three. That's most often been as I'm thinking ahead to that sad time when one of the older dogs has to move on. I'll get a younger dog to kinda bridge that time. It seems to have resulted in less grieving behavior for the remaining older dog, and the two remaining dogs still have each other for company and play. I got my puppy, Daisy, now 19 weeks old, in part as a playmate for my 3 1/2 year old Golden mix. My oldest dog, Molly, at 10 (when we got the Golden mix as a 6 month old) was not interested in playing, and I think that was hard on the Golden. He and Daisy are best buds now and play all the time. Molly is now about 14 and spends her time not being pestered and taking every opportunity to sit close to me for special petting! It can be a hassle to try to walk all three on leashes at the same time, but it can be done. I've used a coupler for two and a separate leash for the third. Living in the country now is much easier! Like you, I have lots of space for off-leash running. I do make separate vet appointments (2 and 1) for routine care, and I do have to have individualized training sessions for the puppy. On the other hand, the good behavior of the older dogs has helped the puppy learn the ropes very quickly. I haven't had any sense at all of a "them vs us" feel from the dogs. If anything, they're more like three kids, all wanting attention from the grownups! If your puppy is coming from mellow, laid-back stock, I wouldn't hesitate! No guarantees, though, you know!
Re: Two dogs or three? I have always had one dog until sixteen years ago when I got two Cavalier Spaniel rescues. They lived 15 happy years and I LOVED having two. My Mum and Dad and MIL too turns to come and look after them from lunchtime onwards while we were at work. When I retired we got Tatze (Lab) and, ever since Gavin (Cavalier) died I hankered after having two. But DH wasn't keen. So we went down the Guide dog puppy route. I have two lovely dogs, Tatze has a friend and we don't have any of the expense of insuring and holiday costs for a second dog. Of course the down side is that we say goodbye to her in twelvemonths time. But soon after that a new pup will arrive and we start again! To answer your question - two dogs is the ideal in my view, No, I wouldn't want three - I have two hands for holding leads and that will do me
Re: Two dogs or three? I had 3 for a few years. Bought in a new pup when we thought our old girl was on her way out but the pup gave her a new lease of life and she lasted much longer than both me and her vet ever thought possible! I would walk the pup with the old girl to start with as their exercise levels were about the same, doing a separate walk with the young adult afterwards, as the pup reached 12mths I swapped taking the two younger ones out together. I had the old bitch with two younger male dogs which worked really well, she was very dominant, could keep the other two under control with just a look and was very good at teaching the youngsters their manners. When she died I didn't bring another one in as I personally find two easier.
Re: Two dogs or three? My other half keeps saying we need a play mate for Lola, who at almost 9 months is still quite a handful. So it is most definitely a no for now. If you have the space, patience and time for another then definitely go for it, but the fact you are questioning it in the first place maybe an answer in itself? ???
Re: Two dogs or three? Thanks everyone. I had thought about puppy walking in the past, but I'm not sure I'd be too good at giving them up every year. The parents of the pup and older brother are all pretty laid back and easy going, so I know there are no guarantees, but best guess would suggest happy go lucky pups. Walking three on lead has been in my mind but 95% of exercise is off lead. It's literally 2 minutes walk, or less, round the corner to the woods and a variety of walks on bridleways and public footpaths, and I walk with many other regular dog walkers, so the dogs usually play and run around very much further than any of us walk. Also, my husband is likely to retire in about 2 years, so there will be another pair of hands full time. We talked about waiting for a puppy until then, but as much as he loves the dogs, he's not as consistent with training and expecting good behaviour as I am, so we both agree it would be better if I did the early training before he's around full time. It's not that I have a little voice in my head saying "don't do it", it's more that I understand the commitment and I'm under no illusions about the additional work involved. I want to be sure I've thought of everything to avoid any nasty surprises. I know for sure we won't regret it, I just like to think through everything before I make decisions. As far as my husband is concerned, it's a done deal, but he's prone to impulsive decisions and I've learnt to balance that by being super careful with research before jumping with big decisions. Actually, I think that's why we work so well, without him I'd never get out of research phase and make any decisions, but without me, goodness only knows where he'd be, we do laugh though that he'd probably have no money and a house chock full of unwise impulse buys. Haha. Having said that, hubby has been on about a puppy from these people since their last litter, and he's always admiring other people's choc labs. He has bonded especially well with our black lab and like me has become a real fan of the breed. So I think my cautiousness is mainly a reaction to my husband's lack of caution. I'm not hearing of anything we can't cope with nor any horror stories of the dogs taking over the household if trained well (which seems to be the key), and I'm used to a full, noisy and busy house, we have 5 children in all. Maybe this is my solution to empty nesting since 4 are all grown up with their own homes now. So looks like I'll be letting you know when puppy comes home . She's probably going to be called Coco, although Lily is running a close second. All the family, even the older ones, get to vote. Thanks again for the input. Kim
Re: Two dogs or three? Exciting ;D You may initially think "what on earth have I done" but it will soon settle and be easy. I walked three German Pointers on the lead easily, bit more difficult with Labradors as they are so strong. But with only 2 mins walk to the wood, it will be no problem as you will be walking the pup separately to begin with and then he/she will be trained to walk beautifully at heel ;D
Re: Two dogs or three? Thanks. Yes, puppy won't be in the woods initially, mainly concentrate on lead training, and I know enough people who will meet me on the lane as you enter the woods to allow a bit of play with other dogs of various sizes and types until I feel confident about recall etc.
Re: Two dogs or three? The best way is to go into the wood with pup off lead (once you get there) and keep hiding behind the trees, pup will then keep his/her eye on you all the time and recall will become easy. I can't jinx off a path for two seconds without both my Labs dashing to find me.
Re: Two dogs or three? We have always had two or three over the years we found a big difference between having two and three, two suit us best I think as soon as we added a third we had a pack who when off lead would do their own thing, mind they were terriers and quite wilful. Don't enjoy having just one they always look so lonely so we have settled on 1 1/2, Labrador and Chihuahua get lots of comment about little and large though.
Re: Two dogs or three? Eeee. I'm all excited now. Went to visit puppy today and we can bring her home next week. So rushed off to the pet shop for some toys, including existing dogs so they have somethimg new and exciting themselves when she arrives. And ordered some slow feed bowls to slow feed time down for everyone. I mixed feed, some raw, some kibble, so they could definitely could do with being slowed down with the kibble. May as well start as we mean to continue with puppy. So excited. Ok, I'll pop off to the puppy area from now on. Have a few queries about sleeping arrangements with a new puppy in a multi dog household. Thanks everyone for the input. Maybe I'll prefer 2 after all, but I won't know until I try, and with "big brother" Toby now at 9 years old, it's likely that within 5 or so years, we will be back to 2 again anyway. I have a sneaking suspicion though that I'm going to love it. Had 5 children, I'm used to noisy chaos, and the grown up children reckon I'm empty nesting. Haha. Hmmm. They could be right.
Re: Two dogs or three? I'm an emoty nester two, my twin boys are 22, and my new twin lab boy babies are 15 weeks Look forward to seeing oics of your new baby Lou x
