How many is too many?

We have three right now. Four if you count Chloe, but she lives with my mom, so...three. I'm planning on getting a pup at some point before the end of next year (it WILL happen), so that will make it four, kind of five. Doesn't bother me at all. It helps that they're all low key dogs and that they're all under 45 pounds. I've had cats bigger than the two little ones, and that is kind of how I view then, honestly.

So, I'm okay with potential 4-5 dogs...WITH no other animals. No cats, no ferrets, no pocket pets. If other pets are in the equation, I would only want three dogs, tops.

By I grew up with three dogs, 3-6 cats, 2-3 ferrets (or Guinea Pigs), and some other assorted pocket pets, so only having dogs is like cakewalk. Lol

I think it all depends on what you can handle.

I have two right now and that's what I should limit myself to until my Kelpie x grows older. I would happily add a third if I was allowed but I know it would be stupid with how much work my Kelpie x is. So, I reckon three would be good for me IF I had the right mix of dogs but realistically only two are doable right now.

I wouldn't want to screw things up with my two. They handle each ether well and I know how they work. Having another would screw things up right now.

Right now I'm at my current personal limit with two young sport dog prospects. And that's with only working part time. As it is I'm training both of them individually multiple times daily, working on the human aspect of a sports team and that's on top of the physical exercise requirements they have. It's a lot.

Luckily I very much enjoy it but Didgie has made things.....interesting. Especially the kink I've run into with that I didn't expect. The herding dog motion sensitivity. Didgie latched onto Traveler fast and because of that all real exercise needs need to be met individually. Which makes things more complicated. And yeah, costs of everything FOR the training add up.

It's one of my dilemma's since I do eventually want to breed but I feel like personally more than three active, competing and in training dogs might be too much for me alone. As it is two is about perfect for me at this time.

This. I really wish we had 2 or maybe 3, 4 is too many to never feel like someone is being neglected.

That's the big question here at the moment

In the ideal world where I could get my hands on my ideal dog, then absolutely I would be a one dog person.

BUT...I have Frodo. Who is a far cry from what I want in a dog. I love him DEARLY, but he is lazy and unable to do many of the sports that I am interested in and would like to actually get started in. I think I could handle not being able to do sports, but the lazy kills me. There are some days that he doesn't even want to go on a simple walk, and after a block asks to go home. It's incredibly frustrating. :thumbdown:

So then the issue becomes, can we add another dog and 1) still meet all of Frodo's mental/social needs as well as 2) be able to meet all of second (active!) dog's needs without Frodo interfering. And unfortunately we don't have an answer for this yet. I want another dog *so* bad, but I'm terrified of making a wrong decision

This also may sound ridiculous, but if we do stay at just Frodo for the remainder of his life, that means it'll probably be a good 8-10 years before I would get to try the things that I want to do like agility and skijoring. And that seems so far away. And to be childish, it also seems unfair.

Personally I'd like to stay at 4 (I know there are 6 in my sig but two are my moms dogs), might be willing to add a fifth if I feel it's worth the extra stress.

I have 3 right now and they are nicely spaced out. Hobie is almost 13, Judge is 5 and LoLa is 19months. I think 3 is my number truly. I do have an AST puppy coming sometime next year so I may have 4 for awhile depending on Hobie's health, it's not that great unfortunately. I will also have a hard time not keeping a GSD puppy from the litter that I am going to socialize. But I have learned I keep my dogs forever and ever no matter what so I have to make sure that I am always in a position to be fair with time and attention and provide the best care I can.

Three is just slightly over my threshold. I love them all dearly and they love each other they work well as a pack but they gang up on me. LOL

I battle to take them out alone as they all go in different directions and have different energy levels. Riley ring leads and drives me to distraction. She is blatantly defiant and only listens to Paul or my Mom. I adore her and wouldn't trade her for the world. LOL

I think three is plenty for me and Joey is almost like having two additional dogs with his crazy bouncy self lol. The ONLY way I could do a 4th is if Bamm was much older and a lazy lounging couch potato or if Josh wanted his own dog, but HE would have to do the training, etc for that dog because I have plenty training to do with my three as it is so I'll stick with three being my max right now.

I like two, with a revolving foster puppy. Right now, I just have Gambit, who has decided he will not live without another dog, period, lest he get stress induced colitis and almost die. But my eye is open for that special someone to drop into my life. After all, Gambit popped up on Saveapet right when I needed him.

On the other hand, four allows me to take two and leave two, so I'm not always leaving poor Mushroom home alone anymore. I don't know if he cares one way or the other, but I care.

Sometimes I wonder what the world would be like if I only had one dog, could go away for the whole day hiking or overnight at dog trials or flyball and not have to worry about the old dogs left at home. Of course, when Steve was hurt, if I'd only had one dog, I would have been INSANE.

It really depends on space, time, breed (yeah I do think that matters), etc.

9 dogs of any breed no matter how much time a person has to care for them, is too much for an apartment. It just is.

That said, 9 malinois =/= 9 whippets =/= 9 cavalier king charles spaniels.

I've kennel-sat a few breeders. 9 collies is waaaayyyy to much for me. I was exhausted by the time they came home. But those dogs were all extremely loved and well taken care of. It's a breed that gets along well so they only had to be separated when someone was in season. Both owners worked from home. The dogs got to go herding, showing, etc. They had an awesome life.

9 borzois on the other hand, I could totally handle that. lol. I don't ever personally want more than 4 at once, but if I was working from home 9 would be doable without compromising their quality of life.

I can barely even imagine 9 malinois in an apartment. Holy crap..they'd have a world domination plan by the end of the day!

Right now, our limit is just the one. I think when the munchkin gets older, like 7ish, I'd like to add a puppy, but I'm pretty happy with my one right now. A vast improvement from the 0 it was a few weeks ago.

That would seriously be the most amazing reality TV show EVER. :rofl1::rofl1::rofl1:

Nine malinois. One apartment. No yard, and a very frazzled owner.

I've had six in one house before, plus any fosters or over-night transports. Never had a problem.

When I moved out, it was clearly too much for my mother. When I got Zander six months later, it was clear he had gone without basic training, grooming, or care in the six months I was gone. She's now added two more dogs, so the count is 7. Plus rats, reptiles, ferrets, etc. From what I hear from my brother, she gives away a bunch of little animals every few months, then goes and gets a shitload more.

If I could take some of the dogs back, I would. But our current limit is 2 because of USAF restrictions.

So, depends on the person, situation, breed, all of that.

You can't leave Victor home alone because he will sob horribly. Neccy walks slower than the others, and because of this, there is no other option but to walk each individually. It blows.

I have two and it sucks. 9 would be so very sad. (And humorously scary)

I can't imagine 9 of them all with that pacing/circle walking behavior...I'd be laughing all day!

I was imagining more like, ricocheting off the walls and tearing holes in the drywall in the process.