Three's a crowd?

I have plans to get another dog next year, but I'm having a lot of anxiety about the decision. The thought of having more dogs than hands makes me a little nervous. I didn't think twice about adding a second dog though...

What changed when you added a 3rd dog? Do you think 3 is too many? Would you go back to 2? Has your relationship changed with your dogs or has the relationship changed between your dogs when you added a third? Do you feel like you can give them all enough attention?

What about fights?

I know cost of food & vet care will go up. I'm not worried about that part. I'm more worried about every day things like training, exercising, managing, etc.

I do think the "odds" are a bit more challenging than the "evens" but even though I'm at 4 now I'll answer.

Mostly I find there's more management and being aware of where everyone is and what their moods are, if anyone seems to be getting on anyone else's nerves. Being more proactive about interrupting stuff. Because if two get snarky with each other you just have to deal with those two but sometimes the third/fourth feels a need to stick their nose into it too and that can escalate a small thing to a bigger thing.

It's rare for me to have all four dogs loose together in the house, and will only do it in the yard if I'm out with them. Otherwise I rotate them in and out in various combinations. It's easier to do groups of 2 with 4 dogs, but when I had 3 I would often put 2 dogs out and keep one dog in or vice versa. My house is small with a layout that makes it easy to block off little side rooms without isolating anyone, so it's easy to baby gate for bones, etc. or if someone just needs a break from someone else (coughToastcough).

It's totally doable. I don't feel like anyone lacks for attention, not everybody gets the exact same thing right now but everyone gets what they need. A 6 month old puppy needs more dedicated training time than a 10 year old dog, kwim? It helps that I can take all 3 younger dogs together mushing together and exercise them all in one fell swoop, though. Then Pip gets his "mom time" on walks/hikes with just he and I. It all comes out in the wash even if on any given day things aren't exactly "fair."

We recently had some problems with Ryker being an ass to Gypsy, but it seems to have dissipated and we're working through it. Which is the reason why I want to wait at least another year to make sure that he's going to be fine. I wouldn't consider adding another one if I didn't feel like I couldn't manage another. We're already doing a lot of management and it hasn't been a big deal.

I like that your house is set up in sections with gates, we have something similar going on with each section of the house gated and able to be closed off.

I don't have a third, but have experienced three young active dogs in one house, and I found it really hard and chaotic. Two played well together, but with three a couple of them would gang up on one dog. Or two would finally decide to take a nap and be calm, but the third would go and poke everybody and wake them up again. And one dog was very upset about watching the other two play outside without him.

I'm sure a lot of it depends on the dogs in question, but I found it a lot more stressful and chaotic than just two. It didn't help that the third dog was like 2x the energy of the others, who are already active and go-go-go. If one of the dogs was calm and not into wrestle-mania with the others, it would be a lot easier.

ETA: To be fair, we did not have all three dogs together long enough to find out if things would have ultimately settled down, so it might not be fair to base it off of that experience. We'll see what happens on vacation with two adult dogs plus a puppy (and the crazy active one won't be there).

Well a lot changed over here but in mostly good ways. Also was adding in Hank to two papillons who were older/mellower. Hank needs a lot but that was what I wanted. It took a good 2 months though for everything to finally settle. The first two to three weeks were rough on everyone and I seriously questioned myself at a couple points because Hank is definitely not the kind of dog the papillon girls would prefer to live with.

But everyone figured it out and they get along pretty good. It's not bad with exercise but mostly because the two paps are pretty limited these days on what they can do and they don't get too antsy either. So it's easy to lightly exercise them then take Hank and really work him.

I do have a lot more potential for conflict now. It always stems from Hank being incredibly wild and the paps being grumps so we do have a lot more rules than before. Mia and Hank both aren't the most conflict-avoiding dogs... Mia is really sharp and temperamental and Hank won't back down from conflicts. Mia is more apt to start things but Hank would probably try to finish it. Things are more thought out and managed tighter- like who gets to go out the door when and kenneling while I eat and locking up food when dogs are out, how to do things but keep all dogs calm, etc. It's second nature now but it's not as easy as before. But a lot of that is just dog personality and age differences. The paps are so tiny that it is more a concern for me than other people. And Hank is intense in a very exuberant and vaulting off the walls and furniture kind of way... Papillons do not like being vaulted upon. () If I'm honest I'm glad Hank is smaller than I thought he'd be (but he is higher energy and drive than I thought too) because having papillons with his style of energy and intensity in a larger package could have been a lot more management. But you can minimize issues with better balanced groups that are closer in size and energy and intensity.

Overall I'm very glad I got #3. He's just what I wanted. He and Mia even play every day now. It's loud screechy play but nonetheless....

If I could have all I wanted in 2 dogs at all times, I'd prefer 2 by far. It's just easier in every way. But with what I enjoy it's more than likely that I'll have 3-4 at a time almost all the time and that's fine. Life pretty much revolves around the dogs though.

We've had up to 6 with an easier breed distribution (to me). 2 shelties and 4 papillons was a total breeze. 1 terrier mix, 5 papillons was rougher and all the conflict was between the terrier and Mia.

I'm just going to blame terriers and Mia.

Really I could probably have 20 Summers and be just fine. But I don't know that I could take more than 2 Hanks at a time.

Also large numbers of dogs are easier with land. When we had 6 we had enough land to exercise them all together without loading everyone up in a car or something.

I can see how having 3 active young dogs would be overwhelming. If mine were both active like that I probably wouldn't get another. Gypsy doesn't do anything expect sleep and run around the yard once or twice a day. She very rarely engages in play with Ryker and when she does it's usually just chasing outside. They leave each other alone for the most part. I'm not sure if adding another dog would upset this balance though.

I think that's probably why I want another because I don't quite have what I want in both of my dogs. Not that my dogs aren't want I want...because they are. I actively sought them out for their qualities (mostly), but I still want a dog that will fill my need for wanting something else. Like a dog that is more handler focused and biddable. I just don't know if I want to wait 6+ years for that for one of mine to pass.

In my crew, Hank basically ignores Summer since she's 'boring'. The play is either Mia and Hank or Mia and Summer. And if Mia and Summer are playing, Hank has to be put away.

Hank would definitely like a dog his speed in the house.

I wouldn't have 3 where we're at right now because it's too cramped, but we're moving and will have 6 acres of land at our new house. We will be working of getting at least an acre or two fenced in.

Yeah, we had a rough group. Watson loves to play and has a hard time settling around other dogs. Grey, ACDx, kind of likes to play but mostly just likes to retrieve or wander around, but he is high energy, bouncy, bossy with other dogs, and loud. Siri, the nutcase one, likes to play, parkour off of trees, and generally be insane, and she is pushy with other dogs (I think she's about a year old, so typical for her age). So she would start chasing Watson and biting him in the butt, and then Grey would join because hey herder, let's chase the other dog, and Watson looked really uncomfortable. And then when Watson and Grey would finally settle, Siri would go wake them up and be obnoxious. That was only the second time I've ever seen Watson stand up for himself to another dog. He finally had enough of her and turned around and roared in her face. The whole thing was just nuts. It worked for a day, but I would have been driven to drink if I had to live with the three of them.

If Gypsy is really chill and they ignore each other, I think that would be so much easier. What type of dog are you thinking? Puppy? High energy breed? Or something else?

Yeah that sounds chaotic!

I'm not totally set on breed yet, but it will most likely be a puppy from a breeder. I think Gypsy is around medium maybe even medium/low energy and Ryker is medium/high right now. I want a dog with higher energy than my 2 have so probably a dog with energy level that is considered high. Being capable of training an off leash recall is going to be very important in my next dog. I'm leaning towards a herder.

It takes a while to get into the swing of things. A couple weeks really in my experience.

I felt that when we got Gypsy. Things seemed kind of crazy at first. I think the fact that she is so reactive also made me feel more overwhelmed. Now it's just normal and easy.

I also need to test Gypsy first with a strange dog before I bring another one home. Our behaviorist thinks she will be fine if muzzled as a precaution and introduced off leash. I'm not too worried about it because she's like the least aggressive dog ever, the most she has done is yelled at Ryker.

I'm just trying to not get my hopes up in case things don't work out and we end up not being able to get another dog.

To me, getting a 3rd dog did up the drama, but if you are good at being involved with them and staying on top of things...it will calm down and they will fall into a line that is quite workable. A lot of it is just getting the hang of a routine and staying consistent. I also looked for a more chill dog to add, one that was going to be a little less challenging to the doggy dynamics.

Now that Knarly is so old, it's all most like I only have two dogs...though I have to be on top of Knars cranky days where he's constantly trying to start a rumble [mostly with Rip]. The other two tolerate this very well, but I don't risk anything and am probably over protective in that area.

I think the chaos is all most unbearable at first, but like many say...it tones down with time and work.

PS Very beautiful dogs...love the deep red coloring.

Technically the third was Payton except Pepper wasn't living here at the time, so Pepper came in as the third. There was zero difference, just one more dog to let in/out of a crate, one more head to count when we went in and outside, one more bowl to fill. Literally the only issue with having three right now is that two are still intact so when Pepper is in season she can't be anywhere near Payton. If she were spayed I would have zero concerns. Payton went through a phase where he was a giant jerkface to Auggie and Georgie both but that was adolescence and I expect would have happened no matter if I had just two, three, or four...

Actually I guess Georgie was the third because she came before Pepper permanently came to live with me. No real difference there either, it took a while for Georgie and Auggie to settle their differences (he HATED her for a while) but I just don't think the three, or four, are really that different. Everybody is very well adjusted and if nobody wants to play with Payton, he just gets a toy and plays by himself. If Georgie is in the mix he is a happy boy because she is basically always ready to play as well.

I actually worry a bit that my next dog won't learn to play by himself since P is always up for a game, but whatever, I'll deal with that when I get there.

Thanks I think it would be less of a deal for me if I had small dogs. I'm a big dog lover and next dog with most likely be 50lbs+ as well.

Glad to hear that others who have 3+ dogs have 'problem' dogs as well. I'm mostly worried about Ryker getting along with a younger dog on a daily basis . I think most of his recent ass-ness is because of adolescence as well, but he seems to be getting better. He's not DA or selective at all with strange dogs though.

I just added number three, and I feel like I'm still getting used to it.

There are definite changes, some good, some bad. I didn't really want to have three dogs, but I'm not unhappy that I brought Skill home, and I'd re-do it in a second. But 2 is definitely what I would call my comfort level.

For me the Skill/Siri combo is awesome. They play together, I don't worry about fights, they're busy busy busy but I don't mind that. I feel like I could have two Skills and a Siri, and be fine.

Frodo, on the other hand would much prefer to be an only dog, and so having yet another, non-stop dog in the house is hard. He and Skill pretty much just ignore each other, and I'm totally fine with that. But I can tell the activity level in the house is hard for him sometimes.

I've also found that with three dogs, when I take two and leave one, my dogs have a harder time, than when it was take one and leave one. I don't know if that's just my dogs though.

The hard part for me, then, becomes having a balance between the young, high energy dogs and the older, mellow, anxious dog. I didn't post this here (and I don't think I'm FB friends with you), but last week Frodo and Siri had a fight and Frodo received a pretty bad bite from her. So now it's crate/rotate for them, and honestly I don't know that they will be able to re-integrate. So that has added a whole new dimension to the three dog thing! It's been hard with Frodo's anxiety, because anything new is stressful, and trying to crate/rotate is a huge new for him.

I don't know if that post has any helpful information in it, lol, but there it is!

Yes, 3 dogs are a pack and you will start to see behaviours that you did not see when it was just 2 dogs.

When it was just me, Lugia (Silken Windhound) and Circus (Australian Koolie) it was very easy. There were never any fights or conflicts, I never had to do much managing when it came to resources (whether it was myself, food, toys, even highly valued things like RMBs) they ALWAYS got along. The both of them also did very well whenever they interacted with other dogs (at the dog parks, play dates, etc).

About a year ago I moved in with my SO who already had a dog (then, a 1 year old male neutered Lab mix). It took some time for our dogs to get used to living with each other. Lugia (an angel) never caused any problems during this transition. Circus and Pablo would frequently get into it - it seemed like the both of them were resource guarding various things - whether it was us, toys, food, chews, whatever. Neither my SO and I were very experienced in managing a multi-dog household, but we quickly had to learn. We both were used to giving RMBs to our own respective dogs when we lived apart and just forgetting about it and doing our own thing - not the case now, they must be strictly supervised. I used to leave a toy bin out for Lugia and Circus - can't do that anymore cuz Pablo and Circus might get into an altercation over a toy. When it comes to giving attention to any of our dogs, it's now important to be very aware and alert as to the whereabouts and emotional status of all the other dogs in the room - if two dogs are trying to sit in one person's lap and they get too excited, that might erupt in a fight, too. With proper management, we can avoid that kind of conflict... but it really takes diligence.

Ever since Circus turned 2, she stopped being so "DOGGY". When she was younger, she used to be obsessed with interacting with other dogs and very playful, friendly, and submissive to even strange dogs. But now, as she's maturing, I'm noticing a lot more reactivity from her towards other dogs. It's completely manageable IF I'm on top of my game, but I find that I have to do a lot more micro-managing when Circus is interacting with other dogs. She does NOT like it when other dogs are rude and is very ready and willing to take their face off at the first offence it seems... the other day at a feed store (both dogs were offleash) a male castrated 90lb GSD stood over her and kind of stared at her... within a second, she was trying to fight him, even though she's a little peanut at 25 lbs.

She's a feisty one but I'm really trying to work on her reactivity towards other dogs. I wasn't expecting this because I read that Koolies were great with other dogs... Circus WAS! She was perfect with other strange dogs. Uuuuppp until she hit two years old. Now she's a work in progress again. She really is improving and I'm happy with her progress, BUT it is taking a lot of work and training.

No, you misunderstand. Payton is not a 'problem' dog. This was a brief period that lasted about a month, maybe two, and it was over two years ago. Since that brief period, we don't have fights here. Ever. My sister's shelties fought - mine do not.

I repeat:

Yeah I mean I think it really depends on the dogs. Having 3 at my dads house isn't really difficult because none of them really even interact with each other much. Plus they're all little and 2 are lazy (ahem, Jackson not being one of them). They all, for the most part, respect each other and mostly ignore. However we do have to watch Lily, the JRT mix and Jackson closely because she is a giant bitch and he won't put up with her sh*t (whereas Buddy the spaniel/dachshund mix is better at just giving at a warning growl and walking away). Lily will start her stuff and if Jackson feels threatened, he will 'defend' himself. Also can't just leave bones/chews out on the floor. Oh and barking is sooo much worse with all 3 of them. One barks, they all bark. Other than that that though it's easy.

But when I'm dogsitting and have 3 total, including Jackson, I find it super hard and inconvenient but again not my dogs, so routines aren't necessarily established etc.

Then again one time I dogsat for someone who had 8 dogs... all yorkies except 2, plus I had Jackson over. It was one of the easiest dog sitting jobs ever. My biggest problem was just making sure they were all accounted for when they came back inside so I'd do a headcount. But none of them ever fought, they all were just free fed and nibbled, they were all super low key for the most part. I would never ever want that many dogs... but it was way easier than expected. But it would've been insane if I had 8 Jackson and Lily's.