How many dogs is too many?

[PoodleMommy]

Forgetting about money... say you had all the money in the world... how many dogs do you think is too many?

There has to come a point where you can no longer socialize, exercise, bond with, and give attention to all your dogs. So where do you think that line is?

1, 3, 5, 1000? you get the picture... give me a number and feel free to give your explanation as well.

 

[mrose_s]

I think it depends on the dog and your time.

Like now, I could probablyhave 2 of my own. EVen with Buster's issues I think I have room/time and effort to put into raising a second dog properly. That won't happen because we already have 4 though lol.

I'll probably not have more than 3 or 4 at one time... plus foster's.

The particular 4 we have here atm is a bad idea pretty much. Both boys have DA and harry has mild HA.Mac is a bit skitterish and they can geta real pack mentality when together. It's still a good system that they belong to 3 differnt people. Mum has 2 and my sister and I have one each. sharing the responsibility makes it easy to own them even if their difficult.

 

[Paige]

That depends on if I am thinking with my head or my heart. With my heart I'd take all the needy. With my head I'd say four. Three is enough for now though.

 

[mrose_s]

lol may I mention cats is pretty much limitless They're much easier and smaller. I'd like my own again soon

 

[PoodleMommy]

lol may I mention cats is pretty much limitless They're much easier and smaller. I'd like my own again soon

Have you ever cleaned a litter box?! LOL

I adore cats and could never imagine being without at least one... but cleaning that litter box sure makes it hard to imagine too many.:lol-sign:

 

[noludoru]

Hmm. For ME my total limit.. ever.. is probably somewhere around four. I just can't imagine being able to give enough attention to more.

Right now it's one. And will be one, for a very, very, very long time. I doubt I'll even get a second dog during Middie's lifetime. Fostering during his lifetime, probably.. when I'm in or already out of college I bet I will.

Anyone else? It depends upon the people, I guess.... there are some people on this forum I bet could have 10+.. they have the endless love and the savvyness and the true dedication for it. For your average, even dog-savvy person, I think 5-7 is a good limit.

 

[mrose_s]

lol I handed over litterbox duties to my sister as Ell has picked her as his one and only and I'm sick of doing it when he won't even look at me when she's around lol.

My mum had 27 cats at one time... no actually. She had like 7 cats and too many kittens. PLus 4 dogs... living in a bus lol.
And she looks at me like I'm weird about wanting more animals.
She laughed at me about my fish the other day, then relised when she was my age she'd been able to collect pet sheep/horses/goats/cats/dogs etc and had heaps of them

 

[showpug]

I think 2 dogs is the ideal number. I have five which really is too many

 

[RD]

Right now my limit is one. If I wasn't working, in school, trying to balance a social life, volunteer work and fun time for myself, and was able to stay at home with the dogs as much as I wanted, I'd say 5 would be my limit as far as how much individual attention and training I'd be able to give them.

If I didn't have a house full of performance dogs and I had a mellow breed content to just lay around and be pets, I'd say more than 5. But the border collies are high maintainance beasties.

 

[MafiaPrincess]

I think it partially depends upon the dogs you have. I could see having 4. But not with Cider. Cider is so high maintenance she's like 3 dogs all by herself.. Smudge though is like not having one, unless he's coming for cuddles.. I for see having more than 2. But it won't be anytime soon, as Cider couldn't handle it, and I'm not in the position to own more where I am in life.

Which is really really sad.. as there's a 2008 afghan litter that I'd love to contemplate a pup from if the right one was there.. And I was just told about a standard poodle litter that's becoming a possibility out of my favourite agility poodle ever. So hard to say no. But the timing is terrible.

 

[Punkygirl0101]

I think its based on the owner, and the breed of dog. I think someone would be crazy to have more 4 australian shepherds, or any other very high energy dog.

And about cats, me and my family have 23 cats. They are all very well taken care of, their areas are very sanitary, they get veterinary care, they are fed high quality foods. The city I live in has THE highest euthanisia rate for the state of California, and has one of the top 5 euthanasia rates in the U.S. There are tons of cat rescues, but these rescues are FILLED to the brim with cats...>There are feral, stray, and kittens running everywhere in this city. Nobody seems to understand the importance of fixing their cats, and then they take the kittens to the SPCA< or dump them on someones property. We take in a lot of unwanted cats for that reason. And we are not the only people who have taken in the strays, and who have helped spay and neuter and release ferals (We have spayed several ferals who have been creating more and more stray/feral kittens). Our city actually raised the limit one person can have of cats from 4, to 19. And its not like they even care if someone has more...because we are taking these strays off the streets and giving them a home. (Every cat rescuer and volunteer I know has atleast 10 cats, if not more.).

On to dogs. We have 12, as you can see in my sig. Most are very low energy dogs, and 1-2 hours of play in the backyard tends to be good enough for them (Ages are:11,9,7,7,6,3,3,2,2,2, and two dogs who are older than 6 but age is unknown)..So most of my dogs are considered elderly. But I give the dogs who want and need more exercise as much as they want. They are fed a good food,they were all basic obedience trained, they get out of the house often (As much as we can, atleast 4-5 times a week). And they spend most of the day with atleast one human. I only work part time, and haven't started college yet..and me and my friends hang out at my house..so the dogs are with me all day long, and with my mom all night long when she gets home from work.

SO I will say again, putting money aside, it is STILL based on the human caretaker, and the breed and age of dog/s the owner has.

 

[Gatep]

i think as long as i can support them i will own it. i love to have a dog and love playing with them. specially when the time you will see a new born puppy. it's like you're having a new born baby. that's what i feel

 

[elegy]

three is the absolute limit. i think i'd be happier with two.

 

[harrischrysler]

I always thought maybe 7-10. However, money not being an issue would make me a certified nut. You got to have 12-20 sled dogs, and of course a selection of others from there. So 36 is my number. Here's why: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADuuxb8jyac&feature=related

 

[Lilavati]

I think it really, really depends on the person, their time, the dogs, and what the dogs are for. My family had, at one point, over 80 dogs, but the vast majority were my father's beagle pack.

Though they all had their own names, and received a few minutes of individual attention (especially if they asked for it), by and large they were excercised, socialized etc, as a pack. However, controlling a literal pack of off leash dogs is a skill very few people possess (and when I was little, my father actually walked them on a road, admittedly a country road, we never lost one.) It certainly requires lots of space, lots of time, and as my father has gotten older, hired help.

My feeling is that one or two people, with normal dog training skills and pet dogs, keeping them in the house, probably max out at about 4-5. We never had more than that in the house, and I have trouble imagining having more in a house, no matter how large unless they were very small and very low energy.

Personally, I think my limit will be 3. But I have a busy life! And right at this moment, its 1. We are talking about getting a puppy in the summer, if Sarama is mature enough to be a help. But I wouldn't get another dog now, unless it was a situation where there was no one else and the dog's life was at stake.

I will say I always enjoyed telling people when they asked about pets "Well, we live on a farm . . . we have 2 horses, 5 cats, a tame chicken, some peacocks, and oh, 80 some dogs."

 

[vanillasugar]

Even if money wasn't an issue, I'm still in an apartment, which means one dog is more than enough for the time being.

In the future though, I think I'd be happiest with two, no more than three.

As for cats, two is my "happy cat" number

 

[pafla]

As other said it depends about lot of things.But to me since I am not intrested in breeding or hunting but work with dogs in dog training club somewhere around four- five.I have two dogs now and I am planning on getting another one.But Tea is 8 years fear aggressive,neurotic and often counts as a couple of low energy dogs,Rea is 5 years and high energy dog both have pack mentality and love to push me over the edge with testing the boundaries.And I am planning on buying working line groen.So when groen reach two-three years I my consider another dog.But then it really depends about a lot of other things I dont even want to think about.-like family members who dont want anything to do with my dogs.I also own two cats age 8.5 years and 6 years old who are inside cats.My mother had the same question about them and I told three is a top limit for cats.And counting on getting a third in some three-four years to liven up things for older cats.

 

[oc_spirit]

It really depends on what type of dog I have and WHY I have them. If I decide to go further with sledding and build up my own racing line then I'd easily have about 20+ dogs.

If my living situation dictates I can not have a kennel then I'll likely have about 4-6 dogs.

 

[Amstaffer]

For me.... living in the city, I think 2 medium size dogs is the max. If I was retired and living way out in the country I could maybe see four, but I still think two would still be ideal.

I think I could care for more if I had too, but for my enjoyment and sanity two is the ideal number.

 

[skittledoo]

I'd have to say that 3-4 would be my limit. I wouldn't want to have too many because I'd like to have the time to spend individually with each one bonding and training. I know for sure there's a toller in my future and hopefully a couple years down the road I want a doberman. If I marry Brendan we'll probably end up with an Alaskan Malamute or a husky at some point too. As far as cats... I think 4 or 5 would be my limit.