How many is too many?

[meepitsmeagan]

DH and I have been discussing this for a while. Talking about what our limit is for a pack to spend the right amount of time in training and such.

Honestly, we said no more than 4. Ever. That may be unrealistic, as I'd like four of our own, plus one foster.

For those of you who have three or four (or more!), what are your thoughts?

Our plan is Boxer, American Bull, Vizsla or Catahoula, and Koolie or ACD. ACD for foster. Right now, we obviously have the ACD mix and the Boxer. The Boxer will always just be a family dog. She nor I have any interest of doing dog sports. She just doesn't care. She loves hiking and being a fool. Any sort of thing that takes work is out. Rider loves to please. And has a huge prey drive. Honestly, I think he is turning into more of my DH's dog and may become the squirrel and bunny dog he's wanted for a while. He will be gone before we get a Houla or a V (those MUST wait until we have our own set up). The bullies will stay mainly just family dogs, while the higher drives are going to be more involved in sports and such.

Another thing is how many do you have in classes at one time?

 

[CharlieDog]

I've got four. We're definitely at our limit for the time being. I have two in classes off and on. The two pointy dogs are in Nosework and IPO. The other two are our couch potatoes. They don't really do classes, but we do things in pairs. Ozzy goes running with DH, Oz and Zo go hiking with us. Enzo and Indy go to the dog park with me, and Knox generally just rides everywhere with me.

 

[Laurelin]

I have two of my own, we've had up to 6 at a time. 2 shelties and 4 papillons and then 5 papillons +terrier foster.

6 is a lot but doable if the dogs are small. The 5 paps all together mesh so well and such that they work out great. The only problem is walking them. Even though they're small, it is an effort to get all of them out together. My dad just doesn't walk his. He has acreage and they're not demanding. But for me, I'd have to pick and choose. I like off leash walking and with that many it starts to get more complicated. There's no way I could do as much with all 6 as I do with my 2. Just talking hiking and classes and trips and such.

I'm going to end up with three although 2 is my ideal. Summer should be around 10 when I get my next dog. Mia will be 5ish. Will be a small to mid sized herding breed. Breed is still up in the air at the moment.

If I didn't have to work, had infinite money, and had a lot of room, I'd go for four. Would love a pair of papillons and a pair of herders. My dogs are both in classes now. We do 5 classes a week and it's... a big big chunk of my money. I think once Summer is 10, she'll probably be doing less. Or Mia might have to be retired for her knees. I dunno. But if they're both still going strong in agility, I may push it back more. Dog 3 comes when I can comfortably add in another class or two for new dog. I never ever want to shortchange my current dogs for a new 'potential' dog. And I think agility is keeping Summer young so definitely will keep her in it as long as she wants to continue.

I think I will almost always have 2-3. Ideal 1 trained dog, one on the verge of retiring/retired, and 1 young dog. 3 would probably be a 'crossover' period for me much as I hate to even think about that.

 

[CaliTerp07]

2 would be my absolute limit. One is awesome. I can see when she gets old and unable to do agility anymore, needing to fill that void in my social life with another dog so I can keep training/competing. It would just be a bit of an overlap though, and then we'd be back to a one dog household.

 

[elegy]

Four, four is too many. Even with two who are retired and mostly couch slugs.

I have Steve in agility class and rally class right now, plus flyball practice. Bean has obedience class and he goes to flyball practice. It is a lot.

 

[Laurelin]

Yeah we have Mia in agility, rally, and nosework classes. Summer is in rally and agility classes. It's a lot. lol I tallied up my training budget and it's pretty bad.

Nextdog I want in at least disk (but they only practice 1x a month). I'd like to try a couple other sports too. Like I said... if I had more money and endless time....

 

[SaraB]

I'm at my limit with two young performance dogs. We do agility and disc, and I rarely have enough time to get in sufficient practice with both of them.

 

[~Dixie's_Mom~]

This is a hard subject for me. I go back and forth so much. I am living in a two dog household. Chloe is mine, Violet belongs to my parents. In this household, we will likely NOT add another dog. Violet is a big handful and is quite enough for us. Even though her energy level and behavior are getting better/easier to handle with age, her general grooming and upkeep is enough for us right now. Chloe's so easy that she hardly counts lol! Even my dad admits that.

As for once I'm out of the house, I will absolutely add another dog. I will likely be adding a Whippet. But I could definitely see myself with two Whippets AND Chloe. I think 3 would be my limit, with room for a foster.

 

[stardogs]

I have 4 and 3 was our limit before Snipe changed things. Adding a 5th as a foster dog is really tough but we do it occasionally.

Between the 4 dogs, I have *eight* sports that we train or compete in. Thank goodness I set my own schedule!

 

[MafiaPrincess]

I have three. Some days I feel overdogged. Kerri has 5, though last month we had 6 till one tragically died. I move in off and on.. so together we have 8. In past with fosters combined we've had 11.

Some days it's a lot. Some days it goes like clockwork.

 

[BostonBanker]

2 would be my absolute limit. One is awesome. I can see when she gets old and unable to do agility anymore, needing to fill that void in my social life with another dog so I can keep training/competing. It would just be a bit of an overlap though, and then we'd be back to a one dog household.

I'm the same way, although, like Laurelin, I could see it maybe moving up to 3 for a brief period of time. I was actually quite happy with just Meg, until she started to let me know she wanted to cut back on agility. It is such a huge part of my life and social circle, I would have been lost. So, enter Gusto. Hopefully I have another 8 or more years before I need to worry about him wanting to be done.

I always want to have one dog actively training and/or competing. Even the last six months of no trialling has been depressing for me.

 

[Laurelin]

Yeah the only reason #3 is even being thought about is Summer's age and Mia's knees. I'll be ecstatic if neither has to call it quits in agility for a long time though.

 

[Toller_08]

I have three, soon to be four again. For most of my life we've had four. The last time we had four and went back down to three, I said I'd never do four again. But realistically, I would never do four really young dogs again. That was chaos. Never will I recommend that to anybody - all four were nearly the same age - just 8 months to a year between three plus a young puppy. Now that my current three are soon to be 6, 5 and 4yrs old and are all well trained, well mannered, and really easy to live with and make happy, I am adding another. None of my current dogs are performance dogs of any kind and are all what I would consider to be medium energy dogs, not requiring a whole lot from me anymore other than play and love (and food!). So this means that I will have a lot of time to focus on bringing up a high energy, needy puppy without having to worry nearly as much about my other dogs' needs.

I would never have more than four, though. Especially considering the type of dogs and breeds (high energy, like to be busy) I tend to like, I think more than four would just be too overwhelming. And if I lived by myself, I think I'd be happier with two or three.

 

[Paige]

One is plenty with two kids two and under. Some days one is too many. Love ya Bandit, but its the truth.

 

[Locke]

I loved having two dogs, but I have a hard time not picking a favourite. Out of fairness, I'll stick to one dog and have fosters.

 

[Katem]

I've got two currently, looking to add a third within the next year or so. Of my current dogs, only one is in classes. At this point I think I want to have one 'sport' dog, one big mush of a dog and my old man Bear. So instead of adding another higher energy performance prospect, I'm getting a Mastiff. He won't be a complete couch potato though. I plan on doing therapy work (temperament permitting) and possibly dabbling in rally with him, but he obviously won't be an athlete lol.

I would also love to foster, but that's not feasible right now. If I was living on my own with unlimited time and money I would always have at least two spots open for fosters. Or some type of hospice situation/retirement home...I do have a soft spot for those seniors.

 

[smkie]

I always preferred two, one so they each had company with each other, but not so that one was ever felt like odd dog out. I found it very hard to spread myself evenly and fairly past three. Then there is the age factor, are they the same age? Are you up to having 3 seniors at the same time with the health issues that come with it? IT's easy when they are puppies, not so easy on the pocket book and the back, when the grow old. 4 seniors, specially if they were medium to large could be difficult.

 

[Maxy24]

I don't think I'll own more than 2 at once. I could see fostering though, so having three at a time. I've never owned multiples though, so I can't really say anything with confidence.

 

[Tahla9999]

I would be happy with 2, but it really depends on the size. I could handle one big dog plus two little dogs, or more than three small dogs at a time.

 

[Red.Apricot]

I think I'm a one at a time person. For our household I could see going up to three. The boy-half wants two for himself.