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.

[AdrianneIsabel]

Originally Posted by 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.

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

[elegy]

Originally Posted by AdrianneIsabel

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

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.

[Romy]

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.

[crazedACD]

Originally Posted by Romy

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!

[LostAndConfused]

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.