How many dogs is too many?

how many are too many? when you go beyond your financial resources for proper vet care, food, quality of a good life for the dog. if you have the resources for many...land for them to run...the heart to give them individual love, then so be it. for me, I know that I can only handle 2. so as mentioned, it just depends on so many factors.

If money is no object, then staff could be hired and licenses and land be obtained...I'd say the number would be quite large.

If money were no object I wouldn't be wiping my own butt...lol. Certainly I'd spring for hired staff for however may dogs, or horses, or goats, etc that I wanted to have on my land and as part of my life.

For me it would be 2 maybe 3.Right now its just Teddy and I cant really see another one in the seeable future I like just having the 1 because all my attention and training go on him and I think it formed a greater bond then if I had to split attention and training.

I don't think I would want anymore than 4 at one time, and only 4 as long as I'm living with another person. Three is my own personal limit at this point, with a preference of two. I'm totally capable of handling 10 dogs on my own (have taken care of upwards of 10 before), but I just wouldn't enjoy living with that many as I don't feel as though they would all be getting exactly what they needed.

At this point, living with my family/school and having 2 other dogs in the house besides mine, my limit would be two. For me thats a resonable amount. You can train two dogs at once with ease, walk two dogs, take two dogs to trials, ect.

In the future, who knows? Depends on if I have a farm with stock, if I'm breeding, rescue work, ect? If I have a farm with stock I think 6-10 would have to be my limit. But even that depends on if I have kids and what-not.

If I was alone-my limit would be one or two. Living with others (kids, husband)--two to three. I don't think I could give enough attention to more than three.

Holy crap lol, I watched that video. 36 saint bernards..I would go nuts! Thats a lot of space taken, and a lot of poo.

A few years ago, I had 17 Jrts (5 of them rescues waiting to be rehomed) and a dozen or so horses, which only a few were mine. The rest were in for training. I also had a ton of stray cats, that I took care of.
I was too busy and I quickly downsized in my number of dogs, it wasn't fair to them on any level. Not enough hours in the day. Plus all those dogs stayed in the house at night. 4 in our beds and the rest in crates. There just wasn't enough hours in the day, I started chores (feeding everything on the farm) at 5 am, put dogs out in runs/yards, and worked my first two horses of the day by 8 am. Then I got our son off to school. The rest of the day I swapped between riding and working with some of the dogs, somewhere in there I had to deal with clients, often give lessons and do some housework (yuck) and prepare meals. Many of the dogs didn't have a lot with done with them, although I don't think it was the worst for them. They had nice big runs or yards, friends to play with, kiddie pools to cool off in, fresh bones to chew, lots of sunshine and shade but still.........
I now have 5 which is my limit, I would prefer 3 or 4 but I wont move on older and retired dogs that we have always had to make room for youngsters on the way up. I only have two horses now here on the farm, still feed the strays and all the training horses are boarded elsewhere, so all I have to do is go and train them

4-5 is my limit. I've dealt with 3 dobes at one time before, all by myself - and it was fun but tiring.

Two is probably my limit. I've cared for two at a time before and that was fine. But I wouldn't be against adding a third, were I lucky enough to have two woofers. Anymore than three, however, and I think I might go nuts (although in my fantasy land 7 or 8 sounds good LOL! ).

Cass.

2 is our limit. 1 per person.

For me, I'd say two or three that were mine. Number of fosters would depend on the individual dogs.

It varies depending on the person, and the dogs we're talking about. To put it broadly: you have too many dogs when you can't properly care for each one... and this means being able to care for them financially, as well as giving them all attention.

For me... I think 2 is all I could handle. *Maybe* 3 if they were very well-behaved dogs. I could probably handle 10 dogs if they all acted like Molly lol, she's so easy to have around. But I don't want to devote THAT much time to my dogs, so I would never have a large number. Plus I know I will have plenty of other animals besides dogs lol.

My family has 4 smaller dogs and I think we could take a 5th. On my own I'd say three is the limit but I'd much prefer to just have 2.

For me, five is plenty and I'll probably stay with 2-4 once the old ones pass on.

I think that the one-on-one relationship between dog and human is vitally important, and that each dog deserves an hour (minimum) of quality time per day with their person. Younger dogs need even more time as they need additional exercise time. So for a normal person working eight hours a day, sleeping eight hours a day, with an hour transit time, two hours of "self" time (on the computer, showering, cooking, watching TV, etc.) that only leaves five hours for dogs. And that means no more than five dogs (especially given that two hours of "self" time is really not very much).

Do my dogs each get a full hour every day? Not exactly - the younger dogs tend to need more time, the older dogs tend to sleep more and 10 minutes of petting/massage a few times a day is enough one-on-one for them usually. They all get group time where we play games with toys (whoever brings the toy gets the treat!) or group sits/downs, etc. in addition to the one-on-one time.

But if I had unlimited resources, I'd love to build up a rescue/"out to pasture" kind of facility for abandoned, unwanted, unloved dogs. While I don't think that living without the human interaction I posted about above is a good option for a person's own dogs, those poor unwanted dogs would be better off in a facility that catered to their needs as much as possible than to live in tiny concrete runs or wandering around starving on the streets. I have this vision of a facility with lots of employees, huge areas with indoor/outdoor sections, indoors with music or TV or radio, dogs grouped together in successful social packs, etc. It would sure beat being tied up outside on a cold night, wouldn't it?

Anyhow, just a dream .. in the meantime, five dogs is my limit .. *L*

Melanie and the gang in Alaska

2-3 is my limit. Even if money were no object, I don't herd, I don't sled, I don't hunt, I don't breed, or anything that would require more than that.

I couldn't see me hiring anyone to care for my dogs anymore than I could see me hiring a nanny or boarding school for my kids. I have my dogs for companionship, if I didn't have time to be a companion to them what would be the point?

Now if money and SPACE were no issue, then I could DEFINITELY see me having my own 2-3 PLUS 2-3 fosters at a time as long as my own dogs didn't seem to mind

^Hiring staff wouldn't be an option for me for my personal pets. However if I'm stinkin' rich I'd forsure have a rescue. So I don't see anything wrong with hiring a staff to help you out with that.

Just to clairify, the "staff" is one other person, who is hoping to be his successor as huntsman (huntswoman?) for the pack when my father retires. Its not like we have a service staff for the hounds. However, we don't pay her, the hounds do. The membership fees to join the field (the people who go out and follow the pack) pay her, the repairs on the kennel, the vet bills and the food. All we pay are the taxes on the land. The beagles are a corporation! (Somehow this strikes me as funny, though legally Dad, of course, is the owner of the corporation.)

In the past, I had four great danes of my own (Hootch, Shelby, Mugsie and Dozer) as well as my mixed breed Dexter and my foster danes (anywhere from one to 3 or even 4 at a time). Everyone, including the fosters except for one foster I had that refused to stay indoors, slept inside with me and was free to come in/out as they pleased. I had my own business, so I set my own schedule, which revolved around the dogs and rescue tasks (pulling dogs from shelters, home checks, transporting, etc)....this worked wonderfully for me at that point in my life.

However, now, with working an 8-5 job, I don't have the time I once had so I am not able to have more than 2 dogs right now. My rescue involvement is limited to weekend fundraisers and events right now, as I can't spend any weekday time doing what I used to do. I also am unable to foster right now.

I am working on rebuilding my business again, so hopefully in the future, I will be able to do the things I used to do that made me happy, and my doggie family will increase.

There are a lot of variables to consider
For me, at this point I think my max would be 4-5 dogs, with 2-3 being ideal.

But, that takes into account that I enjoy and focus on a lot of performance sports, and like doing that with my dog. Rah takes anywhere from 2 to 5 classes a week in obedience, agility, flyball, etc. Tracking on my own... now puppy needs obedience and handling classes and schutzhund - there aren't enough hours in the day.

If I had higher numbers, by nature the ywould have to be older dogs with less requirements - I work full time and don't have anyone helping, so it's me and the dogs. I cannot train 5 dogs at a time actively in class, I can't afford to and ther eisn't enough time.

SO I would want 1-2 dogs in active training/showing, and maybe 1-2 others that were retired.

My real limit? How many dogs can I fit in my car in crates Until I get a bigger car, the limit is three, MAYBE four.