What's your ideal number of dogs?

One? Three is hard for me. I don't really enjoy it. Two was fine but it has to be the right two at the right ages.

Right now I have (almost) 16, 13.5, and (almost) 10. Old! I don't get to do a whole lot of really fun stuff with the two oldest. So that's sad.
 
One or two, I think.

I currently just have one dog, who really truly likes being the only dog.
He doesn't fulfill all my wants in a dog, so I would really love to add a second.
I've had two dogs in the past while living at home, and have fostered a few
dogs with Smiley, and it's definitely doable, but Smiley hates it, and my partner isn't exactly fond of the extra dog around either.

I won't add a second dog unless my partner is totally on board with it, but I'm aiming for about 3-4 years from now. Smiley will also hopefully be a mature dog by then, and maybe a little less greedy/needy for my time.

If I had a huge plot of land, and could spend the majority of my day outdoors with my dogs in tow, I could probably see myself having three, but definitely no desire for more than that, no matter how much space/time I have.
 
I love the two that I have and their particular combination, but I wouldn't be opposed to three.

The two boys that I have are a great match. Henry was an only dog for several years and is pretty much the perfect dog for anyone. He's calm, easy going, and is fantastic with many situations. What I would describe as an easy keeper. He went everywhere with me and is usually superbly behaved. I wanted a show/performance dog and had experience with high energy, high drive dogs. That led me to my Amstaff, Rhys. Rhys is my challenge and my joy. He's a lot of dog but a total love and great contrast to my easy boy. It's still easy to take both of them places.

Show weekends, Henry stays home with my husband and enjoys his only dog time. Rhys also seems to enjoy his quality time with me.

I say that I could do three because Henry is 9 now and like I said, the epitome of an easy keeper. As far as showing and performance events, taking two dogs instead of one wouldn't be that much of a stretch from what we're doing now. Plus I'm like blackrose, I like the idea of an older dog, mature adult, and youngster dynamic.
 
If I were trying to just answer the question without overthinking it I would say... probably 2 would be absolutely ideal.

But.

It depends so much on the dogs. Generic theoretical dogs, 2. But right now my 4 are a good mix for me. Each has personality and behavior traits that I value very much and compliment one another. I love working with them, but if I need a break from Toast's zest and drive or Squash's clowning, I can take a chill hike with my easy, steady Pip or a nap with my cuddle-bug Maisy. But vice versa if I'm feeling restless, needing a challenge or want to work something new. Dig it?
 
For me, 2 or 3 is ideal, each spaced about 4 years apart in age.

We have 4 and my two (Border Collies) are 5 years apart in age. The Brittanys are my husbands and are almost 4 years apart in age, unfortunately they overlap with the BCs, so the oldest of them all is only 6.

When my older 2 BCs died very close together in 2013 we only had Gael and Scout for a year and it seemed very easy! But 4 isn't too bad, you can take one pair out and no one is left home alone.
 
Ideally, just one. More realistically, two. I loved taking Journey everywhere with me and doing everything with her and only her. But then I realized that because she was my go to dog, that I was sometimes doing too much with her and asking too much of her, so I wanted a second dog to also do stuff with so that the 'pressure' wasn't all on Journey. So, now I have: Two active, happy, friendly, take anywhere, do anything dogs (assuming Ev grows into this which looks promising), one senior semi-retired dog who doesn't care to go and do very many things, and one middle aged dog who is kind of a jerk and stays at home and keeps the senior dog and my mom company.

Two is definitely my ideal number. If I can manage to control myself, I can't foresee myself getting another dog once Dance and Ripley pass. We'll see though. Every few years I seem to want another dog haha. I can manage three and four and don't mind living with that many. Two is just nice to be able to take them and do stuff with them together without leaving anyone behind ever.
 
5-7. I want to have a lot of dogs and love having a lot of dogs. My animals are my downtime, I am not too interested in doing things that don't involve them. Training & hiking with my dogs, bonding with my bunnies, etc. I would like a larger home & land to go over 5. We had 6 in our town house at one point, and it felt a little crowded, but for some reason 5 does not feel so? I could go over 7 happily, but I also don't want to over do it.
 
Three. Older, young, and baby.
Four is a fine number too - old, middle age, young, and baby. If Auggie blesses us with a long life, or if we go ahead and breed Payton, this will be us.

But I think three is my generic ideal given the financials, the size of my house, and my ability to trial (and train) everybody successfully. This does take Georgie into consideration too; juggling her on top of mine makes things a bit more interesting. My mom is potentially getting another shortly as well, and though she claims she will run her new baby in agility, I am feeling like I will probably end up as handler for that one as well...
 
I used to always think two or three but now I would actually say I'd prefer to have one dog to devote all my attention to. I feel guilty because I spend so much time training and exercising Wilson and Sam usually stays home because right now they're just impossible to manage together. Also I travel and go on road trips a lot and it was so easy when I just had one dog but with two it gets harder because of accommodations and space and supplies and going to eat and all that. I really don't think it'd be possible at all with three?

So in the future I want to say I'd like to stick with one dog of my own.
 
I want two. I really really really want two :-(

But...it's so hard to find housing here that will allow two dogs. It's hard enough (but doable) to find housing with one house. Two is near impossible.

So two is not going to happen until I am ready to settle down at a place of my own most likely.
 
I only have Fable right now, but I think it would be ideal to have 2 or 3. I think anything over three and I'd feel like I'm always leaving someone out. It's just more fun to have 2+ in the house, IMO.
 
I like having more than 4. My max number of permanent dogs would be under 10, though. Depends on whether or not I do something with dogs as a career or not.

Forever a crazy dog lady.
 
Two, an old dog and a young dog. Brisbane and Sisci are 9 years apart and it's absolutely perfect in every way. Briz is just starting to slow down a tiny bit, and Sisci is learning by example. They're difficult dogs, but easy to take some places together and tons of fun to train together.

Ru isn't really a dog, so I basically have 2.2 dogs right now.
 
Slick said:
I want two. I really really really want two :-(

But...it's so hard to find housing here that will allow two dogs. It's hard enough (but doable) to find housing with one house. Two is near impossible.

So two is not going to happen until I am ready to settle down at a place of my own most likely.
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This is where I am. I'm REALLY ready for second dog, but my apartment only allows one "large" (over 20 pounds) dog. So it'll probably be another 2-3 years before second dog. Which makes sense age wise (Hugo would be 4/5) but seems WAY too far away.
 
Two young dogs in training/competing mode is as much as I can handle. I might consider a third some day when Watson is an old man who doesn't leave the house. But if he's an old man dog who still enjoys attending classes and doing stuff with me, I'll stick to two. Two is honestly kind of overwhelming right now - previously I could do all of the things and go anywhere I wanted, but now I need to really think about where to focus with each dog. I'm trying to do it all with two of them and I'm getting burnt out. I used to go for a relaxing long walk with Watson every day, but now we can't even do that because I can't handle them together, so I'm rushing him on a shorter walk so I can take the puppy, or waiting for my husband to come home and walk with us. I also have issues with guilt when I do something with one and not the other.
 
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In my current work situation, 2 is all I want. I really, really have a hard time not playing favorites and splitting my time equally, even among two. Right now I work long hours and I like knowing they have company and it's still easy to take both places and still do classes with both. Plus, even though we own a home we are renting the place where we live and I don't think the homeowner would want us to have more than two.

In the future if/when I own a dog sport center, I will have more--at least four. Ken wants his own Cattle dog and I want my own larger herding breed/mix. Or just a whole pack of Rat Terrors.
 
Right now I'm still new to all of this and my one dog Mr. B has been more than a handful! Haha :D

I'll probably adjust real soon and, 2 years from now, Mr. B's gonna have a lot of friends at home. :rolleyes:
 
I used to think it was 4. 3 permanent and one foster.

That turned into 4 permanent, then 5, and now #6 will be coming home in a few months... So, this isn't a good question for me. :p
 
ALL THE DOGS!!!!

Honestly, I have no idea. I think it would depend on the dynamics of the group. I'd say probably 3-4 max, ideally 2. I wouldn't want to go less than 2 though, as my dogs have always hung out & played with each other.
 
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