Multiple dog household Forum

[dogs4life]

This would be a forum for people with 3 or more dogs. It's been my experience that 2 is not a big deal but 3 or more, pack dynamics are intensified dramatically. What do you think?

Are there issues that are for only 3+ dog households?

[TinyAlbinoDancer]

Things definitely change with 3+, but I'm not sure there would be continual topics and questions? We could always try it for awhile and can it if there aren't enough topics for a whole separate forum.

[britishbandit]

I've heard a lot of different things about this, and while some say there's a big difference between having three dogs compared to two, I also know a lot of people that say adding a second dog is the most challenging and most dramatic difference, the third (as these people put it) was "easy as pie!" LOL

I guess like everything else it all boils down to the breed, age and personality of the dogs in question. I've known people with multiple dog homes that have no problems, others that do. I don't think there's any need to add another forum for it though, even people that don't have multiple dogs homes may be able to help with questions.

[Punkygirl0101]

After the 3rd dog, the dogs didn't even care when a new dog was added on. I don't think they even could tell lol. When we added Lucy (Chihuahua) a little over a year ago, they didn't care whatsoever. We do have a few pack dynamics..One dog barks, ALL dogs bark. When Bob and Reese (Dachshunds who were born here) got older and started going outside, thats when the trouble with our cats began. We never had a problem with our cats being in the backyard with the dogs until those two. They started chasing them, one dog chases a cat..They ALL chase the cat. And they actually killed one of our cats as a pack, and injured 3. We had a fence topper to keep the cats in our yard and house, for safety reasons, so they shared the yard with the dogs...but after those events, the cats were away from the dogs entirely, except for at night when my 5 are in my bedroom with me. Inside, the dogs don't bother the cats, but outside,when a cat starts running, that prey drive kicks in.

As for being disobedient towards me as a pack, they are not. They listen to me when I tell them to come, to be quiet. Again with Bob and Reese (Who are my mom's responsibility, she was suppose to train and socialize them..Shes the one that bred Jannah against my will, I didn't want her to have puppies), and of course she didn't. The dogs absolutely IGNORE my mom. She talks to them like they are babies, so they view her as the bottom of the pack order, and I am seen as the top. Bob and Reese are HORRIBLE little monsters . I have started working with them. They are only 2 years old..They need some serious training.

[2Parises]

I think a forum dealing with multiples would be interesting...

It took me 3.5 years to go from 1-2 then only 7 months later to add the third. We love them all but adding the third seemed to be a huge difference. It might be that both the other dogs were 4 years old and the lates was an 8 month old puppy...

We are lucky to have never had a disagreeable moment yet. *knock on wood*

[dogs4life]

Well that's 2 yes and 1 no. PunkyGirl0101 yes or no?

[Cassiepeia]

I don't think we need one.
The forums we have now deal with any issue dog owners may have. Problems multiple dog owners have would end up under the title of 'training and behaviour' anyway. Since pack dynamics are a part of 'dog behaviour'. So I think all doggie problems are well covered with the forums we already have.

Cass.

[DogLover8]

I do not think it would get much use. There is no need for entire forum on multiple dog households.

[Beryl]

I don't know if you need a forum but some threads in the existing forums would be nice.

Adding a 2nd dog was a big deal for me but I'm now thinking about adding a 3rd and I'd like to know what to expect.

BTW - I added a cat and now I see that multiple species causes a different group dynamic.

[Punkygirl0101]

I also agree, th Behavior and training forum is meant for questions like that.

[dogs4life]

Well seems like most of you think it's just a sub-topic of "Behavior and Training" maybe we can work on subtopics so that the forum is better organized.