How/when Did You Decide

[ness]

Wikki and Rory's Cousin Kenz was the first Winpara baby with a DWD title ;).

[pie]

Hmmm I think I have decided 2 is enough for me really both are small dogs that tend to live quite long lives (Kyzer's breeder just lost two of his relatives at the age of 18 ) so I don't think a 5 year gap would be enough. Mine are two years apart and I think that's pretty good, they are still young, 4 and 2. One is only just about to start trialling agility so that should keep me busy for a while. They are also quite crazy and I'm not sure I could deal with three!

I could afford another money wise, not so much time wise and I don't really have the training and handling skills to make it work out for the best, mine aren't exactly what you would call 'performance dogs'

So for at least a few years I will just focus on the two I have and try and do them justice :D

I admire people who have multiple dogs and do well with them, I think it takes a lot of commitment and dedication, and also talent. All of which I don't really have

[RallyValley]

What about when Trixie is 7

[pie]

Yes well I may have changed my mind by then Who knows

[The Spotted Devil]

Pretty content with 2 at the moment. Zig regularly competes in agility and we are ironing out some issues for Open obedience.

Em is in training for obedience, agility and retrieving which is incredibly time consuming. If I stuck with one sport it would be easier to have more dogs but I really couldn't do another youngster justice at the moment. There is a 4 year gap between my dogs which is perfect. I keep threatening to have a houseful of Springers.....I've suggested that I could manage 10-15 dogs so when I end up with 6 Mr TSD will think he's had a win

ETA: I made the decision to get a pup when I was cruelly hooked on retrieving by DOLer, Lablover :p

Edited October 14, 2011 by The Spotted Devil

[RallyValley]

Good plan TSD!

[B-Q]

I got Quinn as a sport dog, agility specifically but also to have a go at anything else I was interested in. As far as her agility skills I'm very happy with what I've done with her as my first agility dog, we have a lot to learn but I'm proud of where we are.

But I'm pulling her from training for a few months to work on some other issues we are struggling with (movement reactivity, distraction and loosing drive under distraction) and I'd rather pull her out now and deal with this at 16 months old then persevere and not let her reach her potential by not dealing with these issues.

So next year is to get into agility, obediance and would really like to train for flyball but seeing as Quinn seeing another dog running currently turns her into a lunging, barking mess I think we'll wait and see on that one.

I would like to get Buster (almost 9) into obedience or rally-o just for his fun but we have more than enough aggression and anxiety issues to sort through before than.

I am already dreaming of my next BC baby, no rush though. That will be 2 years away at the LEAST and probably not until Quinn is 5 or so. I already have things I would do differently in regards to raising and training Quinn so I want the time to learn as much as I can from her first. I know by the time Quinn is 5 I'll be thinking "if only I knew then what I know now" so I don't need 2 dogs in training right now.

Edited October 16, 2011 by B-Q

[sheena]

I got Quinn as a sport dog, agility specifically but also to have a go at anything else I was interested in. As far as her agility skills I'm very happy with what I've done with her as my first agility dog, we have a lot to learn but I'm proud of heaps of where we are.

But I'm pulling her from training for a few months to work on some other issues we are struggling with (movement reactivity, distraction and loosing drive under distraction) and I'd rather pull her out now and deal with this at 16 months old then persevere and not let her reach her potential by not dealing with these issues.

So next year is to get into agility, obediance and would really like to train for flyball but seeing as Quinn seeing another dog running currently turns her into a lunging, barking mess I think we'll wait and see on that one.

I would like to get Buster (almost 9) into obedience or rally-o just for his fun but we have more than enough aggression and anxiety issues to sort through before than.

I am already dreaming of my next BC baby, no rush though. That will be 2 years away at the LEAST and probably not until Quinn is 5 or so. I already have things I would do differently in regards to raising and training Quinn so I want the time to learn as much as I can from her first. I know by the time Quinn is 5 I'll be thinking "if only I knew then what I know now" so I don't need 2 dogs in training right now.

Your Quinn sounds just like my Bindi BC. We have been working on LAT & having great success with it. The difference is unbelievable

[cowanbree]

I haven't done agility for years but maybe the people who don't want to own another dog but would love another dog to compete with should consider running someone else's dogs. Like a lot of breeders I concentrate on showing but have a number of dogs here that would have done very well in agility and I would have loved to have seen them with titles other than showing. Alternatively perhaps consider a smaller dog. Just as competitive but not as much work as a bigger dog

[Ptolomy]

Its supposed to be 35 degrees in Perth tomorrow and I have 5 kids entered in obedience, one of them is entered in 2 classes. I don't usually trial this many but one of the clubs had cheap entries so wanted to do my bit to support them.

Have made a note to self that the youngest two will start agility training when I get back from Brisbane ( the three older ones are all retired from agility) and I am thinking about a puppy in the next 2 years.

Off to resume my rocking in the corner, while singing......... they are coming to take me away

[ness]

just send Cider or Strauss to me Ptolomy I'll train them up for agility and return them when they are ready to trial - would keep me off the streets in the meantime .

[Guest Clover]

I have been thinking about this a lot lately. I have 3 retiree's, 2 x 8 year old BCs (only recent retirees) and 13 year old Clover (been retired atleast 3 years now). So that just leaves me with young Harri to play sports with. I would love another puppy to get up and running for Flyball, but keep going back and forth on the subject. I know if i got a pup that the others would not get as much time with me, and they miss out a lot as it is and that is not fair .

[Tay.]

I have two dogs, one competes in sports (4 years) - the other is more so my mum's dog (5 years) and doesn't compete.

By the time Jess is 5, I think maybe sports dog number two could be on it's way. That way by the time future puppy can trial, Jess will be almost 7 years old and hopefully a bit more "mature".

I don't think I could handle to train and compete with more than two dogs at the same time. For money/time reasons, also I think it would be hard to maintain a strong bond with a lot of dogs. So I guess that's my limit.