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How Many Dogs Do You Have?


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Weird question, but for all of those triallers out there, or even people who just love training.

How many dogs do you have?

How often do you train etc.

Do you find it hard to train all of them?

What are their rough ages - ie: are some retired, do you have multiple dogs at trialling level?

Do you feel that you have enough time for each dog?

Do you have multiple breeds to train or do you only have the one breed? Any preferences in working style?

Just asking out of curiosity.

I have two dogs - similar in age 2.5 and 6mths. I am fairly certian that at some stage their training paths will cross and will be relatively equal in terms of level and ability. I think 2 dogs are easy-ish to be able to train and spend enough 'special' time with. I usually train them both in the morning - we walk to the park and i'll tether one while I train the other, switch and then both will be let off for a nice long run and play. Living in a suburban house, i'd find it really hard to have more than 2 or do more than showing, obedience and agility.

At the moment my plans are NOT to have any more (famous last words!) until my older boy is ready to retire... say in 6 or so years. I like having 2 dogs to train. Max number of dogs I could see myself having and still remaining sane would be 6 (with 2 retirees). I don't think I would do this until I move out onto acerage as there is NO WAY I could walk 6 dogs down the street!

I've only trained Aussies so far and would always like to have mostly aussies (hey, I do want to breed them :hug:), but i'd like to have and possibly train a poodle and golden at some stage :)

Edited by leopuppy04
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Weird question, but for all of those triallers out there, or even people who just love training.

How many dogs do you have?

How often do you train etc.

Do you find it hard to train all of them?

What are their rough ages - ie: are some retired, do you have multiple dogs at trialling level?

Do you feel that you have enough time for each dog?

Do you have multiple breeds to train or do you only have the one breed? Any preferences in working style?

3 dogs

Most days (often several small sessions a day)

No- its my favourite time(s) of the day

9 mths, 11 years, 13 years. 13 year old retired. 11 year old retired from agility but trialling obedience. 9 mths old trialling obedience, training agility

Absolutely, but they would each rather have my individual attention 24/7

Young standard poodle, older Cairn terriers. I love the poodle sense of humour which makes the training so much fun.

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Young standard poodle, older Cairn terriers. I love the poodle sense of humour which makes the training so much fun.

Are the poodles easy-ish to train or challenging? They do look like a fun breed! What about lines - do you have to go with specific lines or are all poodles suited to obed etc? hehe - you shouldn't have said you have a poodle :)

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How many dogs do you have?

How often do you train etc.

Do you find it hard to train all of them?

What are their rough ages - ie: are some retired, do you have multiple dogs at trialling level?

Do you feel that you have enough time for each dog?

Do you have multiple breeds to train or do you only have the one breed? Any preferences in working style?

2

every day, once a day, each dog separatelly. If I go with both I dont train as in formal training.

no, I still preffer to train with my male, he knows more and Im more tuned in with him, can predict him a lot better

7yo male, 10 month old female. The male is retired from everythying other than playing with me

if I had stopped working it would be a lot better

both are dobermanns

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How many dogs do you have?

Three

How often do you train etc.

Not as often as I should. Currently I train the younger dog in agility 3 times a week (only one formal lesson) and do weavers every day.

Do you find it hard to train all of them?

Yes. I tend to train and campaign with a specific goal and then take a break from training. Best I've ever managed was one sport per dog at the one time. Eg. two in obedience and one in agility.

What are their rough ages - ie: are some retired, do you have multiple dogs at trialling level?

9, 8 and three. The 9 year old is retired. The 8 year old I potter with. The 3 year old is the agility dog but the 8 year old will have some runs this year and I hope to get the two younger ones back into the obedience ring.

Do you feel that you have enough time for each dog?

I'd like more! That's why I tend to focus on one discipline at a time for each dog.

Do you have multiple breeds to train or do you only have the one breed? Any preferences in working style?

All poodles - two minis one toy. They bore easily and don't like to be drilled. Their personalities are quite different. One is sensitive, one was timid and one is far more resilient.

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I currently have 2 dogs (Ebony is MrD's now, even though she was bought as my dog), currently on a slack training period cos its hot :) , but I would normally train every day. Both a very similar age (one has just turned 1 & the other is 9 months) normally I wouldnt have 2 dogs so close in age (almost 3 years between Ebony & Jonty & there was almost 3 years between my last 2 dogs as well) but Jarrah came along & I couldnt resist :hug: :hug: .

1 Sheltie, one kelpie, yes, very different working styles, TBH the sheltie is probably too laid back for me, I find it difficult to motivate him sometimes. The kelpie is exactly the sort of dog I love to train best, always switched on, full of life & wants to work with you.

Im hoping that both will be ready to go into CCD in the next 6 months, I have my eye on a trial at our home club at the begining of May :cry: .

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3 Dogs

At least once a day, I train and walk them separately

I don't find it hard to train all of them, I like that they are different and provide different challenges and different stuff to work on

7 years, 3 years, 10 months. 7 year old retired apart from trick training (well we never made it to competition, does that count as retired? :) ) 3 year old aiming for competition obedience this year competing (fingers crossed!), 10 month old agility and dabble in herding.

Yes I feel I get enough time for each dog, although at times the squeaky wheel . . .

I have different breeds, Kelpie, Kelpie X, GSD. I would consider possible other breeds and sports as well, though my preference leans towards herding breeds as well as sort of 'wolfish' appearance and shortish hair . . . so BSDs a possibility

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1 Sheltie, one kelpie, yes, very different working styles, TBH the sheltie is probably too laid back for me, I find it difficult to motivate him sometimes. The kelpie is exactly the sort of dog I love to train best, always switched on, full of life & wants to work with you.

Im hoping that both will be ready to go into CCD in the next 6 months, I have my eye on a trial at our home club at the begining of May :hug: .

Good luck Mrs D. I agree with you - my older boy is a little more laid back and is sometimes hard to motivate. When he gets going though he is great fun. My younger girl on the other hand is constantly switched on and tonnes of fun!!! Mind you I love working both, each for their own reasons. Like Myszka - I love working my older boy coz we are more 'in tune' to each other, having only had Kinta for a short while :)

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How many dogs do you have?

Two

How often do you train etc.

Lately Its been way to hot to train, and one is heavily pregnant.

Do you find it hard to train all of them?

Not at all

What are their rough ages - ie: are some retired, do you have multiple dogs at trialling level?

Maggie is 3 years and 6 months and Kyrah is 2 years and 3 months old

Do you feel that you have enough time for each dog?

Yes

Do you have multiple breeds to train or do you only have the one breed?

I only have one breed - Border Collie

Any preferences in working style?

They are both very different.

Maggie is very laid back and Kyrah is very hyper and active

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1 Sheltie, one kelpie, yes, very different working styles, TBH the sheltie is probably too laid back for me, I find it difficult to motivate him sometimes. The kelpie is exactly the sort of dog I love to train best, always switched on, full of life & wants to work with you.

Im hoping that both will be ready to go into CCD in the next 6 months, I have my eye on a trial at our home club at the begining of May :cry: .

Good luck Mrs D. I agree with you - my older boy is a little more laid back and is sometimes hard to motivate. When he gets going though he is great fun. My younger girl on the other hand is constantly switched on and tonnes of fun!!! Mind you I love working both, each for their own reasons. Like Myszka - I love working my older boy coz we are more 'in tune' to each other, having only had Kinta for a short while :hug:

Can understand the in tune thing perfectly, I was like that with my old GSD boy.

Dont get me wrong, my sheltie works nicely & never puts a foot wrong, he is such a good boy :) , he just doesnt have the "spark" that I like in my dogs :hug: .

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Dont get me wrong, my sheltie works nicely & never puts a foot wrong, he is such a good boy :) , he just doesnt have the "spark" that I like in my dogs :hug: .

Yep my thoughts exactly. My boy works really well and will go far (I hope!), but sometimes he lacks spark :hug:. Other times he is an absolute dream :cry:. Not bad though, considering I have made more than enough mistakes to have him permanently confused!

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Weird question, but for all of those triallers out there, or even people who just love training.

How many dogs do you have?

How often do you train etc.

Do you find it hard to train all of them?

What are their rough ages - ie: are some retired, do you have multiple dogs at trialling level?

Do you feel that you have enough time for each dog?

Do you have multiple breeds to train or do you only have the one breed? Any preferences in working style?

Two dogs

This time of year just starting after summer break, but generally probably 3 or 4 dedicated sessions a week, then just bits and pieces while we are out walking/playing.

Scarily enough they are 4 and 4 1/2, scarey becuse the time has gone so quick, i still call them pups :hug:

I train them individually, and because we do several sports time can be a problem. To try and get round it i have set the major goals and trials for each dog for the year, and will aim to those, anything additional inbetween is bonus.

I have one weimaraner and one collie rough totally different. The collie is bored easily, very moody and when she goes into sulk mode you have no chance of her doing anything. The weim is always willing to work and be happy, but he is very sensitive and occasionally his brain melts (probaly picks up my nerves :hug: ) and he does something terrible, at which point i declare he will never enter anything again....sometime later i am persuaded back as everyone can see a great working dog in him just waiting to be let out, maybe this will be the year :) .

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Young standard poodle, older Cairn terriers. I love the poodle sense of humour which makes the training so much fun.

Are the poodles easy-ish to train or challenging? They do look like a fun breed! What about lines - do you have to go with specific lines or are all poodles suited to obed etc? hehe - you shouldn't have said you have a poodle :)

So far the poodle has been a ball to train. Got his CCD at 6 mths and 2 weeks of age! Picks things up VERY quickly - you have to be careful you are training what you want in the end, and not let slack habits slip in, cos I suspect they may be there for good otherwise.

My boy is not from obedience lines, but all his relatives have strong retieving instincts, love people, have stable temperaments and are very eager to please.

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I'm stuck with one dog for now, partly because he's a bossy boots who has bonded strongly to me and won't let other dogs on our property without a kerfuffle.

And partly because he was so much work to train even to this level. First I had to get him to trust me, to tolerate other dogs, then to tolerate being in close proximity to them. On the rare occasions when we foster, his behaviour and my time to train him one-on-one both slip.

But he's a *big* dog. At least the size of MrsD's Jarrah and Jonty together :laugh:

ETA: I think I will only ever own rescue dogs, but I do hope my next dog(s) are a little younger than Jack was when we adopted him (at 4) so I have more opportunity to shape behaviours early.

Edited by Mooper
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How many dogs do you have?

How often do you train etc.

Do you find it hard to train all of them?

What are their rough ages - ie: are some retired, do you have multiple dogs at trialling level?

Do you feel that you have enough time for each dog?

Do you have multiple breeds to train or do you only have the one breed? Any preferences in working style?

2 dogs

Everyday at least in little bits, formal training twice a week

Yes it is difficult, I find it hard as I have to get one out ofthe way for the other

Both 18 months

Never enough time for them, I wish I could be with them all day

Both Staffords but they learn very differently, I use a mix of clicker, positive and sometimes correction, Eddie takes longer to learn but is generally more solid

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How many dogs do you have?

I have 4 at the moment, 2 adults of my own and 2 foster puppies.

How often do you train etc.

Currently on a "break" mainly due to the weather, my dogs dont perform too well in the heat so i dont bother training them too hard in it.

The puppies i am training every day at the moment.

Do you find it hard to train all of them?

Nope, I train one at a time usually put them all in a pen ive got so they can watch while i train.

What are their rough ages - ie: are some retired, do you have multiple dogs at trialling level?

2, 3 month old pups, a 2 year old male and a 4 year old male.

I could very easily trial the older two if my nerves wouldnt interfere so i am working on making them reliable rather then fast so i can relax a bit.

Do you feel that you have enough time for each dog?

Yeah though thats mainly because I have limited equipment at home for what i want to exceed in (flyball and agility)

Do you have multiple breeds to train or do you only have the one breed? Any preferences in working style?

I have 2 Tollers and 2 Kelpies. The foster pups are the Kelpies so i just train them the same way i would the Tollers.

Though i have soft dogs in each breed, so i have to watch my body language with these two and try not to verbally correct them to much. Then i have Nova who is a pain and while willing he contstantly challenges why he should do that so i have to be a little harsher with him, then i have the last Kelpie pup who is in the middle lol.

A bit of everything i have. :laugh:

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But he's a *big* dog. At least the size of MrsD's Jarrah and Jonty together :laugh:

Are you saying it takes 2 of mine to make one of yours? :laugh:

It's funny, I didnt really realise how small Jonty is when he's standing next to me until we took those videos of the dogs recalls on the weekend - then it was like "Oooh he looks so LITTLE & look how far he has to look up at me!!" :laugh:

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How many dogs do you have?

3 of my own.

How often do you train etc.

2 times a week at club.. most days on little things like group stays, recalls and obedience routines with Clover dog.

Do you find it hard to train all of them?

Train them no.... competing is a different story :laugh:.

What are their rough ages - ie: are some retired, do you have multiple dogs at trialling level?

Clover is 8 years old (Still competing), Elvis & Tinny are 3 years old (Both competing)

Do you feel that you have enough time for each dog?

Everyone gets their own special time every day.

Do you have multiple breeds to train or do you only have the one breed? Any preferences in working style?

Clover is a Rottie/ Aussie Cattle Dog x.. Elvis and Tinny are Border Collies. The BCs pick up on new commands quicker but Clover is more reliable in obeying those commands.

Edited by Clover
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