How Many Dogs Do You Have?

[ausdogsx6]

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 ), but i'd like to have and possibly train a poodle and golden at some stage

Hi leopuppy,

I couldnt help but to feel amused as I read your post. I too thought that I would only have 2 dogs, and I did...for a while...lol

I started out with my kelpie, Zac. I got him at 5 months old because his previous owner, who bought him from a pet shop, found out she was pregnant and decided that she didnt have time for him anymore. He is a great dog with tones of personality. He is almost 2 yrs old now. Then came Candie, a b/colliex kelpie. she jumped out of an idiots ute one day, right in front of my car! I cant say I blame her, going on the speed he was doing! I actually ran over the top of her, luckily my wheels missed her. she was only about 8 weeks old. Now 18 months old. I thought that 2 dogs was cool, then. Later I found out that Candie has severe HD and my hopes of doing agility with her were dashed.

Then I decided to get another dog that I could do agility with. I contacted several breeders of different breeds, not sure what I wanted. Eventually I settled on a beautiful b/collie. Her name is Khaoz aintseenothin yet (Sally). She is now 7 mths old. a week later I was coming home in the dark when I found a b/collie pup near our gate. I thought it was Sally and I picked her up and bold up the drive way, furious with my poor hubby for letting her out. He looked at me dumb founded because sally was still there and I stood with a cute little b/collie and egg on my face! That little cutie is Molley, also now about 7 mths.

Next came an email from a breeder of a red ACD. I had enquired about her before I bought Sally and was told that she had none for sale. It turned out that the red pup had quite a bit of blue in her coat and she would not be able to show her. I used to have a red and a blue ACD that I still miss very much and this little dog reminded me so much of them that I couldnt resist. So, Lonerun its full on (Chilli) made the long trip from SA. After I had agreed to take her, but before she arrived my friends son had a kelpie that he needed to rehome. I had expressed some interest earlier and heard nothing more. Now she was on her way. That is Chelsea. I am not sure how old she is but about 8-10 months old I guess. wow, before I knew it we were a 6 dog pack! Added to 2 cats and 2 horses we have a housefull.

I belong to Berwick ODC. It is impossible to keep up with training them all, and having 4 babies who all needed socialisation and given that I have been helping out a little with instructing, I just wasnt able to give them all the time, going out, that they needed. Its one thing to train at home but they all needed to go to dog club just for the socialisation. I took 2 of them to puppy school and met a trainer from Alpha dog training. They train on sundays and wed. nights so it became Saturdays and Tues nights at Berwick and Sundays and wednesday nights at Alpha. This got 4 dogs out but now I was neglecting Zac & Candie.

The moral is that while I wouldnt swap one of them. They are all fantastic little dogs and all very different personalities and have differences in the way we train. It is impossible to give them all the time they need and when I get to take them to obedience trials I will not be able to take more than one at a time because I can only handle one in the stays, unless they are big classes. I already found that impossible when trialing Zac and Candie when both were entered in encouragement trials. How will it be when we get to do agility and flyball. Wow, the fun hasnt even begun yet..lol I luv it but dont recomend it! hehehe

[Dogsfevr]

I use to trial many years ago & now stick to just showing .Our dogs vary from 14-9 months.Most are now retired but being long coats training is constant with grooming plus life skills etc.

3 are full time showdogs which take up 10 hrs a we3k for show grooming/show bath plus training on top of that .I dont do alot once skilled but find i can make a game into maintaining show skills,free stacks etc.

In total we have 17 dogs .I work from home so it makes it easrier to dabble around committments etc

[Pink Panther]

Showdog, what breeds are you involved with?

17 DOGS?? I sure hope for your sake they're small!

[SueM]

I have 2 dogs,Ally my older girl doesnt require any daily training, Harvey I train for about 20 minutes a day and obedience class,

once a week at this stage, he should be graduating to Class 3 tonight all going well ps they are Chihuahua's...

Edited January 29, 2007 by varicool