Multiple dog household challenges

 

Do you have more than one dog?

We live in a multi-dog household. The numbers change depending on a variety of factors, but currently, we have six dogs that live with us regularly. A lot, I know. It wasn’t what we planned, but it works. I can’t remember the last time we had only one dog with us, but maybe know what it’s like.

While the number of dogs you live with is your choice, there are distinct differences in the living situations of households with one dog versus multi-dog households.

How a multi-dog household is different than a one-dog household

If you have one dog, you most likely know about the feeding, health care, training, and all the other stuff it takes to be a good dog parent. With several dogs, the process is not just repeated times the number of dogs. Certain aspects increase exponentially or aren’t even present with only one dog.

For example, when you live in a multi-dog household:

Training takes more planning, especially if you want to train one dog at a time. Unless you take extra steps, the dog or dogs you aren’t concentrating on are likely to try to join in the fun, distracting the subject of your training session.

Attention; they compete and notice if you pay more attention to the other one. When you have one dog, that dog greets you; you greet them, it’s all good. But with several dogs, each one wants to be noticed first, and jealousy can erupt if you’re not careful.

Treats; you MUST have the same number of treats for each one. Dogs can count and WILL notice if one of the others got more than they did.

Knowing who “did it” becomes harder since the dogs aren’t going to tell you. When somebody is naughty, it’s much more difficult to figure out who it was so that you can correct it as needed than when you have one dog. Living in a multi-dog household means that sometimes they work together to commit the deed.

Lap position; your lap may not be big enough, so your dogs might compete for the best position. In our household, they rotate through. Certain dogs know my routine well enough that they anticipate where I’ll be at a given time and lie in wait for me to get there. Other dogs wait patiently for that dog to move and then take up a position on my lap or next to me in the chair.

It’s complicated but worth it.

Things would probably be more simple if we only had one dog. But I wouldn’t change a thing. While some of the challenges are, well, challenging, the benefits far outweigh the problems. At least for us. As dog parents, we’ve made lots of mistakes, but we learn as we go. Read my post, Dog parent mistakes, for more. It always helps to read up on the advice of others, like this post from Whole Dog Journal, too.

Our dogs enjoy each other’s company. We enjoy each of them and love having them with us. And it makes us improve our dog parenting skills. Do you live in a multi-dog household? Tell me about it in the comments, below.