Tips For Owning A Multiple Dog Pack

There are some basic tips for owning a multiple dog pack to ensure a harmonious living arrangement. And by basic, I don’t mean easy, or without work or effort. I mean more like “Ah yeah, that makes total sense!”

Adding more than one dog to your family comes with this whole other level of management. It’s no longer a matter of keeping just one dog in line. Now you have manage how your dogs interact with one another within their pack. I’ve kept two dogs for years, but have recently added a third dog to our family. And there’s nothing that magnifies potential problem areas like adding more dogs.

obedience training

Get your dogs’ basic obedience skills under control. This is important no matter how many dogs you have. But when you have more than one dog, obedience training for each becomes exponentially important. And you must be the calm and benevolent leader calling all the shots.

Dogs can learn behaviors, both good and bad, from other dogs. If your one dog has poor obedience skills, adding another dog is not going to improve that situation. And not only will you have an unruly pack, small problems within a pack of ill mannered dogs are more likely to escalate into big problems, like all out aggression.

Identify potential conflict scenarios between your dogs, and work on obedience skills that provide solutions to those problems. For example, if feeding time is a frenzy, start by feeding your dogs separately. Teach each dog individually to ‘wait’ as you put their food down. Work with each dog on the ‘leave it’ command, so they learn self control in the presence of something else they want.

Over time, as your dogs learn to individually control themselves at meal time, you can begin introducing meal times for two dogs together, and so on. Ensure that each dog has their own space, and that you remain attentive to your dogs as they eat, so any missteps can be quickly corrected.

work for it

Practice, practice, practice your obedience skills! Nothing comes for free. You want a cookie? Sit for it. You want to go out the door? Wait for it, and let me go first. As your dogs perfect their basic skills, you can up the ante with bigger challenges.

resources

Speaking of each dog having their own space, this brings to mind another source of conflict in multi-dog homes. Resources. Competition between dogs for limited resources can easily turn into an argument. Make sure you have enough of everything to go around. Squeaky toys, chew toys, fluffy beds, water bowls, treats. You get the idea.

I have three dogs and five dog beds (six if you include mine 😂). When I buy new antlers, there is at least one for each of them (though they still all seem to zero in on the same favorite). When I come home with new toys, there is something new for everyone. Having enough for everyone helps to manage competition over coveted items.

activity and exercise

A tired dog is a good dog. In other words, you can’t pen your in a crate all day, and then expect them to sit quietly when company comes over. The amount of exercise, and mental stimulation, your dog needs depends on many factors, including size, age, and breed. But all dogs will need some level of physical and mental activity in order to behave their best.

If I want to take my dogs to the park, and have them walk beside me like the well behaved ladies they are, they do better if I’ve thrown a couple rounds of ball in the yard before we leave. It lets them get a little energy out of their systems, and allows them to be more attuned to what I ask of them once we are out in public with other distractions.

individual but equal attention

If you have more than one dog in your life, it’s important to make a point of giving each of your dogs some individual attention. All dogs have unique personalities, and spending that one on one time will help them form a bonded relationship with you.

Each week, take each of your dogs on a separate walk, or give each of them 10-15 minutes of one on one time playing a favorite game. Take one of them with you on errands for the day (assuming they are errands which your dog can actually go in with you). Or take a special training class. Olive and I have been taking a beginner’s dog agility training class.

The pack life

Having a multiple dog household is a lot of work! But, I wouldn’t have it any other way. With more dogs comes more love, more sloppy kisses, and more tail wags, which makes all the work worth it! Following these tips for owning a multiple dog pack will have you on your way to establishing balance and harmony in a multi-dog household.