Any 3 dog families out there?

Klayfish

DIS Veteran
Joined
May 19, 2016
I posted a few weeks ago that we adopted an 8 week old puppy. We already have a 7 year old dog, but the kids and DW wanted another dog. I was opposed to it, but as I joked I was outvoted 4-1. So now we've got 2 dogs. I'll admit that the puppy is adorable and we're loving him to death. Knock on wood, while there have been some accidents, potty training is going better than we could have hoped for. We're pretty diligent about it.

Our older dog wants almost nothing to do with the puppy. He doesn't seem to "hate" him, he just doesn't want to be bothered. The puppy constantly wants to play with him, lick him, and just follow him around. Our older dog will tolerate the puppy laying next to him quietly, but other than that he will actively get up and walk away. So the crazy thought has entered my head of getting a third dog as a playmate for the puppy. Maybe not an 8 week old, but a 3-6 month old. The kids would love it, and DW in theory would like it too (we've discussed it). But we're concerned about the level of work. We're pretty busy already. Would going from 2 dogs to 3 be a huge jump, or do you get into a routine? We went from having one child to three after the twins were born and lived to tell the tale. :D

I'm sure someone here has kids and 3+ dogs. Tell me about it. We're leaning towards no, but are strongly considering it.
 
We used to have three. We had one older dog, one adult and a little guy. The adult was about two when we got the pup. I didn’t want our oldest to die and leave our middle alone, when he’d always known a companion. Our eldest died last year and we are back down to two. We did this same scenario once before. Three is always a temporary situation. It’s very expensive. The extra work doesn’t bother us.

We have three kids. Nine, nine and fourteen.
 
Not long term but when we lost one of our dogs and were down to one we fostered two bothers. Three was rough because we walk our dogs at least once a day and one person walking three dogs was not ideal. It was ok short term but isn't something we have an interest in doing long term. We really prefer having two but we are waiting for our son to be a little older before rescuing a second dog at this time.
 
We have 3 pets. 2 dogs and a cat, but the cat is really easy. Sometimes 2 dogs is plenty to manage, and I don't think I'd want to take on 3.

Our neighbors recently got a third dog, a puppy to join the elder dog and a one year old pup.
It's crazy town in their yard, lol!

I was walking my lab a couple days ago, and all 3 dogs left their acres large yard and came flying across the street by my dog. They wouldn't listen to their owner, not one bit!

The one year old pup is a bit naughty, and the new puppy is wanting to follow that lead.
(The older dog is tolerant of both.)
 


We have 3 - a 4 year old chi mix, a 2 year old pit, and an 11 month old something or other. 3 aren't particularly any more work. We feed and train 2 of them at the same time and usually walk at least 2 at once. Food costs more and of course boarding them if we go out of town is insane pricewise.


The big problem we have is that our little dog absolutely hates the puppy. As in wants to kill him, which of course he has no chance at doing since the puppy weighs a good 60 lbs while the chi mix is 10lb on a fat day. So now we are paying $$$ for behavior modification. If your older dog isn't liking one puppy, you might want to make sure a second one wouldn't push him over the edge.
 
We have 3 - a 4 year old chi mix, a 2 year old pit, and an 11 month old something or other. 3 aren't particularly any more work. We feed and train 2 of them at the same time and usually walk at least 2 at once. Food costs more and of course boarding them if we go out of town is insane pricewise.


The big problem we have is that our little dog absolutely hates the puppy. As in wants to kill him, which of course he has no chance at doing since the puppy weighs a good 60 lbs while the chi mix is 10lb on a fat day. So now we are paying $$$ for behavior modification. If your older dog isn't liking one puppy, you might want to make sure a second one wouldn't push him over the edge.

Thanks. Like I said, having survived twin human babies, we figure maybe having two young dogs would be similar. Yes, the boarding if we go out of town...to WDW...is an issue, but we're already in that boat. We use a private sitter, so maybe we could strike a deal with her.

That's always the gamble...how would the dogs get along? Our older one is incredibly docile and gentle. Certainly no way to know for sure, but I can't imagine him trying to hurt the younger dog(s) unless something really went wrong. Even with the puppy, he's shown zero aggression, more just not wanting to be bothered. Our hope would be that the two younger ones would be playmates.
 
Thanks. Like I said, having survived twin human babies, we figure maybe having two young dogs would be similar. Yes, the boarding if we go out of town...to WDW...is an issue, but we're already in that boat. We use a private sitter, so maybe we could strike a deal with her.

That's always the gamble...how would the dogs get along? Our older one is incredibly docile and gentle. Certainly no way to know for sure, but I can't imagine him trying to hurt the younger dog(s) unless something really went wrong. Even with the puppy, he's shown zero aggression, more just not wanting to be bothered. Our hope would be that the two younger ones would be playmates.

It would definitely depend on your dog. Maybe instead of another puppy, consider a young adult dog, old enough to be out of the obnoxious puppy state but still young enough to enjoy playing with an energetic puppy.
 


be instead of another puppy, consider a young adult dog, old enough to be out of the obnoxious puppy state but still young enough to enjoy playing with an energetic puppy.

Definitely agree that younger dogs are usually easier to introduce.

I had 3 English bulldogs for several years, then all died within 13 months of each other. So I got another bulldog puppy and didn't want to shell out another several thousand dollars for a pet so went to a rescue and adopted dog #2 (young pit bull male). They were not very compatible activity level wise (we would have to walk him for 3-4 miles with a weighted backpack back then...he's gotten much lazier, thank goodness) so was guilted by a friend into adopting dog #3 (young pit/chow/boxer mix). Dog #3 is a train wreck but we stuck with her...and I fostered for several rescues. After 20 foster dogs, DD fell in love with dog #4 (lab/boxer/pit) who was also young when we fostered then adopted her.

I think my success in having a pack of 4 (and subsequent fosters so up to 4 plus a foster plus a visiting refugee from a storm--with his parents, too :) ) is that all were fairly young (potty trained but no older than a year or so) when we adopted so they adapted to the pack/house/each other readily. I've also worked in rescue for several years so know it's a good idea to introduce them properly and keep the new guy separated at feeding time, not allowing resource guarding, doing basic "manners" training and asking for help if needed.

My four line up next to their bowls at dinner and wait to be fed (and two were starving on the streets at one point); I can walk all four if I must (but the bulldog doesn't walk much), and they love to wrestle and play with each other.

We definitely have a routine and I think if you allow not only your family to pick out the new dog but also the older dog (seriously, my bulldog didn't like the dog I'd planned to adopt which is how we ended up with our pittie boy) then I think you'll have success. Honestly, if you can handle three children you can do this...dogs are just like toddlers who never talk back but also won't leave the nest :)

Good luck with your decision!
 
I've never had 3 but I have thought about it. We've only had two at a time and we always do boy/girl combos because they seem to get along better that way. Our first dog was a cocker spaniel (I have a thing for them) and he was NOT fond of our female cocker when we got her. It took him a few months to warm up to her. He didn't attack her or anything but he always looked at her like, "how long is this thing staying with us?". Oh, did she love him though! And I'll tell you, as he aged she was such a comfort to him. She was like his little nurse, she never left his side and he really did learn to love her for it. So while your older dog right now may look at that puppy like he's a burden, you may find in time when the puppy grows up they learn to be buddies. My female cocker is almost 10 now and she saw our first cocker to his eternal rest, she raised our 3rd dog which was a cockapoo and only lived 3 years unfortunately, and next weekend we our getting our 4th dog, another boy cocker spaniel puppy. I expect she will be annoyed by him for the first few weeks but will love him in no time like she has her other "brothers". Good luck with the decision making! Dogs give so much love back so I don't think there's much regret taking another one aside from the expenses. If you can afford it and have the space, why not?
 
It would definitely depend on your dog. Maybe instead of another puppy, consider a young adult dog, old enough to be out of the obnoxious puppy state but still young enough to enjoy playing with an energetic puppy.

Yes, definitely. I mistyped above. If...and it's a big if...we do this we don't want another 8 week old...as cute as they are. We're thinking 6-9 month range, maybe up to one year. Still a puppy, but not a baby.
 
I posted a few weeks ago that we adopted an 8 week old puppy. We already have a 7 year old dog, but the kids and DW wanted another dog. I was opposed to it, but as I joked I was outvoted 4-1. So now we've got 2 dogs. I'll admit that the puppy is adorable and we're loving him to death. Knock on wood, while there have been some accidents, potty training is going better than we could have hoped for. We're pretty diligent about it.

Our older dog wants almost nothing to do with the puppy. He doesn't seem to "hate" him, he just doesn't want to be bothered. The puppy constantly wants to play with him, lick him, and just follow him around. Our older dog will tolerate the puppy laying next to him quietly, but other than that he will actively get up and walk away. So the crazy thought has entered my head of getting a third dog as a playmate for the puppy. Maybe not an 8 week old, but a 3-6 month old. The kids would love it, and DW in theory would like it too (we've discussed it). But we're concerned about the level of work. We're pretty busy already. Would going from 2 dogs to 3 be a huge jump, or do you get into a routine? We went from having one child to three after the twins were born and lived to tell the tale. :D

I'm sure someone here has kids and 3+ dogs. Tell me about it. We're leaning towards no, but are strongly considering it.

We were in this exact same situation - in fact, I could have written most of this post. :) We had an older lab and got a lab puppy in Jan of 2018. The relationship of the older dog and the puppy were exactly as you described - our puppy was essentially harassing our old dog to play 24/7, and the dog was having none of it. Our older dog wasn't miserable, she was just annoyed most of the time. She tolerated the puppy if the puppy was calmly laying around her, but for the most part she avoided her.

We did exactly what you were considering - 3 weeks ago, we got another lab puppy. So now we have a 10 month old lab puppy and a 10 week old lab puppy, as well as the older dog. For us it's been great - the two puppies love each other and play together all the time (even though one weighs 70 lbs and the other weighs 14 lbs) and the older dog is much happier as well because she's not being constantly bothered. We chose to do it now because we wanted the puppies to be approximately the same age, so they'd have the same energy levels and drive to play.

It does take work, though - DH and I both work full time and we have three kids (an elementary schooler and two middle schoolers). With the kids school schedules and our work schedules we are out of the house for 6 hours each day. We have a dog sitter (a local homeschool high schooler) who comes in twice a day to let them out, play with them, and feed them, and we'll continue that for a couple of months. After that I'll come home for lunch each day to spend time with them and let them out. But with 5 people in the house, we spread out the work a lot so it's not too bad.
 
We've been considering adding a puppy to our 2-dog home. DH finally gave me the green light, but now I've got cold feet. How will we house-train a puppy when we both work FT? Since our dogs are older (11 & 9) and set in their low-energy ways, maybe 2 puppies from the same litter would be an idea so the puppies could play. Oy, DH would never go for it.
 
We have 3, but they are all about a year apart. Our 3rd was a handful so it took some adjusting initially but once things chilled out, it's been easy. Financially, it just added in food and medical for another (plus our 3rd also requires grooming). We already used a dogsitter that stayed in our house so that wasn't a big change.

In our house, the 1st dog (Shih Tzu) doesn't consider himself to be a dog so our 3rd actually gave our 2nd dog a playmate. And they fight like brother and sister :laughing: Our 2nd dog would have been fine without a constant playmate but we were able to rescue a sweet girl that happens to like to play with him so it was a win-win.
 
We've fostered dogs a few times, bringing our temporary dog number to 3 (and in one case 11 due to puppies being born). I realized that two dogs is our comfort level. Adding that third dog seemed to exponentially increase the activity level in the house/yard, amount of food intake and poop clean up. I can manage it for a few weeks but really don't see having three dogs full time as my family's comfort spot.

If you do want that third, I also would vote for a young adult with some training/home experience and manners. The puppy will learn from the elders in the household and I wouldn't want to try to train a puppy at the same time I was trying to settle/retrain another young dog that wasn't well mannered. The best dog I've ever had was a lab mix puppy that we found when our first GSD was about 2-3 years old. He was still very active but a great dog who knew how our house worked and helped raise her.
 
I would like to speak on behalf of your elderly dog :). It's EXTREMELY important that he have the ability to "get away" from the puppy. At his age he should NOT have to be "tolerant", "gentle", or "kind" with it. If the puppy is not being directly supervised by a human adult, please have him self contained (in a crate, puppy pen, etc). The old dog did NOT ask to have this whirlwind come in and disrupt his senior years! Unfortunately, as the old dogs gets more frail and infirm, it can lead to dominance fights, especially if it coincides with when the puppy reaches sexual maturity. I know everyone in the family is probably entranced with the puppy, but remember all the good years the old dog has given you, and that he deserves even more love and attention now.

I would most definitely NOT suggest getting a third unless you are very comfortable with reading dog behavior and understanding how a pack acts. While the two young ones will probably play and bond, they may also band together against the old one if not now, in the future. I've had many elderly dogs, and I even have been caught by surprise at times when one suddenly takes a turn for the worst that is not visible to humans, but the younger dogs sense it. My vet said just last week, "How did you know to bring him in, his symptoms are not obvious", and I said, "Because the young one started raising his hackles at him".

If you insist on getting a third one, please find one of solid of temperament as possible, probably 1-2 yrs old, and preferably of the opposite sex. Make sure initial introductions are done on neutral ground, preferably with a dog behaviorist or trainer along to observe. Commit to how much WORK three will be, especially as the old one gets older.

Or just treat the puppy as another kid, and wear it out yourself, while still pampering the old one.

JMHO.

Terri
 
I don't have 3 permanent dogs, but I had two for many years (the male passed away just under 2 years ago) and I foster dogs and cats for a local rescue, so I have a rotation of animals in and out -- last summer I fostered two 9 week old black lab puppies at the same time. I think you understand it would be more work, and more overall cost for care, so I won't go into that, but I'll say I agree with the above poster that your older dog should have somewhere they are able to go to get away from the more rambunctious ones when he is not in the mood. My dog is a female 14 year old pit bull mix -- she is a velcro dog, and has been very tolerable of all manner of dogs and cats I've fostered, including the puppies, BUT she has clearly been bigger fans of some more than others.

She's still pretty peppy, but she is not of age to want to play with puppies anymore. She's the old cranky grandma that tells the whippersnappers to quiet down during her nap. The puppies weren't allowed on the 2nd floor but my dog was, so she knew she could always skedaddle up to one of the kids' rooms and have a snooze on their beds without being bothered. She would tolerate puppies grabbing at her ears for a few minutes, but she knew she could get up and remove herself from them if she wanted to. And of course, when I'm fostering my job is to help a dog become adoptable, so I'm spending time on training, not to mention all sorts of vet appointments, spay/neuter aftercare, home visits etc, but I have to make sure I'm still carving out the time to give my own dog attention, because it's so easy to forget to since she's older and so low maintenance.
 
we had a very old dog pass at 18 and one was left at 10. Small dogs. We have had better luck with dogs if they are not alone so we wanted a friend, but we knew puppies and 10 year olds would never get along. So we bought a brother and sister (small Shihs Tzus).

I guess the biggest issue was potty training because its hard to know who to blame. As far as food, 1-3 is not a lot of difference with small dogs. Its fun, the puppies have a blast 24-7, the older one just watches.
 
I've been in your situation twice, with an older dog and a puppy. It was the same type thing, the puppy wanting to play with the older dog and the older dog not really interested.

The one thing I learned from my last GSD is that not all dogs like other dogs. Mine didn't, really. She tolerated the puppy and even slept next to his crate (I think just to keep an eye on him), but I think she probably would've had a more peaceful existence at the end of her life had we not had a puppy. So I would just ask yourself how the older dog would feel having yet another annoyance, lol.

For me the cost was crazy, too. Just for spring check up it can run in the hundreds for one small dog. A big dog can easily run $300. At least where I live. Add in the cost of heartworm and flea and tick pills times three, food and medical care when something goes wrong, and it can get crazy financially, especially as they get older. We had two elderly GSDs at the same time and we spent a lot of money on medical care. Thousands. But even young dogs can get chronic medical problems. We had a bout of Lyme disease with our puppy and it ran cost over a thousand. (Some people don't get regular medical care for their dogs, but that's another story.) Grooming can be quite costly, too, if you have the type of dog who needs to be groomed. I pay more for my dog's grooming than I do for my own hair! I bought all the equipment to do it myself and sometimes do, but he looks better when they do it. :duck:

I would go with your gut on this one. But really consider the needs of your older dog, too, who was there first.
 
Can't speak to 3 dogs, but our neighbors just got two puppies at the same time. It is a lot of work, but they say they would much rather be training both together now than getting one now and another in a few months/a year!

For the older dog, did he go with to pick out the puppy? Can you take him with to pick out the new dog if it happens? When we got our dog we were living with my in laws so we took their dog when we were looking. He is usually friendly with every dog we meet on walks, but HATED every puppy we liked - he would growl and bark and snap at all of them. Just when we were giving up, he became transfixed on one specific dog at the shelter and wouldn't leave her alone, so that is the one we got! They are best friends now. If it matters, he was 4 and the pup was 6 months.
 
I would like to speak on behalf of your elderly dog :). It's EXTREMELY important that he have the ability to "get away" from the puppy. At his age he should NOT have to be "tolerant", "gentle", or "kind" with it. If the puppy is not being directly supervised by a human adult, please have him self contained (in a crate, puppy pen, etc). The old dog did NOT ask to have this whirlwind come in and disrupt his senior years! Unfortunately, as the old dogs gets more frail and infirm, it can lead to dominance fights, especially if it coincides with when the puppy reaches sexual maturity. I know everyone in the family is probably entranced with the puppy, but remember all the good years the old dog has given you, and that he deserves even more love and attention now.

I would most definitely NOT suggest getting a third unless you are very comfortable with reading dog behavior and understanding how a pack acts. While the two young ones will probably play and bond, they may also band together against the old one if not now, in the future. I've had many elderly dogs, and I even have been caught by surprise at times when one suddenly takes a turn for the worst that is not visible to humans, but the younger dogs sense it. My vet said just last week, "How did you know to bring him in, his symptoms are not obvious", and I said, "Because the young one started raising his hackles at him".

If you insist on getting a third one, please find one of solid of temperament as possible, probably 1-2 yrs old, and preferably of the opposite sex. Make sure initial introductions are done on neutral ground, preferably with a dog behaviorist or trainer along to observe. Commit to how much WORK three will be, especially as the old one gets older.

Or just treat the puppy as another kid, and wear it out yourself, while still pampering the old one.

JMHO.

Terri

I loooooooove older dogs. They are my favorite! :love:
 

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