I wonder if some of the "disagreements" about training have to do with the number of dogs owned? When working with a sizeable pack of dogs there are two leaders - the canine one and the human one (or to be more precise, three - the human, the top male, the top female, and the overall top dog - or more usually with sighthound breeds the overall top bitch).

That complicates matters, especially if the canine leader - who will always 'speak dog' much better than any human - is a strong one. It also usually makes life much easier, as long as the canine leader respects the human one, and imo, vice versa.

For most of my life I’ve lived in a medium sized pack situation, as have some others here, and I suspect that managing a pack of dogs is very different to training either in a class situation or for the owner of one or two dogs.

Here, here !....managing more than two dogs is entirely different from owning or training one dog....owning several dogs means you really have to be on the ball behaviour-wise...eyes in the back of your head/mediator...it's nothing at all like working one dog in a class situation, or for that matter taking a whole class of puppies as I do every week !...owning two or more dogs is a wonderful help when it comes to experience with training and behaviour...the nuances are amazing....and the hassle is enourmous !!!

Definately agree it is so much easier to train with more than one !

Question to add to this thread this about one or more dogs if it is OK ?
Do people think that leaving a dog on its own is more difficult that if there are more than one.
If they have some of the pack there whilst the human pack leader is out surely it is easier for them to cope with it ?
I must admit my first Lab was much happier when we kept one of her pups to keep her company.
I feel so long as they have access to the outside in some way and have plenty of stimulation with company and toys etc when you are out, and then they get plenty of excercise and interaction when you are home surely it isn't so bad ? I know alot of people disagree in leaving dogs for longer than four hours but if the conditons are as above would people feel slightly differently ?

Thanks

Lucy

ps If I could stay at home all day I would jump at the chance.

I would agree with you. A dog is a pack animal, threfore leaving it ALONE for long periods is counter it's nature. If you have two or more dogs then they will not suffer loneliness, but the unsupervised pack can of course get into mischief.

A probelm would occur with a first dog with extreme seperation anxiety passing this onto the new dog, you then have two anxious animals. Two or more well adjusted happy in eqach others company dogs will be perfectly happy with each others company, broken up with interesting things to do with you.

The bond with each other may be stronger than it is with you if you do not sepen a lot of one to one time bonding and training, but what the heck,how big is our ego!

We make sure that all ours get equal amounts of time for the bonding and I would say we have 2 ( hopefully back to three soon) very well balanced happy Labs! I think it is definately how they are treated. As somebody said earlier are we sometimes forgetting that they are dogs and not humans !!

Lucy

Lucy, could be a breed thing, but my crew get quite miffed if I'm in view all the time. The seem to enjoy and maybe even need their time for doing dog things, and for all I know, thinking canine thoughts. I've never had a problem with separation anxiety or with getting individual obedience. When I'm away for a bit, as I was last week, Ian is good at taking care of the dogs' physical needs, but he is out most of the day and they seem just as content as when I'm at home.

The multi-dog situation has pros and cons. With a really efficient pack leader things usually run smoothly, but if the top dog isn't up to the top job, as Norm says, you need to be constantly aware of what's going on and preferably be quick enough off the mark to sort problems while the dog(s) is/are only thinking about causing it. With multiple dogs, I think you perhaps need to know each individual dog and its quirks, likes and dislikes, motivations etc even better than if you only have one or two. I feel I learn a lot (and get enormous satisfaction) from watching my pack interact, and if some of the dogs are not as 'devoted' to me as most dogs in a one-on-one situation are to their owner, I don't mind and am happy with the relationship I do have with each dog. Nor do I mind that some of them decide that Ian, not I, is 'their person'. That might not satisfy everyone, and I've known of dogs that didn't seem happy in a pack set-up either. IMO the dog that prefers to be an only dog seems to turn up more often in certain breeds.

My own set up makes it very easy for me to have multiple dogs because I have space, indoors and out, a kennel block when it is needed (eg in season bitches, litters, the odd 'visitor') and plently of safe places for exercise. We had the good fortune to be able to buy a semi-derelict property and redesign it around the dogs. I also have plently of dependable knowledgable help to call on if required, and breeds that are easy to handle and that work out well both together and in a pack situation. So I'm filled with admiration for people who have have multiple dogs in less ideal places and/or of more 'difficult' breeds because they have to work so much harder to keep everyone healthy and happy and things ticking over smoothly.

How many do you have all together?

Lucy