Bula's Lady Posted March 20, 2009 Report Share Posted March 20, 2009 So my pack of 3 dogs is now going to 4. A death in the family has a 2 yr old male gsd dog coming to live with us on our farm. Are current 3 dogs, 1 fm bc 3, 1 ml hound 3, and 1 fm gsd 12...get along great and are fine when other dogs come to our farm. Just wondering how pack dynamics might be introducing a 4th live in dog. We sometimes dogsit my friends 10 yr old m gsd and everyone is fine because he isn't hyper... We are excited and nervous. We know we can provide a good stable environment. I have just never had this many dogs before! We also have a very, very, small log cabin but live on a very big farm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurelin Posted March 20, 2009 Report Share Posted March 20, 2009 Good luck! The only time I remember feeling really overwhelmed was when we went to 6 dogs for a while. For some reason the 6th made me feel like a crazy dog person. Good job for taking the boy in too. I love GSDs and grew up with one. They're another breed I'll definitely have again one day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jumpin Boots Posted March 20, 2009 Report Share Posted March 20, 2009 In my experience once you're over the change to two it's just a little more work and a lot more doggy fun. We currently have four of our own, the first three were together for 3 almost 4 years as a pack before the fourth (he was a 10 month old bc at the time) joined in and we had very few issues, no more than I would expect to have when meeting any new dog. We currently have 2 fosters also, so are at 6 total, it was crazy for the first few weeks and the fosters are from a mill so had no indoor skills and weren't good at listening to communication from the other dogs, much less us. Although things have settled down and 6 now doesn't really seem that overwelming, oh no, did I actually just write that, I better go take my temperature. Our biggest problem is the kitten, not because the dogs are aggressive, they've been instructed that is not ok, but the 6 month old siamese is convinced that dog tails are for attacking and that a sleeping dog surely needs a cat curled up next to it. Anyway, I'm sure, besides the normal little dog spats and everyone figuring out where they are in the pecking order you will be fine making the change from 3 to 4 Best of luck, that's great of you to offer a home to a family friend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juliepoudrier Posted March 20, 2009 Report Share Posted March 20, 2009 For some reason the 6th made me feel like a crazy dog person. Hey! I resent that! J., the crazy dog lady.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurelin Posted March 20, 2009 Report Share Posted March 20, 2009 Hey! I resent that! J., the crazy dog lady.... Don't you mean you resemble that? Crazy dog people are cool in my books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greylite Posted March 20, 2009 Report Share Posted March 20, 2009 Once you go past two it doesn't really matter anymore. You're a crazy dog person. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OurBoys Posted March 20, 2009 Report Share Posted March 20, 2009 Hey! I resent that! J., the crazy dog lady.... When I told dh you have 9 dogs, his reply was "Oh". After a few seconds of silence, he started asking questions like "So she has her own sheep??", "Has she ever been to Rural Hill Farm??", etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bula's Lady Posted March 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2009 so how many cats does it take to make you crazy? we got 4... horses... 3 that we own, 11 total we take care of... thanks for the reasuarance! I just hope no one gets hurt if they figure out the pecking order! My husband is excited to have a dog he can be stern with again - he knows to yell at Bula in a baby voice - or she runs away from him! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theshine Posted March 20, 2009 Report Share Posted March 20, 2009 I just added a fourth recently and it was a breeze...the only difficult thing was that she was a puppy and wasn't housebroken, but now we're past that and it's no different than three. They get along and that helps...I dogsit a fifth on occasion and that really overwhelmed me last time though...mostly because he doesn't mesh well with my pack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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