Are You A One Person Dog Or Multiply Person Dog?

Ivy

Ivy

Well-Known Member
I unfortunately found out after getting my second dog, that I'm really a one dog person, which is strange because I love dogs so much!! I always wanted a second dog more dogs even! but after getting my ACD foster, it was strange for me. Don't get me wrong I love the little guy with all my heart and he's staying with me til his time comes and he is spoiled rotten but I just feel that i should give all my time and attention to my first dog and not have to share that with another dog. Foster is the family dog and my siblings like to take him out with them and he sleeps with them sometimes but I take care of him the most. Feeding, bathing, walking, playing, exercising, training..
I don't know why I feel this way and I feel pretty guilty about it. And the thing that gets me the most is that he has so much potential! I feel i will never get a dog like this again! But every time I try to train him I feel like I'm cheating on Cosmo or something, weird right!? Lol. Im truly glad foster came into my life, he's a one in a million type dog and I love him just as much as Cosmo. Has anyone ever experienced this? Do you like to have multiply dogs or one? If you have multiply dogs how do you like share them? Lol.
Oh and foster isn't going anywhere, he's definitely coming with him when it's my time to move out
 
Don't feel guilty not everyone is a multiple dog person no matter how much you love dogs. Owning multiple dogs can be stressful. You just like to make sure you give Cosmo lots of love and attention and you feel that you can't do that with another dog, your just guilty of loving your dog.:p
I love having more than one dog, and really miss having three dogs to take care of Sweetie(Missy's puppy, she is with her new loving family, Domino(Missy's puppy, was mistakenly put to sleep by vet at 2yr. old) and Missy I found it to be fun, each dog learned differently. I would train Missy and Domino together sometimes and other times I would train them separately. I had to walk them individually. I would give all three of them there own time with me, either laying in the floor wtih them to snuggle, walks, or playing with them.
 
This feels like a tough question for me. I have times I feel like I am a one dog person but I think that is just because my female, Spice, has so many issues. We love each other to pieces! Unfortunately, she is terrified of strangers, strange and new things, etc. She is smart and loves to learn. It makes me sad to see her like this but I haven't been able to change any thing about her in three years.
 
I understand where your coming from and have the same problem. We recently got a second dog (Lewis) he is actually my mums dog because Holly has become my dog :D
Mum walks Lewis but I groom him and do a little training with him and he loves to anoy me (I don't really like cuddly dogs, especially if they lick but he is a lap dog and likes to try to lick me). I feel like Holly should get all the attention but I know it should be shared.
It's especially annoying with Lewis because he gets a lot of attention on walks because of his coat (but he can't be patted by strangers or play with other dog because he get scared whereas Holly is happy with both) and when he wants attention from me he is not as polite as Holly so he ends up getting more.

I shut Lewis away when training Holly otherwise he get's in the way. But then I don't feel like I should shut Holly away when training Lewis so she ends up joining in his training session and getting even more treats. I guess it isn't fair that Lewis gets shut away when Holly doesn't, but Holly doesn't get in the way or try to steal Lewis' treats.
Also Lewis now sleeps in his crate in my parents room or he barks so I feel a bit guilty that Holly's crate is down stairs and she isn't even allowed upstairs.
And I feel guilty that I don't really train Lewis that much, he needs more training than Holly but I still train Holly way more than Lewis. Partly because she is way more fun and easier to train and partly because I don't want her to miss out and partly because Lewis is actually mums dog (even though he really likes me).
And when I groom Lewis, Holly sits at my feet waiting for her turn which makes me feel bad that she has to wait at all.

It's really strange because we had two dogs before we got Holly and I never felt guilty at all, they were both treated and loved the same.
Maybe I just have a closer relationship with Holly because she was an only dog for a while and really needs a lot of mental and physical stimulation to be happy so we do a lot of stuff together. And our other dogs were family dogs whereas Holly is mine.

I don't know, maybe it will get better in time. Maybe part of the problem is that Lewis (and your foster) get attention from so many other people that we feel like we need to compensate for this.
 
Don't feel guilty:) I have two dogs and have pretty much always had more than one dog. I find that with my dogs, they're different personalities, so it's great to watch them together. I train both dogs, though Ra Kismet now does more as he's younger and with walks I have to take Ra Kismet out alone because he can and needs to walk a lot further than my older dog. Cuddles, Ra Kismet is a real love bunny but Zeus prefers to just lie near you on the sofa, so I just give them both what they like.

When I had Zeus and his sister Tiger Lily, again both dogs, although litter mates where entirely different personalities, so I never found it conflicting. Zeus loves heel work and hated agility/trick work (other than basic sit/stay etc) whereas Tiger Lily hated heel work and was Queen of Agility/Ball/Tricks, so I just hitched Zeus to a post when at Agility Class and he was more than happy to sit and applaud his sister:D And in the garden, he'd chew the balls while Tiger Lily chased then and played 'seek' (find the hidden ball) and did all her tricks.

My late mother though was much more a 'one dog person', although LOL she put up with me when I was still at home, heaved a sigh a relief when I left and took all my dogs with me though.
 
Like said before don't feel guilty :)
It probably is a good thing, you fostered first this way you could try how it worked for you without the dog being the victim of it (I hope you get what I mean, I don't mean this badly at all!).

I'm really a multiple dog person. Though I do make sure I do the same amount of stuff with both. If I'd cycle with Mazzel, I'd also go cycling with Boef (or do an extra training session). When I did a obdience class with Boef, I made sure Mazzel was walked extra when we were away. I know the dogs probably don't care so it is more for myself (besides I really love doing stuff with them :)) But I can imagine that when you have two dogs who have different needs for exercise (like for example MaryK with her golden oldy and energetic 'kid') that the dog who doesn't really enjoy training that much would be more than happy to be petted extra ;)
 
I'm a multiple dog person. I grew up with no less than 6 dogs in the house because we showed Jack Russells.

I have two dogs (one is old and doesn't do much) with a third coming in 2 weeks. My house still feels ridiculously empty :(
 
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I'm definitely a multiple dog person. Since we breed Great Danes and rescued what ever came through the door, I've never had just one dog in the house growing up, ever. I only have 4 now after having 10. When I only had 1 dog I've never thought that house was sooo quiet before. I'm terrified to think of what is going to happen when I have to have no dogs at college.
 
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I'm not sure what I am. I have Remi, and my roommate has Chance, but we both take care of each of them. I care more for Chance even though he is my roommates. She isn't really into having a dog of her own. So in a way I have 2 dogs.
It's weird because I love training Remi, but I don't like training Chance. And I love walking with Chance but hate walking with Remi.
I don't think I would get another dog, I say its because of the expense, but truthfully I just don't think I have the energy to give attention(training, walking, playing etc) to more then one. She pays for all of Chances stuff, expect when I buy him toys and treats. If my roommate moves out she takes Chance and I take Remi, so legally I only have one dog, but I take care of two.:confused: I think that makes me a one dog person...O_o
 
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Mutt said:
Like said before don't feel guilty :)
It probably is a good thing, you fostered first this way you could try how it worked for you without the dog being the victim of it (I hope you get what I mean, I don't mean this badly at all!).

I'm really a multiple dog person. Though I do make sure I do the same amount of stuff with both. If I'd cycle with Mazzel, I'd also go cycling with Boef (or do an extra training session). When I did a obdience class with Boef, I made sure Mazzel was walked extra when we were away. I know the dogs probably don't care so it is more for myself (besides I really love doing stuff with them :)) But I can imagine that when you have two dogs who have different needs for exercise (like for example MaryK with her golden oldy and energetic 'kid') that the dog who doesn't really enjoy training that much would be more than happy to be petted extra ;)
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You're right Mutt. Zeus gets extra treats and a fuss, though he's not the kissy/huggy type of dog, prefers a quiet tum rub, sends him straight into Doggy Nirvana:D And if it's raining, on the odd day here, MUCH prefers to skip a walk completely - rain=wet dog even though he has a coat wet paws not a good look- that's just not dapper now is it?
 
Thanks everyone! I feel a lot better! Me and foster are actually taking up agility since Cosmo (or myself really) never liked it or really tried it. But he loves jumping and running and I thought I'll give it a go and it's pretty fun!
I see it now, as I do one thing with one dog that the other doesnt like,
Like Cosmo loves trick training and hunting more than agility so I train with him more and take him out to chase squirrels and lizards (were gonna start either earth dog or lure coursing, and freestyle)
While foster likes the running and jumping more so were gonna do agility more than training, frisbee, and maybe flyball!
Well I want to try flyball with both of them! I'll definitely tell you that having two dogs is fun!
 
648117 said:
I understand where your coming from and have the same problem. We recently got a second dog (Lewis) he is actually my mums dog because Holly has become my dog :D
Mum walks Lewis but I groom him and do a little training with him and he loves to anoy me (I don't really like cuddly dogs, especially if they lick but he is a lap dog and likes to try to lick me). I feel like Holly should get all the attention but I know it should be shared.
It's especially annoying with Lewis because he gets a lot of attention on walks because of his coat (but he can't be patted by strangers or play with other dog because he get scared whereas Holly is happy with both) and when he wants attention from me he is not as polite as Holly so he ends up
I shut Lewis away when training Holly otherwise he get's in the way. But then I don't feel like I should shut Holly away when training Lewis so she ends up joining in his training session and getting even more treats. I guess it isn't fair that Lewis gets shut away when Holly doesn't, but Holly doesn't get in the way or try to steal Lewis' treats.
Also Lewis now sleeps in his crate in my parents room or he barks so I feel a bit guilty that Holly's crate is down stairs and she isn't even allowed upstairs.
And I feel guilty that I don't really train Lewis that much, he needs more training than Holly but I still train Holly way more than Lewis. Partly because she is way more fun and easier to train and partly because I don't want her to miss out and partly because Lewis is actually mums dog (even though he really likes me).
And when I groom Lewis, Holly sits at my feet waiting for her turn which makes me feel bad that she has to wait at all.

It's really strange because we had two dogs before we got Holly and I never felt guilty at all, they were both treated and loved the same.
Maybe I just have a closer relationship with Holly because she was an only dog for a while and really needs a lot of mental and physical stimulation to be happy so we do a lot of stuff together. And our other dogs were family dogs whereas Holly is mine.

I don't know, maybe it will get better in time. Maybe part of the problem is that Lewis (and your foster) get attention from so many other people that we feel like we need to compensate for this.
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Our stories are very similar! He does get a lot more attention because of his coat and a lot of people never saw his breed or even heard about them and since Cosmo is my dog he sticks more to me, people are always like "why doesn't Cosmo every come to me? he's always with you, hes not a peoples dog blah blah blah" while foster being a puppy still, likes to go to everyone but loves me the most. Cosmo will go to you if you call him to you but won't just go willing unless he decides, unlike foster he gets all up in your face lol. And since foster is younger, people like his boundless energy and innocent personality more, which makes me feel even worst for Cosmo, because he's a 6 year old dog, he's mature and loyal. Right now it's starting to turn around and having two pups is fun! but people ruin it lol, I just don't have to listen to them
 
When we had WHiskey and RAleigh they were so much alike and in tune with each other it was like having one dog - they even died within weeks of each other at 15 and 16.

With Hank and Zoe - we adopted Hank at one year age and then 4 months later adopted the puppy. This was horrible for me because zoe was so demanding and Hank so easy going that Hank often got put aside because of the puppies needs. At that point I thought I had become a one person dog -- now that we all lived thru that period - they have bonded a lot and are a bit close in exercise demands etc so 2 dogs isnt a prob.

Although I think one dog would be great if you were the type to want to take your dog everywhere and to other peoples houses - with two I dont seem to do that.
 
I became a two dog person, because of my first dog:D When he grew old, I longed for a dog to go do stuff with, the kind I couldn't do with Shane anymore. So when he was 12 years old, Cooper came to join us. Now Cooper wasn't what I had in mind when I went and got me an Australian Shepherd:rolleyes: He isn't a worker. He didn't like frisbee, or obedience. He did like agility though.
When Shane passed away at 16 years of age, I knew I needed another dog. Yes NEEDED!
Because Cooper has issues, dog agression and some physical issues, I couldn't do all the things I wanted with him.
So that's when Jinx came along. She is everything I want. She loves everything we do.
But, yes, I do feel bad, that one dog has to stay home, while I go and have fun with the other. Before this was Shane, now it is Cooper, who has to stay home.
I took me a while to get over the guilty feeling. And it does make me feel better, knowing my boyfriend goes out on long walks with Cooper, when I am away with Jinx.
But I also wish, that Cooper was easier, so he could come along and join in the fun. It would be so much more fun, if I could do all the fun stuff with them together.
So when the time comes for Cooper(hopefully that isn't any time soon, since he is only 6 years old) I will be getting another dog. And hopefully a dog that will be able to come with me and Jinx.
But no matter what, I always will take time for each dog separately, because I feel it is important to have one on one time to create a strong bond.
 
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