question for multiple dog owners 3 or more
 

we have two bostons male and im thinking of getting a third dog. at the pound i saw a very cute dobbie mix female Favoring doobie strong looks just like a dooberman with a long tail, Im first on the list for her all I have to do is show up on the 24th. She is 3 months old. I will have to potty train her,Ive never done that. Was it much more work having the third dog and did they start showing pack behavior?

We have 3 bostons here. Ours are pretty good, although they do show a bit of pack behavior. We got all of them as puppies, 7-9 weeks. I'm not certain how two males would react to a female (even if all are neutered/spayed)? Do you take yours to a dog park, thats a good way to see how they interact with other dogs? In our little tribe the male is the biggest, oldest and the most dominant. They all seem to be comfortable with that dynamic. If I were you I would ask the people at the pound if your potential new dog has any food aggression issues - if any of the dogs have problems with food aggression it can get ugly, fast.

On the other hand, friends of ours have 6 corgi's and they're a pack without a doubt. They have a constant struggle for dominance and a lot of fighting and stitches.

Best of luck!

Hey Tony...even your two dogs are showing pack behavior you may not be noticing it.

If you had 1 dog there is still a pack, you just have to realize you are the leader and treat it as such.

If you have the animal planet channel I suggest you watch the show The Dog Whisperer..amazing stuff he does with troubled dogs and a lot of times the dogs are troubled because of the fact that the owner didn't control it like it's a pack.

I have three but they are pugs. Pugs are different than most breeds in that they just love everyone and everything. People are amazed that at the pug rescue parties there are 300+ pugs there and never a dog fight.

However, the other two did start peeing and pooping in the house again when I got the third one.

Let me add that there IS a huge difference between having 2 and 3 dogs, IMO.

We had the same issue, Peaches. When we got the third the vet was already warning about the other dogs "regressing" in their potty training. Sure enough, it happened.

I have only had 2 at a time and mine were Boston's too. Both were males and they were very aggresive towards each other.

Tony, I can't wait to see your Boston's tomorrow night!

Oh.. and you and Mandy too :winkwink:

I think it really depends on how often you are home. Puppies need to go out frequently. If you have the ability to take them out every hour or so, you wont have much of a problem. Of course there will be accidents, but they can be minimized. Also, keeping a puppy in a cage/kennel when you are out helps since dogs typically will not mess their cage/kennel.

The only other issue when bringing new dogs into the house is how dominate or jealous the other dogs are.

One suggestion is that if you see any aggressive behavior by the older dogs toward the new dog, you immediately squash it and make it clear to the older dogs that behavior will not be tolerated.

Puppies tend to be very curious and havent learned how to interact with other dogs which can tend to annoy established and older dogs.