Episode #186 Living with Multiple Dogs

How do you balance the needs of a senior dog, a young adult, and a playful puppy all under one roof? Join us on this episode of the Puppy Training Podcast as we navigate the complexities of living with multiple dogs. Amy shares stories about Bruno, the wise 12-year-old snorky mix, Baxter, the vibrant 3-year-old Labradoodle, and Bella, the energetic young Labradoodle who is currently mastering her intermediate training. We'll explore how Bella's boundless energy impacts the household dynamics and dive into her teething process, leash walking, and stay command progress. You'll also hear about the joys and challenges of managing a multi-dog household, and practical advice for seamlessly integrating a new puppy into a home with older dogs.

Chapters

• 0:00 Living With Multiple Dogs
• 11:12 Tailoring Training for Individual Dogs

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

This is the Puppy Training Podcast, episode 186, living with Multiple Dogs. This podcast is designed to help you on your journey of becoming best friends through love and learning, as you train your own dog from home, and I'm here to help you every step of the way. This is the Puppy Training Podcast and I'm your host, amy Jensen. This is the Puppy Training Podcast and I'm your host, amy Jensen. Hello and welcome to the Puppy Training Podcast. I'm so glad you're here. Whether you are training a new puppy or you have an older dog who has a few behaviors, maybe you'd like to change. That's okay. You are in the right place. Today I want to talk about living with multiple dogs. I know some of you have older dogs at home and are adding a dog to your family soon. There are always questions that come up when this occurs, so let's talk about some of those today, or things that you can do or expect when you have multiple dogs living in your home. But first just to give you a little update on my dogs and where we are at. If you are new to us, maybe you don't know us. We have Bruno here at our house. He is a 12-year-old snorky mix. He's the resident grandpa dog. He helps train all of the puppies that come through our program. I don't do so much of that board and train anymore, but when we used to he was the great little buddy that trained all these puppies. So now he's kind of the grandpa dog, but we love him. And then Baxter he's a three-year-old Labradoodle and then we brought little Bella, also a Labradoodle, home in March. So we have those two doodles and I am currently working through our intermediate training with Bella. She's doing well. We adore her, the family loves her, the dogs love her. Bruno being a grandpa dog, he doesn't have as much energy as he used to have. So Baxter's now the fun one to play with, which is great. But Bella will oftentimes try to get back, or Bruno going as well, and we have to interrupt because Bruno is not in the mood to play, but we'll talk about that today. So she definitely has some spunk to her, which is super fun.

Speaker 1: 2:06

She's also teething. Right now she's 21 weeks and I am finding teeth on the floor daily, so that's an exciting thing, in my opinion. I'm always so happy when the needle sharp teeth fall out, but she's mouthing more because of it and her mouth is pretty sore, understandably so. She loves ice. She loves anything that's cold because you know her mouth is pretty sore. Understandably so she loves ice. She loves anything that's cold because you know her mouth is going through a lot of transition right now, so we just make sure she always has chews available. Again, cold ones are her favorite. She currently weighs about 26 pounds, so I'm guessing she'll likely be in about the 40 pound range. Full grown Baxter is about 49 pounds and we're guessing that they will be about the same. So the two of them have become fast friends.

Speaker 1: 2:48

As I mentioned, bella tries to get Baxter going and Baxter loves when she will chase him around the yard. Baxter adores being chased, so they make a great pair. Both dogs I'm finding out love water. I knew Baxter loved water. Bella also adores water. So, being summer, we fill up not far from my house where they can splash and run around. They are happy dogs. Also, sprinklers sprinklers are super fun for them. They really like that.

Speaker 1: 3:19

As for training, bella is currently learning to stay. She's doing really well with a sit, stay, down, stay. We are practicing in different areas. So we are, uh, inside my house. That's where we started, but now we've moved outside to the yard We've moved out front of, in front of our house. We've worked at local parks. We've worked down at the local high school area. I've just tried to find new spots where we can practice what she's learning. Leash walking is also going well. We have moved on to pathways. So if you're familiar with my program, we start inside our homes, we start in areas where we can do lots of circles, figure eights. We're not on sidewalks, we're not going on destination walks, but Bella's to the point now where we are starting to do some of that. So that's exciting.

Speaker 1: 4:04

I always incorporate a lot of go sniff walks into my dog's routines. They love to sniff and explore, so I make sure wherever we go, we do a little attention walking. But then we also mix in that good go sniff walk because that's what they love to do anyway. And hey, it's their walk too, right. But I always follow the never follow a pulling puppy rule. Make sure that's one is on your list, that is a must. And Bella is learning that pulling simply does not work, and so we work together and she's getting pretty good at it.

Speaker 1: 4:35

Barking has also started. She is headed into adolescence, in fact. The other day I woke up and we started to interact and I thought, yep, we're here. There's just a little bit of friction there. I can always feel it when it first comes that teenage phase. So we're just on the brink of it. But I actually adore teenagers. I adore human teenagers and dog teenagers. So it's just recognizing we're in a new phase, learning how to work together in that new phase and then moving forward. So I'm excited to see how she will respond to this new phase of life. I've noticed Bella is very alert to anything new in her space Again, an adolescent behavior that's pretty typical. So I'm working on a look at me and then rewarding her for turning away from the trigger, and we'll just keep working on it and hope to see continued improvement.

Speaker 1: 5:22

As you can see, living with multiple dogs can be immensely rewarding. It can be super fun for everyone involved. There's lots of companionship to go around and some pretty unique interactions. However, it can also require some careful planning, consistent training and just an overall understanding of dog behavior. Body language really is a big one to ensure that everyone's happy and you know we're okay living together. So key aspects of managing a multi-dog household if you have multiple dogs would be effective training, rotating the household and then building individual bonds with each dog.

Speaker 1: 5:59

So let's talk about training more than one dog first. Now, training obviously is a cornerstone of a peaceful multi-dog home, right? If every dog has specific basic behaviors, things just go better. So I like to teach my dogs the basics, such as sit down, stay um a nice recall, leave it, drop it um place or go to bed is another one I use, especially with multiple dogs, and I always start out any training individually. So when Bella's learning something new, I just work with Bella. I put Baxter in a pen and Bruno can go in his pen as well, and then I'll teach Bella the new behavior. Once she's fairly good at it, she knows the cue and she can do the behavior on cue, then I will practice those behaviors with her when Baxter and Bruno are both out. So when they're all out together we can practice the sits all together and the down stays all together, right?

Speaker 1: 6:52

But uh, whenever you begin a new behavior, I suggest working with the puppy first, or the dog who doesn't know the cue first. Teach it to them, let them get proficient at it. They don't have to be perfect at it, but they at least know what you're talking about, and then you can practice with some more distractions when your other dogs are around as well. So, again, this focused approach allows the dog to grasp the desired behavior that I'm wanting to teach them, and that is good, one-on-one time where we're able to form a bond as well. No, group sessions, again, are great as well. So, uh, oftentimes the older dogs will teach the younger dogs right, they can model that good behavior for them, which is super helpful. Uh, we'll talk about that in just a minute.

Speaker 1: 7:35

But do make sure you're using positive reinforcement techniques. I know that the older dogs get excited when these new dogs come because we bring out the food rewards more often. Right, as the dogs age and they become better at these um behaviors that we've asked them to do, we do phase out the food rewards. We use life rewards. We use more praise toys, behaviors like opening a door so they can go outside and those kinds of things. But when we bring in these new puppies, it's bring out the food. Food is a great way to teach dogs new behavior. It's a fast way to motivate them, and so definitely give those to your other dogs as well. Include them in on those training sessions where food rewards are involved. They'll really.

Speaker 1: 8:17

Now let's talk about rotating the household and what that means. It's just another effective strategy, especially when you have several dogs, that we can prevent overcrowding, we reduce competition for resources like food or bones, and we can allow for individual training and bonding time. So rotations are as simple as separating dogs into different rooms using baby gates or crates during mealtimes or, uh, when giving special treats. I like exercise pens. It gives the dogs a little more space, um, to move around. They get a water bowl in there and then you can also feed them in there and then give them their bones in there. So this practice prevents again, food aggression, or we're just basically ensuring that each dog feels secure and safe while they're eating or chewing a favorite chew like a bone. Now, additionally, rotating playtime with different pairs or groups of dogs, depending on how many dogs you have in your household, can help foster those healthy relationships.

Speaker 1: 9:07

As I mentioned, Bruno doesn't always like to get in on the fun because it's a little too much for him at his age. He doesn't mind watching from a distance, but he doesn't want to be in the middle of it. So I make sure to manage that and give him his safe space as well, so that Bella's not always able to just go bug him right, he just wants to chill on the side. I'm going to make sure that Bella respects that. So again, rotations. You're using baby gates, you're using crates, pens. You can even tether the puppy to you. I know that helps with the adolescent age, where they are a little more awake. They might start to get into some trouble or push some buttons or push some boundaries and see what they can get away with. So tethering them to you for part of the day is a great way to work on loose leash walking, attention, but also just management, um around the house as well.

Speaker 1: 9:51

Now do know, as I mentioned, dogs are social animals and they often learn behaviors from one another. This can be good in training, as well-trained dogs can model good behavior for less experienced ones. For instance, a well-behaved dog that consistently follows cues can influence other dogs to mimic that behavior, which does speed up the training process. However, it's also important to note that it can go the opposite direction, that negative behaviors also get modeled. Or maybe the puppy has some negative behaviors that they are doing and maybe your older dogs start to join in the fun. Barking is an example of that. Barking is a social event for dogs, so if one dog starts barking, then the other dogs probably want to join in, and now you have three barking dogs. So just be aware of that, take note of that and make sure that you have things to manage behavior and interrupt, redirect as needed, using positive reinforcement.

Speaker 1: 10:40

Despite managing multiple dogs, building a strong individual bond with each dog is really important. It's essential, right? So this bond fosters trust and respect, which are important for effective training and just keeping a happy household. I like to spend one-on-one time with each dog. I like to do activities alone. Maybe it's walking, maybe it's playing with them, maybe it's just simply cuddling or grooming them. That's a great way to build a bond. Just make sure you're getting that one-on-one time. If possible, it doesn't have to be super long, but just make sure you're giving that one-on-one time to each dog.

Speaker 1: 11:12

Individual attention also helps in recognizing each dog's unique personality and needs. Some dogs may require more physical exercise, while others might do well with mental stimulation. So tailoring the activities to suit each dog just ensures their wellbeing and happiness, contributing to a balanced and harmonious household, which is what we all want, right? So additionally, individual bonding time can help identify and address specific behavioral issues. So if I recognize, okay, bella has an alert barking issue, I can work with her one-on-one to uh help her learn a new behavior when she sees a trigger, and then once she's a little better at that and she knows the alternative behavior or she's created a new behavior pattern, if you will, then we can practice when Baxter and Bella are out together and then, you know, we can bring Bruno into the mix as well. So just recognize that one-on-one time can be super helpful for addressing individual behavioral issues.

Speaker 1: 12:08

It's easier to train one dog to do it than to work with all three who have the same problem. Does that make sense? All right? So basically, you guys just remember, if you live in a multi-dog household, there are great benefits. It's super fun, can be super fun. It can also be super challenging. A little bit of both. Just remember, when you have a multiple dog household to teach new behavior one-on-one, make sure you're rotating the household, that you have that management component in place, using the gates and pins and crates as needed, and then uh build those strong individual bonds, spend one-on-one time with each dog so that they respond to your cues, and then, when they're all together, it's more likely that they'll all respond to your cues. I hope you're having a great summer. I hope you have a great rest of your week and happy training. If you have a question about anything you heard on this podcast or any other puppy training question, visit my site, Baxter and Bellacom, to contact me.