by Sally Bradbury
Living in a multi-dog household has its challenges, and we’ll address some of them here.
Always have more resting places or beds than you have dogs. Teach all dogs to go to a bed or crate on cue. If you have two dogs that are sometimes a little antsy with each other, then make sure that you can send those two to a bed or crate in two different directions to diffuse any potential conflict.
All of the exercises detailed below will go a long way to avoiding trigger points that lead to conflict. Resource guarding of food, toys, and resting places is the most common cause for conflict, as well as competition for your attention.
Don’t feel that all dogs need to be treated in the same way if they all have different requirements and motivations. A youngster will need a lot more attention, more meals, and more trips to the garden, for example.
Sometimes, despite all our best efforts, dogs that live together may fall out. Ritualised aggression, aka handbags at dawn, is harmless, but if two dogs fight and cause injury to each other, then separate them. Be sure to get them both a health check, as well as seeing to the war wounds. Occasionally, an older dog will be the target when he is losing his faculties and becoming deaf/blind. This is the time to give him somewhere safe, away from the younger dog.
If two dogs fall out big time and a medical cause has been ruled out, you may have to accept that the relationship has broken down to the point where they will need to live separately. It’s possible they may be able to live separately under the same roof, but only if strict management can be maintained.
Whether you have two dogs or ten, you’ll need to follow some simple rules to ensure harmony and avoid conflicts.
Getting a New Dog
Ideally, leave a gap of 18 months when getting a second puppy, so that the first puppy has gone through puppyhood, adolescence, and successfully come out the other side. Then you can start all over again with puppy number two, and three, and so on!
If you are adopting adult dogs, then leave a sensible gap between them so that they have time to settle in and bond with you before you introduce a new dog.
It’s important that the new dog/puppy and the existing dog are introduced slowly and that both are given as much individual attention as possible, preferably with one adult per dog.
See also: Introducing a New Puppy to the Family Dog(s) and Bringing Home a New Dog.
Always feed the dogs separately; if possible, in two different rooms. Do this even if they are fine eating together and like to swap bowls or lick each other’s bowls when they are finished. They will only be fine until they aren’t, so it’s not worth the risk. The only reason to feed dogs together is if you want to practise breaking up dog fights!
It’s good to give them separate walks, so that the new dog/puppy bonds with you on walks, and you can work on nice lead walking and recall. This is especially important if your older dog is reactive, runs off, or pulls on the lead. This avoids him influencing the puppy until after your training and influence has been established. Besides, they will have different exercise requirements in the early days.
Roll Call
Teach all dogs to respond to their name and their name only. This ensures that you can call an individual dog to you without them all coming at once. You can have a collective name if you want them to respond together.
You can teach them this using food. Start off by saying each dog’s name as you hand out treats. If you already have more than two dogs, work in each combination of pairs, and then threes, and so on. The advanced stage of this exercise would involve you holding a meat roasting tin for each dog to lick, one at a time. Call one forward, tell him to finish and go back, then call the next one. This will require a lot of individual training, building up gradually to pairs, and then continuing just as you did when handing out treats.
Another good way to teach each dog their name is through play and training. Start this with each dog individually. The idea is that each dog will be able to work/play without being distracted by the other dog(s). Conflict over or resource guarding a toy can be avoided by making sure each dog has their own toy during play/training sessions.
- Stage One
Teach each dog to only go after their toy when you say their name. So, take each dog outdoors separately, say their name, and throw their toy. Repeat many times - Stage Two
Slowly toss a boring toy and immediately say the dog’s name while throwing the exciting toy in the other direction - Stage Three
Say the other dog’s name with the boring throw, then immediately say the dog’s name while throwing the exciting toy in the other direction
When each dog can ignore the thrown toy when you say the other dog’s name and only goes after the one on their name, then you take them both out together with a toy each. The toys can be identical or they can be different, if they both have a different favourite.
Now with Dog A on lead, or with you holding his harness or collar, gently throw Dog B’s toy for him, and then Dog A’s in the other direction. Repeat until both dogs are only interested their own toy.
Once you have two dogs doing this, it will be a doddle with the third, fourth and fifth dogs. Make sure all the dogs have a favourite toy that is theirs alone.
Training sessions with food or toys are easy once you have taught each individual dog to stay on a mat, go to a crate, or settle and wait at a different station. Every time the dog being trained gets a reward, so does the spectator for staying put and watching nicely until it’s his turn.
Going through doors and gates
Start by teaching each dog individually. Choose a door that the dog wants to go through and that opens away from you for the initial training. Open the door a crack, say nothing. If he moves forward, close the door. Repeat until he doesn’t move, then open the door wide as you give a release cue. For multi-dog families, the best release cue is the dog’s name.
Next session, open the door slightly wider and, as before, open and close it until he pauses. Open it half an inch more until he waits or pauses, then open the door, release him, and allow him through the door.
Continue in this fashion until he waits in front of a wide-open door for the cue to go through.
When they can all do this, begin training in pairs. Start this phase with one dog on lead, and only release the off-lead dog to go through the door. Practise in pairs, then threes, and then start again at other doors and gates until the behaviour is generalised.
If you consistently do this at certain doors and gates each day, then your dog(s) will wait to go through until released without being asked. If you are not consistent, then you will need to introduce the wait cue so that your dog knows when they have to wait and when they don’t. I would recommend making this a default behaviour at external doors.