Many people are amazed that I have three dogs. In fact, until I lost my mixed breed, Hershey, last year, I had four. The last year with only three dogs has been quite difficult for me and I am anxiously awaiting the arrival (hopefully) of my new Golden puppy late this summer to bring me back to my personal dog number of four. Here’s why:
When I had my first two dogs, Tiger and Morgan, they bonded very deeply with each other — to the point where you couldn’t sometimes take one without the other carrying on. I vowed that would not happen again. Over the years, I worked very hard to teach my dogs that I could take them in any combination. I never taught them, however, to sit at home alone. When you have four dogs, you can take any one or two and have at least two still together. With three dogs if you want to take two, I find myself having to decide either to take all three or just one. Why not train them to be okay alone? Because, quite simply, I don’t want to. I don’t like the idea of somebody sitting in an empty house while myself and the other two dogs are out and about.
My friends have other personal dog numbers — including one friend that likes to just have one dog at time. He says that he doesn’t want to split his focus with multiple dogs. While I can definitely understand his point (my dogs currently get 33% of my free attention), I like four dogs. That way, if somebody is hurt, in season, or working through a training issue, there’s always another dog around to train and compete with — not to mention more canine bodies on the bed to keep me warm at night!
What’s YOUR person dog number and why?
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