How many dogs can someone care for adequately? - Page 4

Hey Dudley Do right - can I intern with you - " only work 8 to 10 hours a week and don't really have to work that much if I don't want to." Now that I'd really like. Do I take it that you are able to do this by buying and selling comics or do you have another gig?

Re the question of how many dogs - since this is a GSD board I think we should refer to the founder of the breed, Capt. Max.  He stated I believe that no one should have more than 6 GSDs at one time because otherwise the dogs would not get proper time and training. (Plus that ws back in the days when there was a separate person to take care of the home front)

All I can say is he was one smart man.  The most I ever had was 6 - 5 GSDs and 1 ancient collie/golden retriever pound dog. All house dogs. Do able but in reality too much at least for me. I have decided for me two maybeee 3 is a nice number. To truly give them the time and attention AND training and exercise and socialization.

I occassionaly kennel sit for different friends who have more dogs of a variety of ages and for one person I consistently find the 6/7 dog number starts pushing the limits and god forbid you throw a litter of active pups into the mix. It does somewhat make a difference how the dogs can be combined but with bitches it seems someone is always in heat or coming into heat and therefore is testy or just plain old bitchy every day of the year and therefore can not be combined with this one or that one which just rachets up the difficulty factor 'cause everyone has to have their separate time and you're always double checking doors, gates and locks. Guess I'm just getting to be an old fogey.

Anyway my vote is for two to six.

VKF-I agree that if one is working and training it is important not to acquire more than can be worked. I am holding firm at 3-only two are GSD's because I don't believe I can do them justice at this point becuase of my son's situation. This is a decision I have made even though I am dying for a DDR male I know of.  But, my two are here because I wanted personal dogs I could train.

The situation this post was primarily directed at is completely different than yours, mine, or Max's. This is a rescue situation.  As I said above, these are dogs that had been running loose and in shelters to be PTS. This is not a breeder and he has never, as far as I have read, said he has them to work them but to save their lives.  What would you suggest he do with the remaining 54-58 dogs he has rescued? I know, and I'm sure he must, that it's a LOT of dogs.  However, I don't think it would be right to have these dog be PTS or left to run loose, breed and starve because Capt. Max said not to have more than 6 GSD's.  Should the rescue people referenced on this board have all of their dogs PTS?

What Max was addressing and what this post is addressing are two very different things. I can't see the point of bashing some one for volunteering to supply the resources and effort to do this day in and day out. I'm sure these dogs are better off running along the lake and being fed, warm places to sleep (he noted that he had just put wheat straw in their kennels) and human interaction. Though not the same amount, I'm sure, as if they were one of only a few dogs in a house.

I just don't understand a dog board where some people resent a person for saving dogs? What do you recommend he do with these dogs? Should all rescues do the same?

i THINK A LOT OF THESE PEOPLE WHO HAVE 15- 25 DOGS ARE OWNERS OF LARGE PIECES OF PROPERTY...i OWN THREE ACRES WITH TREES AND A CREEK., FULLY FENCED...AND I RUN TWO DOGS EVERY TWO OR THREE HOURS, TO LET THEM EXERCIS E AND HAVE A SEPERATED PEN FOR THE PUPS TO RUN IN THE GRASS AND PLAY WITH JUST THEM

THE HAPPY NUMBER FOR ME WOULD BE NO MORE THAN 8 PLUS A LITTER SPACED THREE MONTHS APART...IF YOU CHOOSE TO BREED.

I try to keep it at or under 12, including retired couch potatoes and pensioners, upcoming youngsters, dogs in training, not including litters once in awhile. I have 8 right now with one pensioner, one brood bitch, and one 5 mo. old puppy, 4 in training for competition. I do have good part time help for kennels/care and when I am out of time, but do everything else and all training myself. I have had up to 22 adults and youngsters, 3 litters at once time years ago, but had more help with everything incl. training then and still it was a lot of work.

SS

The only way that 60+ dogs could be accomplished without help and lots of money, is by staking the dogs out, like dog sledders/mushers do.  That is not much of a life for even a rescued dog (which is a crock in the case of Abhay).  To post a picture of one dog by a lake to prove the point that his 60+ dogs are well taken care of is ludicrous.  Show me a pic of where all of these dogs stay, under what kind of conditions, then maybe I will believe your fantasy.  Proof is always demanded from others, but never given by the trolls.

Shelly, I see what you mean, but that is also with doing training. Though I'm not sure how much of your time that takes. And having help would definately make it more "doable". I think the key is in the training. I know with houndsmen from foxhunting it is usually one or two who care for many, many dogs. Same with people who have hunting dogs. Not the dufus from Deliverance types but responsible bird and raccoon, rabbit type hunters. I guess it's like out here in the West with horses. There are a lot of authentic ranchers with really big herds of horses. They are well cared for but it is definately a different mindset than I had with just two horses.

I would, though, like anyone to tell me what people who rescue (officially or unoffically) large numbers of dogs should do with the "excess". Is it better for a dog to live in a kennel with more than one or is it better for a dog to be dead or starving. Interesting thread.

allaboutthedawgs- I always thought people who did rescue only took a handful of dogs into their homes and fostered out others that came along while in the meantime trying to place the ones they had??  I know people who've contacted rescues in hopes of having an unwanted pet placed with them and they were told there was a waiting list.  It'd be impossible to take in every single dog someone did not want for whatever reason.  You still need the facility, time, and money to feed, vet care and at least basic train them to have better odds in a permanent home.

Allaboutdogs  I Don't really see that what I said was bashing anybody. I simply stated what I had found worked for me and what the founder of the breed suggested. If you are offended by either of those  - oh well.

That being said I skimmed the first post so did not take the same import from it that you did that this is about and only about "rescue" situations. IMHO even in rescue situations you have to consider the quality of life. I have seen plenty of "rescue" situations where yes the dog would be better off to be PTS. The idea that you give a dog a 4 x6 foot Kennel to live it's life for 10 years w/ essentially no interaction with humans or other dogs is a "kindness" is a fallacy.

As to how others on this board live their lives and the numbers of humans or animals that are in their life is their business, One just hopes and prays that both are well cared for, loved and get to live a life.

A Waiting List? are you serious? for what? German Shepherds who look like Rin Tin Tin and mind every command they are told?  Do you have any idea the number of unwanted dogs put down by Pounds, and certain Shelters every day in every city and town in every state. 

Agar, by Rescues, you are speaking of the people who like to make a big show about being a dog lover. They foster out dogs to whoever will take them for as long as they can, and make big sounds and gestures like they are really doing something. They get their rewards. Sadly, after passing from foster to foster, most times the dogs will eventually end up as a candidate for execution.

The dogs I have taken in were on death row. There was no homes for them. There was no and there is no waiting list of homes for them. Its my place or death.  People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) loves to point the finger at others, when they should be looking at their own record of killing more than 90% of the animals left in their care. According to government records PETA has killed more than 14,400 animals since 1998.

Abhay-  I haven't had any first hand experience with rescues except for a gentlemen that helped me out with an Akita I had several years ago that became too much for me and I knew a shelter would PTS.  The only rescue I heard a friend of mine tell me about was a lady listed on the internet being associated with the Labrador rescue; so my friend called her because she had a real sweet dog that she needed to place do to a change in family situation.  When she contacted the "rescue" and explained her situation stating that she did not want to just take the dog to the pound and wanted to make sure he went to a good home the rescue lady told her "we are on a 3-5 month waiting list".  So if these people are "rescues" and they want to prevent "their breed" from saturating the local shelters then how in jiminy crickets are they gonna tell someone in need that they are on a 3-5 month waiting list??  It's like they force someone in a "situation" to have no other alternative but to take the dog to the shelter.... 

Now the man I dealt with for my Akita was a good guy.  He knew the breed and he was responsible with what he was taking in and placing.  My dog was 10 mo old, had already bitten me (more so to show me he was "alpha" and I was afraid of him after that), he evaluated the dog, I was honest because I did not want someone with kids to get him and have a tragedy happen, the dog was extremly territorial, he hated any other animal that came his way and I am confident he would have killed them if he caught them.  But the man assured me he'd take the dog, put him through training, try to home him with either someone experienced with the breed or a person without kids living on a sizable lot and if that special person did not turn up he'd keep the dog himself for him to live out his life there.  The man called me 6 months later to tell me he placed the dog with a single man who was a retired police officer that lived on a farm, had no kids and the 2 of them were doing great.  That to brought the biggest smile to my face because I needed this guys help and he was there to do what he could to get the dog out of my home but not in a shelter to be PTS.  Isn't that what "rescue" folks are supposed to do??