Those of you who have three dogs...

BroadfordQueen

BroadfordQueen

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Was wondering, for those of you who have THREE dogs, how did you accumulate them?

a) Bought three puppies at the same time from the same litter
b) bought three puppies at the same time but different litters
c) bought one, then another, then another over a length of time
d) bought two puppies then bought a third after a period of time
e) other (please explain!!)

Reason is, we have two whippets from the same litter, they are about 2 years old now. Mum wants a Jack Russell, but was wondering if this would work, as the two whippets are from the same litter- would they gang up on the newbie? Would the newbie get left out? My whippets are VERY friendly to dogs/people/anything and everything lol, but they have never met another dog in their own territory before, and I am fully aware that they could potentially become aggressive if they feel threatened (although I honestly could not imagine them to be aggressive at all!).
Obviously if we did get a JRT we would keep a strict eye on them until 100% sure they are safe and happy together. It would be a puppy btw, so obviously the JRT would be a lot smaller than the whippets and more vulnerable. However the whippets are used to cats as we used to have one, and they got along with him fine (died of old age last year
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)!! In fact they used to curl up with him on the sofa. However, the cat was here before them so he was the "boss".

Many thanks
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I bought a whippet, then another 5 weeks later, then 2 years later #1 had a litter and we kept one. Then 2 years after that we bought another relation of #2. I never had any trouble at all. The puppy will grovel to the adults and your dogs would have to be very bad dogs to attack it.

I should not worry about bringing another puppy in. Whippets are not aggressive dogs, they will think a puppy is a great new toy for them to play with and will no doubt have great fun chasing the puppy down.

I actually just got a new puppy and my only remaining whippet from the original 4 is delighted to spend hours wrestling with the new puppy and playing chase. When she gets fed up with it, the tone of the growling changes and the puppy backs off.
 
Thank you for the reply, thats good to hear!
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I am 99.9% positive my whips wouldn't be aggressive (you can never be 100% sure with dogs though can you?!), I am more worried about the "three's a crowd" concept- I wouldn't want the puppy to be left out, especially as my whippets are very close.
 
If you had said you were bringing in an adult dog, it would be different. Adult animals have to be very bad tempered to attack a baby animal.

I personally have all bitches and I know people say that is difficult, but I have had very few problems.
 
Mine were all bought at different stages.

We had Windsor, then got Tina when he was about 5. Then got Beastie when Windsor was around 7 and Tina was about to turn two.

It stayed that way until Windsor died two years ago. We waited a few months then got the Midget.

Midget tries to bully Tina, but she has none of it. Beastie ignores Midget and her irritating habits!
 
Personally I would never have 2 puppies close together or from the same litter. I like at least a year between them, although 2 is what my Parent's have always gone on.
So introducing a puppy to established grown dogs is the norm for us.
 
My parents have three dogs (two JRT aged 14yrs and 5yrs and one bulldog aged 8yrs) none of which are related.

The younger JRT will fight for Alpha position from time to time, but they have never fought over jealousy. I think this is because my folks have always been careful not to give preferential treatment to any of them and have always been careful not to rearrange their pack structure.

The best way to introduce a pup is to make sure the other dogs are given plenty of time to meet the newby and 'put him/her in their place' from the outset- JRTs are notorious for getting too big for their boots and he/she will need to be put in their place before the chaos begins!

Hard as it may be any defensive behaviour you show towards the pup (protecting it from nips by the others dogs, kicking them out of pups bed etc) will be seen by your existing two as preferential treatment and will upset their pack structure so really needs to be avoided...

I guess I am saying it can be done but it needs doing carefully- just don't favour the pup (which will be tricky because they are GORGEOUS) and you should be fine
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We have kept dogs for 29 years - we bought ourselves a deerhound pup as a wedding present and then have tended to add a puppy every couple of years. We currently have 4 dogs, ages 10, 9, 7 and 5 so OH is getting broody for another lurcher
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I have a 11yr old golden retriever, a 10yr old westie (bought his brother aswell but sadly had to be put down last year) and a 1yr old english mastiff. Basically my boys got older and I got broody for a puppy!
 
[ QUOTE ]
Personally I would never have 2 puppies close together or from the same litter. I like at least a year between them, although 2 is what my Parent's have always gone on.
So introducing a puppy to established grown dogs is the norm for us.

[/ QUOTE ]


Amen!
 
I dont currently have 3 dogs but I used to have three
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I had two elderly whippets, then got Macallan (lurcher puppy). When I lost Isobel my eldest whippet we got Jura (rescue greyhound) then when we lost Sian (younger whippet) we got Talisker (rescue lurcher)

The rescue people said it was six of one and half a dozen of the other whether we had a dog or a bitch for our third, as we had one of each and potentially either existing dog might have objected to a new dog of the same sex. As it was Tal was very submissive so he joined Jura and Mac with no problems whatsoever
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A year later we added Ellen to make four
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Puppies will always be different to adult rescues though, and I cannot think you will have the slightest problem introducing a JRT to your whippets - enjoy
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Hmmm.... three dogs.... ponders that whippet puppy again...
 
Brilliant, thank you everyone! All systems go then, I know it isn't really the time of year for puppies though so might be tricky finding one.. in fact, I don't have the foggiest where to start looking (have never really actively searched for a dog before!)
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Local tack shop first thing tomorrow
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We have three dogs (just little jrt very unwell
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) Border collie replaced old border collie, remaining old collie was then replaced with Jrt two yrs later, we then aquirred a Spinone 3.5 yrs ago. collie 13yrs Jrt 11yrs and Spin 4yrs they all get on most of the time, collie likes to remind the spin who's boss sometimes they are both bitches Jrt is a dog. We also have two cats.
 
Ours are 6, 4, 2 and 0 (well, four months). There seems to be a pattern forming! The 6 and 4 year olds we've had since puppies, the two year old we've only had a couple of months, he is hard work, and we wer finding that three was very unbalanced - two go shooting, one stays at home etc. So we got the pup, and that's balanced everything up nicely!
 
The JRT will soon rule the roost,nothing like a bossy demanding little dog to organise the household,we have Vixen,17 and sadly on her last legs,came as a puppy,next Gipsy rescue puppy,lived to 11,Minnie came about 4 years later,a cruelty case and lived with us for 7 years,then another rescue,Quinnie,8 and going strong,then I said NO more dogs,as our sons 3 JRTS visit often and stay but last year,Lucy at 8 months old and cast out from her third home arrived.So I said thats it,no more,went into the vets to get Vixen's pills and guess who came home with me?Puddles!!They all get on well,with a few grumbles at times but love to be part of a pack.Go for it and enjoy a busy little JRT,must also say that all the dogs are speyed which I'm sure keeps agro down.
 
I have 3 dogs, a 3yo male staffie, a 2 yo bitch GSD and an 8 month bitch GSD. I was very worried about bringing a puppy bitch in with my other bitch but so far, so good.

I got blue a year before Jess, my last staffie left us, she had cancer & knew that she didn't have many years left, I think I thought Blue would help ease the pain when the time came. He's a beautiful dog in every way, not a bad bone in his body, he loves everything & everyone, Jess didn't have much time for him though.

Got Xara at 12 weeks and her & Blue got on brilliantly from day 1. Blue loved Darby too when we got her, I really don't think he knows how to be nasty.

Darby is full on, hyper, probably does the other two's heads in but it's just a puppy thing (I hope). Xara puts her in her place a lot of the time but not in an agressive way, more like a mother would do with her pups. Xara amazes me, she's only just over 2yo herself but she seems very mature, like a wise old lady.

Fingers crossed I have been lucky with how they all get on, I'll never worry about Blue because he's a little star but I hope Xara & Darby will still get on well when Darby matures.
 
Where i work as a live in nanny/groom there are 4 jack russels. My boss had dolly who had two puppys bill and ben. They kept ben and sold bill. Then my boss bought herself a puppy to call her own as dolly and ben where the family dogs and she wanted a special one for her so katy arrived. Then dolly had another puppy charlie brown who i fell in love with so my boss sold him to me. I don't own them all but thats how we ended up with 4 in the house!
 
Serves me right for opening my big mouth,Q has just been to the vets,she suffers from pancreatitis and had a flare up,so off for a pain relief injection,now asleep on the bed,mine not hers.
 
I started with just 1-a golden retriever (Kim), then I got Beau (Lab) as a companion for her. Beau is a rehome and as 18 months old. When we lost Kim we found Jess (collie x) at the local rehoming place. Jes was about 6-9 months old. Jess is now 6, and Beau is coming 11 in December. We recently had Skye-another rehome collie x and she is 3-4 yrs old.
Each time we have introduced them away from home by going for walks etc together a few times. we also use the Crate for the "new" dog at first but only when the dogs are left alone, even for a short time and when feeding. The crate is soon dispensed with as they learn the "pack order"
The only puppy I have has was Kim so can't advise on the introoduction.
 
First JRT bitch was a rescue, about 2 years old from a BYB, now 18 and still sprightly, next JRT bitch was 5 weeks old, rescued from a barn where she was fading away as the mother had stopped producing any milk a week or so before and she wasn't getting a look in on the tiny amount of extra food put out for the pups. That was about 3 years later. She's 13 now.

5 years ago I got a rottie boy, 8 weeks old. I deliberately got a pup that time as I wanted to make sure that the older dogs and my 3 ageing cats had a chance to put manners on him, so to speak while he was young and smaller than them. It worked well
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as the one remaining 16 year old cat can chuck him out of his bed - very funny watching a 2.5kg cat pushind a 40kg rottie around. The JRTs only tolerate a certain amount from him, if he annoys them they think nothing of having a pop at him and he always backs down to them.

I also from the very start maintained the "pack" (hate that word!) structure as far as feeding, attention when I come in, leads on etc and he is at the bottom.
 
We have a 10yr old yorkie, a 7 yr old black lab, an 18 month old lurcher and a 7 month old lurcher. If I'm honest it would have been better with a bigger age gap between the 2 lurchers because the older one has gone a bit backwards, but it was just the way things worked out. The big gap between the lab and the first lurcher is because we had a rescue inbetween that died in an accident
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.

In future I would always try to wait until the youngest one is 2 before getting a new puppy.
 
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