Quiet House
I know some of you won't believe me, but with five dogs my house is quiet right now. For the last couple of weeks I've had SEVEN dogs and life has been completely crazy here. Too many. Dogs underfoot, something happening all the time. Doggy dramas everywhere!
I usually have five or six dogs and I can handle that number because half of them are elderly. They are older, they sleep, they're quiet. But in the last month my sweet old Emma died. That was traumatic. And for about three weeks before she died we were in something like hospice care for her, feeding her tiny meals half-a-dozen times a day, making frequent trips to the grocery store and vet to try to get things she might eat, worrying about her, trying to make her comfortable. It was very hard. Plus, in the middle of all that stress, Billie came home from California. Another dog in the house. A young dog. One who was playing with the other young dogs. So she and Pearl and Blue had their own act going on all the time. Then Sarah chose this inconvenient time to come in season. More drama! That caused my two old boys to start acting like fools. It was really like a soap opera here.
But Emma died. And Sarah and Blue have gone to California now to live with Sarah's owner. (Blue will come back to me in a few months.) My two old boys are on speaking terms again. And Pearl and Billie are settled down. Charlsie sleeps through everything. Yesterday was the first peaceful day here in weeks. It was very nice.
Sometimes you can have too many dogs and I was definitely at my limit. It's good to be able to recognize your limits. Luckily, for me, this was just a temporary situation and I knew I was sending Sarah back to her owner.
There are people, though, who take in too many dogs and don't recognize it. Sometimes it's hard to say no. Whether you're an owner, a rescuer, or a breeder, it's important to keep your eyes on the big picture. Do you have too many dogs? Are you really able to provide the proper care for all of the dogs you have? Do you have enough time to groom all of your dogs? Is each individual dog getting a full share of attention? Can you really afford to feed and provide vet care for multiple dogs? These can be hard questions when you love your dogs and you want what's best for them. But having a lot of dogs can be a full-time job all by itself.
In my case I work at home so I have some advantages that other people may not have when it comes to spending time with my dogs and taking care of them, but I still have to work. Sometimes I feel like everything I earn goes toward taking care of the dogs.
If you have multiple dogs it's great if you have some support from family and friends. That helps a lot. But it doesn't always happen. Sometimes having dogs can actually lead to more tensions in a family, especially if members of your family think that you're overdoing it. I have friends who think I'm crazy. They told me for years I should have fewer dogs. Fortunately, I have a large community of dog friends, many of whom have more dogs than I do, who think I'm quite normal.
There have been times in my life when I was more devoted to dog activities than I am now. I used to live for dog shows. I would travel to shows weekly and spend the days in between shows grooming the dogs and studying about breeding and showing. I don't do that now and I only go to shows a few times a year. But my dogs are still as important to me as ever. I've just learned to try to keep more of a balance in my life with dogs, family and friends. I think home is more important to me now. I enjoy spending time with the dogs at home more now. The shows are always there when I want to go.
I am going to enjoy my quiet house today with my five dogs. That's a good number for me. If you or someone you know has too many dogs — they can't resist a dog in need, or they have stocked up on puppies or stray dogs — there is help for them. When it becomes a real problem it's called "hoarding." It's considered a form of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and there is treatment for it. I think it's more common than many people realize and people with dogs and cats can fall into it. It doesn't make you a bad person. You just need to get some help so you can get down to a manageable number of animals.
