Multiple dogs watched at one time?

If I had to "occasionally" head to the vet, I would have to rethink sitting. I just find that comment very scary, and the "no dog has ever gotten REALLY hurt" . 5 dogs may be a bit to much to handle. I'm sorry, but i'm just thinking about the wounded animals in those situations.

You have to assess what you are comfortable with for your own situation. We have a very small ranch house on a slab with no basement, no upstairs, no laundry room to separate with. For that reason & my stress levels, we only watch 2 dogs at a time from the same household. I might consider 3 from the same household if they are small if the opportunity presents itself. Right now, most of my business is sitting at client's homes, so limiting the dogs in my home isn't an issue.

I'm not sure about other pet owners here, but I would want to know what other dogs were going to be around my dog and see how they interact before I booked. Such as the sitter's pets but I would not be comfortable if there were going to be other customer's dogs interacting with my dog that I did not get to do a meet and greet with. I have a lot of time, love, and training in my dog and would be devastated if she were hurt by another customers dog. My dog is not dog aggressive and I am new to this site and maybe it's normal for people to have more than one dog stay at a time but I would want to know if there were going to be strange dogs before I booked.

Most of us who take multiple bookings take only small dogs. My home would not be large enough for more than 1 large dog! I take no more than three boarders,but I really prefer no more than two. As far as feeding, the best thing to do is to remove the dog's bedding from their crate, place their food dish inside, and place each dog inside their empty crate. Leave them in the crates for about 15 - 20 minutes if they don't eat their food right away. Then take away the food and let them out. Try again at the next meal time. They may not eat the first or second time, but by the third time they will most likely be so hungry, they will eat. This prevents any possibility of food fights over a bowl of food left on the floor.

Some customes want their pup in a crate, some pups prefer their bed on the floor or on my couch but mostly they sleep with me. I find myself with 7 pups in my bed and it makes me laugh.

I have two dogs and accept up to five others. I only take dogs 40lbs or less and prefer really 20 lbs or less if I have a full house. The new dog is brought into my yard first and leash removed. The owner and I chat while the new dog sniffs all the smells. After about 10 mins I introduce the first dog. I always choose the one with highest energy first. This tends to help get the first nervousness and energy lowered. After the first two seem calmer, I bring the next one out, etc. Playtime is always outside. In the house, they usually just get up on couches and chairs to rest. I keep two play pens in my main room so I can separate pups without isolating them. Calmer pups outside pens, more active, high energy dogs inside pens. (Like a time out) lol. Feeding is always done with them separated and then EVERYONE outside immediately after because they will poo within 30 mins of eating. If one doesn't poo, I put leash on them and walk them in a circle. This sends a message to their brain to poo. Sleeping arrangements are done according to personalities. Again using my pens to separate the high energy dogs. Hope this helped!

I have 8 to 10 pups on most holidays and some weekend. I only take small dogs so I think that helps. My only problem is the ones that wont quit humping each other. I have a few pups that are non stop and I just have to separate them for that stay.

Hi, we have had up to 9 dogs at once. We have 3 and over Christmas we had a house full. I have never had any problems, knock on wood. How we introduce them is first I separate the dogs and let the newest arrival get calm first. I put our three in the bedroom, some in the garage, some in another room, etc. I let our dogs out first and let them get use to the new dogs. Once everyone is calm, I let the next set out. I am not going to say its easy! Sometimes it is and some times it takes some time. Depends on the dogs and how much they have been around other dogs. Trust me, during that first couple of hours I am doing a lot of snapping, clapping and anything else to snap them out of the attitudes some dogs have. I will say this, up until 2 months ago I would take almost any dog. I had a great dog but he was not neutered. The meet and greet went great all was good and I had a last min booking with 2 dogs. This male started getting very aggressive, he changed quickly. I ended up having to separate him from the pack for the rest of his stay. I will say this and my only advice start slowly, add dogs and you will know what you can handle. Oh and feeding. Well I have a dog food line. I make all the food bowls. I feed my 3 in our room, some outside, some in the garage and some in the main house. With that many dogs I have wet food to get them to eat faster and I never, never free feed them when that many dogs are in the house. I tell the owners that up front. Its to hard to free feed in my opinion. That's our story and if you look at our profile pics you will see all the dogs laying in the sun on the back deck or all in the living room. Its a handful and you really earn your money that is for sure. I don't leave the house unless someone else is home to watch them all. Cheers, Ambrele

I have a dog of my own and will in extreme circumstances take on two guest dogs but ONLY if they are both dogs I've had in the past. We have a fairly small apartment and it's tough having three dogs running around so we try to avoid taking in two additional dogs at all costs. There have been a few circumstances where a repeat customer has an emergency and I'll bend my rules a little but only for a night or two and only if both owners are comfortable with the situation. I wouldn't bring in any dogs I'm unfamiliar with as it would be difficult for me to keep them separate if need be.