Training and Living With Multiple Dogs

by Brianna - Online Dog Coach

So, you have two dogs or maybe three or four… my husband and I have four “boys” ranging in age from 18 months to 9 years. Here are our tips for a peaceful and well-trained pack:

Dinner Time

In a multiple dog household it is extremely important that you establish a dinner-time routine for several reasons: (1) it avoids fights over the food bowl, (2) it allows you to monitor each dog’s intake, and (3) it allows you to administer medication to the right dog. In my household, the dinnertime routine takes a whopping 30 seconds. Each dog has his own bowl containing food that meets his dietary needs, all four dogs sit, we place the bowls, and they commence eating once they are given the command OK. Right now, you are probably thinking, yeah right, my dogs won’t do that! Believe it or not, with a little work and consistency, you should be able to train a dinnertime routine in about a week following a few simple steps. When you first introduce the dinnertime routine, you will want to train each dog separately. Once all dogs are trained, you should be able to “eat as a family” .

Prepare you dog’s dinner and add a special treat … maybe some canned food or gravy. This helps train your dog to eat dinner in a timely fashion.
Ask you dog to sit.
Slowly lower the food bowl.
If your dog gets up, pick up the bowl and reissue the sit command. Continue this process until your dog remains in the sitting position when the bowl is on the floor.
Immediately issue your release command.
Each night, lengthen the amount of time before you issue the release command.
Once each dog has been trained individually, try them all at once.

Rest command, basic agility training for dogs

Training Sessions

Training sessions should consist of you and one of your family’s dogs. Trust me, I have made the mistake of trying to be more efficient by training multiple dogs at the same time. Each and every time, I have become frustrated, my dogs end up confused, and I make zero progress. My advice:

Setup individual time for each dog.
Find a quiet place to train (i.e. in the backyard with brothers and sisters barking at the window might make it hard to concentrate)
Remember that you have finite patience and it is not reasonable to train three dogs back to back for 15 minutes each. Fewer, higher quality training sessions will be more effective.
Remember that each dog is unique and will have different learning curves.

Read Dog Training Basics for an overview of successful training fundamentals.

Teaching Each Other

Your dogs will teach each other both good and bad behaviors… notice I did not say tricks. The key is to teach your “Star Student” desirable behaviors that the other pack members will mimic. Examples, teach your Star to…

Use baby gates to separate multiple dogs while training your dog

settle during dinner
calmly greet guests
potty routine whether it be a doggie door or ring a bell
calmly respond to noises such as the vacuum (desensitizing)

Enjoy Your Pack,

— Aaron, Brianna & “The Boys”

About the Author

Brianna has had dogs as companions for over 20 years. She has been formally training her dogs for over seven years including agility, obedience, and trick training. Her dogs have competed and have earned titles in AKC and USDAA agility. She has also volunteered at the local shelter to train the “un-trainable” dogs.

Brianna’s Dogs

TJ (Cocker Spaniel, “USDAA”: http://www.usdaa.com Agility Dog Champion), Shiner Bock (Carolina Dog), Kelvin Jay (Golden Retriever Rescue), Rankine on the Rise (Golden Retriever)