Training Multiple Dogs: Harmonious Home and Effective Techniques

Mr. N is perfectly happy being the sole pet of the household but previously we had a foster dog for six months. The dogs got along fine. They never became BFFs or anything but they would play together occasionally and they never got into a fight.

Training time became difficult though as Mr. N would get very upset when I trained Onyxx and he wasn’t included. My workaround was to have Mr. N do all the tricks with Onyxx as Onyxx was learning them. This worked because Mr. N already knew all the tricks/behavior and I didn’t have to concentrate on training both dogs. Normally, I would suggest training the dogs separately.

Photo posing is an important skill to learn in our household. The dogs with a visiting friend.

When I trained Mr. N, Onyxx was content being tossed the odd treat for watching and being calm or in the crate with a chew. If I had to do it over again, I’d probably do mat training so the non-working dog would settle on the mat while the other dog worked.

I think several more rounds of training class and watching the other dogs train and having to wait his turn has made Mr. N a bit more patient since then. When we were over at Sage’s house and I was teaching her how to wave, he wandered off and found his own entertainment. I made sure to treat him after we were done for being good.

How do you train with multiple pets?

Welcome to First Monday’s Positive Pet Training Blog Hop hosted by Cascadian Nomads, Tenacious Little Terrier and Rubicon Days. Please share your responsible pet owner positive pet training tips by linking a blog post or leaving a comment below. Any positive reinforcement training posts or comments are also always welcome. The Positive Pet Training Blog Hop goes all week long. Our next hop will begin Monday, July 6th and continues for a week. The July theme is training sins.

The dogs waiting for Thanksgiving dinner