If you had 20 dogs

Someone I know well has 6 companion dogs and 3 cats. Her house is immaculate due to her diligence and a twice weekly housekeeper (which is about impossible to find - one that will work with six dogs). Two of the dogs are elderly and one is special needs. The owner feeds Science Diet (because she really, truly believes that is the best available since the vet recommended it) and spends whatever is necessary on anything and everything the dogs need. Fortunately she has the means to do all this. All of the dogs are rescues in one way or another - not necessarily planned rescues either - and they have the very best life she can possibly provide for them.

That said - she'll be the first to tell you that it simply isn't possible to give them the individual interaction that they need. It *might* be possible if she didn't work full time or if she never did anything that wasn't dog related and that really isn't feasible. But as things are the elderly dogs get their essentials, the special needs dog gets what she needs, and the others get her leftover time and emotion.

The dogs are happy and healthy, but they aren't particularly well-behaved, they are overweight, both from the food and lack of exercise, and their lack of mental and physical stimulation is painfully obvious when visiting. Yes, the dogs are much better off than they could be, but they are not in the optimum situation for their total well-being.

It is likely that dogs who had a job or owners who didn't work or worked in dog-related or friendly jobs could pull this off. But I know, from personal experience house-sitting for this person that it is overwhelming to try to provide for that many companion animals.

ORIGINAL: glenmar

OK, that's not fair.  I had my 3 dogs, four older foster pups and then came momma and within a few hours SEVEN live pups.  So, 15 dogs IN my house.  And german shepherds at that.  And my house did NOT stink.  Didn't even have a faint odor of dogs.  I keep my house AND my dogs clean.  It might get a bit furry between daily vacumming, but by golly my house is CLEAN and doesn't smell.

I never said your house stank.  I said that hers does.  I can't help it, it's not my house.  I guess it's possible that she's coming to work with all of her clothes, her lunch bag, and even papers from her house stinking to high heaven like animal waste and still keep her house clean, but I doubt it.  I smell better after a day mucking stalls.

Glenda:
    What is your secret to pulling off a smell free house with SIX dogs? I'd really want to know because I only have one and Liz sleeps in the guestroom and when I go in the mornings to let her out the room smells of dog. Its not an overpowering smell, but its not faint either.
 
I personally could not have more than 2 or 3 dogs, and 3 would be pushing it. The maximum we've ever had is three dogs. When I was with my father we had a pit bull, my shih tzu and a little mutt. My mother fostered 2 pups when she arrived in Puerto Rico, a BC mix (I think) and a Golden Mix.
 
About 2 years ago we had our Golden, a foster bitch and her lone surviving pup and that was hell because the Golden was being potty trained, the lone pup wasnt potty trained and momma thought 'hey if they can do it so can I!!)
 
That was with only 3 dogs. Now imagine 20 dogs, unconfined with free run of the house. If one dog pees the rest will likely follow.
 
**The key here is unconfined and without proper structure. I add this because I know Glenda has fostered and bred, and Im sure that to keep her house clean and pups safe she does not allow young pups free reign of the house which is key

Christina, I didn't think you were saying that MY house stinks...I'm just saying that if ANYONE is diligent enough, their house doesn't need to stink either.
 
I'm not sure that I do anything special.    The dogs get brushed regularly but rarely bathed, I vacume daily to keep the fur down to a not so large tumbleweed, and I clean carpets every month or so simply because the dogs do track in.  The cat boxes get changed every other day and scooped several times every day.  Maybe eating a very healthy diet makes my dogs not smell like dogs?

I think diet is key, which is probably why Lizzie smells a bit. That and the fact that she likes to stand out in the rain [&:]
 
Bad Nutrition can make a dog smell like pond water but luckily Lizzie doesnt smell that bad!!
 
By the way Glenda, I didnt know you had cats also!! Now I admire you even more []

I would love to see a house with 20 or more dogs that was a positive experience for the animals,one where none of them had to go without.

I think my point of this whole conversation is though,,,that sometimes the alternative for these animals would be to not have a life at all.

I think that people have to find a "middle of the road." You know what? everyone can not afford to give their dog a steak dinner every night. Sometimes the dog has to be in the crate longer than you wanted him/her to be. However, if a person is trying to do the best they can for both kids and dogs I think love does go a long way. This is not to say you should only by the cheap stuff or what ever but, I don't think people should feel guilty if they can not give the best of the best. What is important is that you are doing what you can and really giving the child or the pet the very best that you can do for them but, it has to be THE BEST YOU CAN DO. If it gets to the point where you have too many dogs and the quality has really gone down and you know you can do MUCH better if you didn't have as many dogs than yes, you have a problem. You need to look at the time you have, breed you have and how active your animals as well as the quality of what you are feeding them before you decide it would be fair to the new pet and the ones you already have before bringing a new pet home. If you can afford it, can do it and have the extra time and space I say "all systems go!" but, make sure you really can make the commitment.

It all depends on the person, but 20 dogs (even small ones) is too much. There is no way a person can attend so many dogs, and that is mentally damaging.
 
I was just remembering a childhood neighbor of mine. This woman had 6 TOY poodles. The house was nasty. It smelled and there were dogs all over the place. Now imagine a person with 20 toy poodles.
 
If you can keep your house clean with 6 dogs I truly admire you, but there is no way you can keep a house clean with 20 dogs, its not possible

I don't think it has much to do with affordability, but education. Okay, you can't afford Dog Chow, so you feed Ol' Roy, but do you realize that if you bought Diamond for the same price as Dog Chow you wouldn't have to feed as much and it would come out to the same price as Ol' Roy in the long run. Some people just don't understand that.

Further, I agree with Eddie, when she said that feeding a good food will save you money on vet bills in the future.

Just a little interested observation I made a while ago: I live in a wealthier city, although I am not one of the wealthy. I was driving down a road with alot of large houses/mansions. It was obviously garbage pick-up day. I noticed that infront of 2 of these large, expensive homes there were empty bags of Ol'Roy - Once again, it all has to do with education. I'm sure these people aren't intentionally being cheap @sses, they just don't know that all dog food is not created the same.

I'm sure these people aren't intentionally being cheap @sses,

How do you think they got so rich in the first place? [] True, some just arent educated about dog feeding,but others are just plain ol tight *sses!

There's this woman up the road who has 5 dogs,her house stinks,you can even smell it faintly as you walk past way down from the sidewalk,but can she smell it? Nooooooo! I have hinted to her a few times,but it goes straight over her head.
I think if you've got 1 dog or 10 it pays to have a few friends who you know will be brutally honest with you and tell you whether your house smells or not,because often times people living in it everyday get used to the smell [X(]