Multiple Dogs

Depends on the breed. If you are a breeder someday you will need to accept that using some means...dogs will need to be separated. Intact dogs and bitches are a volitaile mix at times. Accidental breedings, fights, etc can be the result if you are not vigilant and observant in who you allow to run with whom. Silent seasons are a fact...and you will not be happy to find your "not due in season nor visibly in season" 1y/o bitch tied with your 5month old dog puppy! It happens...there's also a first time to find out that your 6 mo old dog puppy is food possesive when he tears an ear off your show prospect 2y/o bitch lol! Then there's the intact dog that will howl endlessly anytime a girl is in season...and refuse to eat....etc. It may be that in a run, with vanilla extract on his upper lip...lol, is the ONLY place he can relax and calm down.
 
Some breeds simply do not get along same sex and if you have more than 3 then someone will be the odd one out. Most breeders "rotate' dogs.
That is what I do...I have crates inside that I use for time outs or when it's time for chewies etc.
 
Spayed and neutered households...and households with intact dogs and bitches are different kettles of fish. It can work out great if you watch your mixing and always mind 'their' established hierarchy and keep your place at the very top of it. It also helps to simply not have intact males or any males at all around...if your breed is one where the bitches can get along.

Also bear in mind that as a breeder/exhibitor...you may someday have bitches in for breeding that should NOT be intro'd to your pack due to stress or owner request/liability...older puppies coming back that you did not raise that might have socialization issues...dogs in that you co own in for showing that are temporary guests....dogs that come back sick from show circuts, etc. There are lots of situations where separate places for dogs can really help a person out.
 
BUT....you can also go the route of ....this number is the max I can have and keep the lifestyle I want for the dogs and myself...and this number can be comprised of xx females and x males and that's the way it has to be. that's more the way I do it...due in my case by my cities laws...but really I could not handle more than my personal limit....so I adhere to it.

I personally wouldn't buy from a breeder who owned "lots" of dogs and/or kept dogs outside in runs. The breeder I most admire owns exactly three adult dogs.

This all sounds very reasonable to me. DH and I have been discussing how many dogs we will want. We're still undecided, but one thing we have decided is that we will have an absolute maximum of five intact adults and either mostly or all females.

I think we'll see as we go, though.

I prefer to meet people, and their dogs, watch their contribution to the breed and their attitude about their dogs and their breed in general...and judge them on on that, rather than "numbers", ersonally. 
 
Varies by breed as well...many dog breeds would have NO coats if kept indoors...others work their dogs, and being acclimated to being outdoors is important to that, ...etc etc .

Tojo's breeder kept her dogs in seperate, outdoor runs. I don't have a problem with it, I just prefer to have them indoors and for me personally, having them as pets is more important with breeding as kind of side thing.

Like others say it all depends on the breed and the dogs themselves...We started with our female Kiara who hated every dog she came accross but had terrible anxiety and needed a playmate so we could actually go places lol ( we were taking her everywhere!!) We found Kovu at the shelter and took her to visit him many times before we brought him home...They were a perfect match....playing ,wrestling, snuggling Then we introduced Kuruk last year...He was just shy of 5 months old....we got every available help we could to make the transition go smoothly...Things were progressing when out of the blue Kovu attacked him ....causing $500 worth of vet bills...We took it slow and brought them together again..They played fine for about 1 yr...Now they are fighting again and have to be kept separate...Nothing would make us happier than to have all 3 together with us at all times but the fact is it can't happen right now...So they have an every other day schedule of getting to sleep in with Mom or Dad....We take turns with them and it's a lot of work !! They were all rescues and there is no way we will give up on any of them ....all we can do is hope some day they can be together again....We will keep dreaming i suppose So anyway after my long response basically...no 2 dogs are going to act the same and no 2 situations are going to be alike or even stay that way....I know lots of people who have multiple dogs living together in harmony....kinda like people anyway...depends on who they are and who they like lol

All of my 5 dogs live inside with us.They're of varying sizes and breeds- 2 neutered males, a spayed female, and two intact males. All of them were introduced carefully and get along fine- and two of my dogs are dog aggressive.
 
Three of them have crates, and two are never crated. The 3 with crates are crated when we're not home, and the puppy is crated at night. The rest have run of the house the rest of the time. Works fine for us.

My sister has kept four dogs, uncrated, in her house for many years now with no issues. And they range in size from rat terrier to great danes. Wait, the rat terrier did lose an eye this winter. But they have no idea how that happened. No other marks on the victim or any of the other dogs, so they have no idea if it was one of the other dogs or if it was the cat, or the parrots.

Thanks for the input!

One more question... is there NO way to keep untact male and female dogs from breeding except seperating them? Do dogs have predictable cycles as far as their heats, or do they just need to be seperated, plain and simple?

Right now we have 3 dogs, one intact male, one spayed female, and one fixed male.  the breeders I know keep all their dogs inside.  they do have crates and they use them quite often, but the dogs all get along fine.  Trey's breeder had 11 bitches, some intact and some not.  They all got along.  She had a few runs in an addition to her house where she kept females in heat.  Beau's breeder has about 6 dogs, I believe.  No males either.  Luckily paps and shelties are good with other dogs.  We've had two intact males together for a while, though we just lost one.  It worked out great as well, you just have to be careful. 
 
We had Nikki and Trey together a while and they were both intact.  No litters here either.  You just have to be diligent.
 
All the handlers I know who can have a ton of dogs at a time have them out in small groups for easy management.  It's more work sometimes, but it's worth it imo. 
 
I miss having four. 

Rolenta, have you talked to Tojo's breeder about WHY she does things the way she does? I know that it can vary a LOT by breed- Mal's breeder has only one male dog- all the others are girls (2, three now with the pup she kept from Mal's litter), and they run together most of the time. Collies are KNOWN for getting along well, though- Shibas aren't- and in fact, quite a few of them- especially the girls, from what I've been told- are downright same-sex aggresssive.

Gina, when you had Akitas, did you do anything differently?

I know that when I someday am in a position to breed my own dogs for show and performance, I want to have kennel runs that attach to a heated/air conditioned kennel/grooming space so that I have SECURE confinement for dogs on an individual basis beyond crates.

I know about shibas with same-sex aggression, but I won't be breeding shibas

It really depends on the breed and individual dogs.  Parsons are my breed, so I'll refer to them.  They are kept in outdoor runs.  Each run has a shelter.  The runs are big enough that they have room to run around and play.  Some also have things for the dogs to jump and play on.  Parsons are known for dog aggression.  None of ours are, but they have their little arguements once in a while, nothing major though.  However, we keep most of them separate but rotate pairs around.  Some always live in the same pair, others, we alternate so they get along with other dogs.  We prefer not to have more than two togehter because one will get left out.  If something gets them wound up, like the annoying cat, they sometimes can just get into fight mode and with three, two can gang up on another.  We rarely have fights and most of our pairs eat out of the same bowl even though I give them separate bowls.  There are a few dogs that can never be placed together.  Eclipse and Misty can never be near each other.  they hate each other with a passion for some unknown reason.  They get along fine with ANY other dog, but they just don't like each other.  Never two males.  Two intact males of any breed can be a recipe for disaster, especially if there is a female in season around.  Never two females who are in season, they get aggressive over nothing during that time.  Usually, I try to rotate the males around with females.  Opposite sex pairs work best.  We have a great group of dogs who are all tolerant of each other for the most part.  But, putting them all together could be a disaster.  If one dog thinks another looked at him wrong for some reason and starts a fight, the others could join in just out of that fight frenzy.  Keeping a group of intact dogs is completely different from keeping spayed/neutered dogs.  Even if some of those dogs are intact, its completely different than if they are ALL intact.  There is much more of a pack structure with all intact dogs.  Thats how I would describe it, but I'm sure there is a better word for it.  Either way, its totally different.

As for being outside, soem of these dogs go to farm homes and work homes.  They need to be used to the climate.  All of the runs are shaded and there is always a nice breeze, so heat isn't much of a problem.  In the winter, we feed warm food and they have their shelters to keep warm.  Most of them LOVE the snow! 

You can keep a male and a female together, but you have to know when the cycles are expected and watch for any signs of heat.  Not too hard.  Both Rose and Colton are intact and I have no problems with them at all.  When Rose is in heat, Colton gets really annoying though, so he usually goes to visit his "doggy friends" at my mentor's.  He has no problem going from apartment living to being in a kennel...actually, I'm not sure which he prefers.  In the run, he goes crazy trying to sniff everything and cant decide which way to go first, so he just runs around in random directions!  Then he calms down and plays with the dogs!