I live with my partner and our three dogs in the Catalan countryside. We live in a stone built house in an Olive grove surrounded by Mountains.
We live off grid and are outdoors a lot of the time.
This site is all about our lives with the dogs. It will be a realistic insight into the ups and downs of dog ownership and the joys and sorrows that go with it. Sometimes challenging, sometimes thought provoking but hopefully most often fun.
Our land is not fenced and mostly the dogs are outside and thankfully stay close to the house. They have the world to play in but even then that soemtimes isn’t enough for our girls. They still need to be naughty on a regular basis!
If you are thinking of following in our footsteps and owning anything more than two dogs please remember-
27 Comments
I love your site. I also have three dogs. I had two for a long time and then I saved a little guy from the animal shelter in my town. At first, my Daisy (she’s the Alpha) was stand-off-ish – but now we’re one happy pack! Keep posting!
Hi jujuB.
Welcome to the blog.
Glad you have such happy Dogs.
I hope to see you here regularly.
Feel free to comment whenever you wish.
All the best.
Haha! “Owning three dogs is a lot more work than owning one more than two!”
I could not have said it better myself. Cheers!
Yeah I think it’s a lot of work having two dogs and two cats in the house right now.
I LOVE that you live in an area where you don’t need a fence and your dogs get to run and run. That’s so awesome. I’m jealous. I love the outdoors too.
They love it Lindsay. To see them bombing around the terraces is a great sight.
Not so good when they forget the rules and jump on the strawberry patch though!
Three dogs.. I wish i still had the four! Our elder Flat coated Retriever (Harry) died from congenital myelopathy just before Christmas, we are still missing him so much, and yes he does have a soul, still, as we put wind chimes on his grave and when they jingle we cheer up and know he is telling us all is well.. mad maybe, but it helps.
We are left with another FCR (Charley), a Gordon Setter (Totty) and a bearded collie (Willie).. They miss Harry too and are still deciding who is the boss now!
We live in SW France with the Dordogne River rolling at the end of the garden which they love.
To all dog people out there.. enjoy your pals and their unconditional love. We have to give it back and take responsibility when the time comes, difficult decisions have to be made, but they never really leave us.
Diana, it is always hard when you lose such a great friend. I start welling up just thinking about the two Dogs we have lost.
Like us you are lucky to be have space for the Dogs outside. I know they love it so much.
It is a tough decision when the time comes but we felt our old boy Sam let us know when the time was right.
Urggh, I feel sad just typing about him. That is what life is about though. Foremost in my mind are the geat times and that is what was important.
Come back and comment soon, it is always great to have new people make great comments on the site.
All the best.
OF COURSE DOGS HAVE SOULS.
We also have 3 dogs in our house, yes 2 is much more work than one, and three even more. Especially since one is geriatric and requires quite a bit of special care. Which we lovingly give
HI, loving your site, and soo jealous of where you live. We live in a flat in a market town, but are lucky to have a large garden. At the moment, we are busy preparing the garden for planting, and planning the extension to the hen run!!! As well as the 3 dogs, I have 3 kids, 1 cat, 2 rabbits, a guinea pig and 5 hens, oh and a fish!!! WIth that lot and workign full-time my husband and I are kept pretty busy. Keep up the good wotk on the site
Hi Fiona, sounds like a VERY busy life. You have a lot of animals to contend with. Nice to have you visit. Come back soon.
I am burying my dog in the yard, but what’s best? He’s 60 lbs. Would a plastic storage
bin be good ? Is a wood box better? or just a plastic bag. I hate the thought of bugs eating his body. What is the best method for him? I have to hurry.
Hi Lisa, this is a tough issue for all of us. To be honest I would Bury him covered in a blanket or something similar. Returning to the Earth is a natural process and happens to all of us that are buried.
By burying him in plastic will simply delay the time he takes to return to the soil. This is what happens to all of us that are buried. If you really don’t like the idea, what about Cremation?
I am sorry for your loss, and sorry I can’t give more positive advice. A Wooden Box would be nice and preferable to Plastic if you can.
All the best.
Hiya, i have seen your site when searching a few weeks ago and i really love the design! I just bought a new 3 character domain (cost me a packet) for a niche review blog, and i was wondering if your design is a free or paid one? I’m new to WordPress and about to set it up, and i would really like to get something with a similar look to yours. Any ideas where i could download or buy something similar? Thanks for your help!
Hi Max, the Theme is free. If you scroll to the bottom of the page you can click on The Cloisters. They are the makers and you will find this Theme on their site. They have a lot of other good looking designs too.
Let me know how it goes and what you chose. Hope this helps.
Hi,
Love your blog…..
I have 2 dogs; Jack the Beagle and Ruby the Corgi.
Having 2 dogs can be a challenge especially when Ruby is a very jealous dog and have been going after Jack a bit too often lately….sigh
If my family has their way, we would most likely end up with 3 dogs or more but I am the one looking after them though!
We are from Sunny Singapore!
Hi David
Thanks for the compliment. Sounds like you have your hands full with two Dogs. Greetings from Spain. It’s nice to have international readers. All the best. I will come and visit your site today.
Hi there,
Firstly, great site! Its been a fantastic resource for us as we train and look after our new labrador. How long has your site been running? Its firmly bookmarked in our favourites
Since we’ve had our labrador, we have really used the internet and websites to build up our knowledge of the lovely breed, so we can train him the best way we can!
A little over a week ago, we started to setup our new website for like minded dog owners. Already we are getting lots of visits! We have written about (surprise surprise) Labradors, the different breeds and colours, training tips and puppies.
We would love to know what you think of it, and if you would consider exchanging links with us, our readers would like to see your website aswell I’m sure. We can place you in the “Links” section on the right hand side of our website, how does that sound?
Have a look here:
Clicky
Anyway, let us know what you think and keep up the good work!
All the best,
Andrew (and Buddy)
Hi!
I just stumble on to your blog. I love it!! We have a husky and we are thinking of getting a second dog later this year. I have heard a lot about how great it is for the dog not to be alone and I would really love to have 2 of them but I am still a little bit unsure about the whole thing. We have had some problem with our Fia. She has had Giardia and we are having a very hard time getting rid of it. She is on her 4th treatment…
I will keep read and check back.
Wow, so happy to have find this site today. I have two beautiful girls and getting a third addition this year. We have had two girls and one boy in the past, and I’m not sure if getting another boy or girl to add to our pack. My husband and I live in the country in Ontario with our dogs and two horses. My dogs are my children as are my horses (no two legged children). My dogs bring more joy to my life than anyone can imagine, and I feel so blessed to have their company.I just love their big black noses, wagging tails and endless love they give us.
Just stumbled across this great blogsite…….My partner and I of 15 years have lost both of our mature aged dogs, within 1 year of each other……. you can imagine the sadness we feel.
We’ve come across the opportunity to adopt TWO pups “mixed mutts” (male and female), and I’ve seen some great discord amongst folks as to whether or not it’s a good idea.
We have a decent sized yard, but will only be here for about a year while our house is being built at another must more wide open space where they’ll have more freedom than here. That in itself may be a blessing after all their training to stick close to us. Although our older dogs were alowwed to semi-wander off leash (mostly due to their age and obedience), we agree there could be an issue walking our new pups on their indivudual leashes. My question on this: do we walk them together in the same direction at the same time, walk them separately at the same time, or individually at their sepearte time?
Our new arrivals will be here on 4/17/10.
Any advise or input is welcome.
THANKS to any other “Sibling raised” pups advice you could offer…..
Tim
Tim,
You will get as many answers as people you ask. For us we have 3 girls and mostly get along fine. From what I have heard the best mix is a boy and a girl. I would definitely say that you should walk them both together on a walk on their own leash and I really do not think there will be a problem. One Dog will emerge dominant as they get older which is the natural way of things but getting them doing things together is the best way to have a much more equal footing for them. Sounds like you are in for a lot of fun, and a few bitten fingers too!!
I own 2 dogs, puppies!!! Male, 8 months and female 6 and a half. She just got spayed yesterday, but I’m dying in guilt to see her so groggie and don’t wanting to eat (she drinks every while). Did your first spayed girl gave you that sense of guilt by making her suffer? I know in the long run is a good thing for them, but I’m thinking if it was worth the pain for her…
Jennifer,
No need to feel guilty, you are doing absolutely the right thing. They would thank you for it if they could, no more being chased by the boys!
My experience as a 3-dog-owner has been likewise mostly fun, but sometimes challenging. Balancing the needs of a senior, a puppy and a energetic adult dog, in a variety of sizes ranging from 3 lb. pup to 70 lb. Golden had its own challenges for sure. We always managed but there were certainly days when life had its frustrations. I too write about these challenges and the many ways we have learned to circumvent them. Nice to meet you!
Thank you so much for the information on when your dogs were spayed….. After my little westie having to have an emergency procedure done, after 2 days she still was not running round (and still isnt) this i understood!! but my main reason for looking on the internet was because i could not get her to drink water, you have put my mind at ease!!! she has eaten a little food!!! and sometimes gets up and down, but will not drink!!!
As she is 8 years old it was a real worry and because it was an emergency!!! I will let you know how she gets on, so far we are still in the tricky phase…..
joanie, glad this could help. It all sounds normal, I bet she is feeling a lot better now.