Raising multiple pups at once

[Mr. Oinker]

So I have been offered several free pups here recently and some out of dang good blood lines for real cheap by people with a lot more experience than me but I have been finding myself turning them down because I already have two young pups (one 6 weeks, one 16 weeks) and I am not sure how to go about raising multiple pups at the same time. It seems like all my free time is devoted to just one pup and the other is getting the short end of the stick. How do y'all do it? Do you bother with keeping the pups inside at first or do they stay outside mostly even in the winter months? How do you ensure the proper amount of bonding and trust is formed when you have to spread time around to several pups? Time is limited with work as is but I'm sure most of you work full time as well. Any advice?

[Judge peel]

I love to mess with pups I bring them in the let them sleep with me take em to town love on them. I treat them like my kids. Now what this results in later is a tight handle. Now a lot of people will say not to do that cuz the dog won't hunt might be true for some but not for me. A good handle it top priority for me I shouldn't have to beg a dog to come back to me or chase it around the truck to load up. All this stuff is set up when the dog is young. I would much rather have a shorter range dog that handles then one that ranges farther that I have no control over just me 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[hoghunter71409]

Long answer for me, but here goes......

Last year (about this time) I decided that I needed different dogs than what I had.  I sold three of my old dogs and kept my three year old.  I thought I would reinvest my money in a couple better pups and raise them up.  The pups I was looking for were not as available as I thought.  I then learned about a pup up north that was out of some real nice dogs that had been line bred with success for a long time.  So I bought her.  Next thing I know, my buddy has a liter, so I said, yes I want one.  Then, a pup comes available from a liter that I really wanted.  Soon after, a buddy says I have some real nice pups.....anyway, today I have four older pups,  One of them is 10 months, two of them are 8 months, and one is 6 months.  I had a fifth pup that would have been 9 months, but she didn't make the team and left last month.  So, I had 5 pups.  I let them pups out every night while cleaning kennels, my sons played with the pups at early ages (I got all the pups when they were about 6-9 weeks).  They have all been well socialized and for the most part, they all get a long.  I take them all to the woods, some are doing good, and some need some more time.  What I learned was, I think I would be better off with 2-3 pups max.  This gives more time with each one and I think the ratio is better for the dogs.  One of the reasons I accepted all 5 was that I knew some of them may not make the cut.  It really sucks to raise a pup up to a year and it don't make the cut.  Then you start all over again.  I thought, well at least 1 or 2 of the 5 will make it.

So a couple months ago, one of my best hunting buddies calls and tells me my female is in heat.  He has my dog at his house in hopes to breed to his male.  This hunting buddy has one of the best packs of line bred dogs that I've ever seen.  So, we decide to make the cross.  So here I am today with 4 older pups and five of my own pups. 

I strongly believe my five younger pups will make better dogs than my four older pups, but they are only 13-14 weeks.  So I plan on hunting my four older pups every time I go and keep raising my younger pups.  Yes this take a lot of time and I have a load of crap on my boots every  night, but I think it is the price you pay to find the dogs you want, al least for me. 

My personal assessment of a man's dogs is measured by the number of good dogs he has, not how good his one dog is.  I hope that I can make most of these pups into real dogs one day and at this point, I am putting them in the woods enough with hogs that they are being given an opportunity.

Raising multiple pups is not easy.

[Bo Pugh]

You can raise several pups but you have to be prepared to cull down later on when the time comes. Most people that work and have a family can't hunt enough to train 5 or 6 young dogs and hunt them like they need. But you can raise you 5 or 6 and start hunting them and cull down to two that  have a lot of natural ability. If you don't already have a good dog you will need to raise several cause it takes so long to really see what you have and you don't want to cull then have to raise another pup all the way from a pup.  So get you 4-5-6 pups and fool with some andaybr one will turn out.

As far as the bonding I don't let them come inside I leave them in my puppy pen until they start fighting over food or get big enough to go on a chain it's something about a chain.

[jdt]

i just spend a little time with them along , i can take care of several as easy as 1 . i don't put much handle on them until their well started because if they have to be culled thats alot of wasted time .

 it's handy when you have kids because they do alot of the socialising . sometimes they can catch them and i can't .

[liefalwepon]

Bo Pugh, what do you mean when you say "there's something about a chain"?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[justincorbell]

Bo Pugh, what do you mean when you say "there's something about a chain"?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I can't speak for Bo regarding what he meant by "theres something about a chain" however I can speak for myself and what I believe he is speaking of. I have raised more pups than I care to count the past 9-10yrs and it seems like there is almost always at least 1 pup out of a litter ----(referring to raising a whole litter on my yard which I prefer to do if at all possible)---- that for one reason or another ends up being a bit wild not wanting to be messed with much if at all by the time it is old enough to go on a chain. I don't know how it has worked for others but for me a chain tames this type dog down relatively quick and painlessly. I raise my pups in a big fenced yard roughly 80 x 100' where they are free to be pups until they hit 5-7mths of age and start climbing/jumping/digging out of the pen. These pups are around us daily, I do not necessarily play with them but the ones that willingly run up to me I will pet on here and there but I do not make it a point per say. it seems like 1 or 2 always slip thru the cracks and end up coyote like not wanting to be touched.

I had 2 litters this past year and slowly dwindled down to 1 pup out of each litter. These 2 pups have been polar opposites, the male out of litter "a" is a big strong outgoing pup who hasnt met a stranger and the female out of litter "b" is the exact opposite. I put them both on chains last week and now you can barely tell the two apart from their overall demeanor. The female that was wild as hell in the big puppy pen is now as easy to handle and pet on as the male................ i have had the same reaction from multiple skittish young dogs the past couple years and while it may be something else entirely I credit the chain, once they realize there is no option for running / escape they tend to calm down and give in to human interaction more.

[hillbilly]

Yep x2 on the chain. All my dogs at some point in their young life will be on a chain. Some stay on a chain forever and some go in a pen.
The chain also helps break them to lead.

[Bo Pugh]

I should of clarified what I meant on the chain. My puppy's don't get handled a lot and petted up so they act a little timid and whey they get big enough they go on a chain. It takes the wild out of them like someone says it kinda tames them and seems to give them a whole new level of common sense. Another thing I do I have a old flat top dog box I use as a house and after I tie a young dog up I start feeding him on top of that house so when the time comes it only takes a few trips and he knows how to load up on the truck cause he's jumped on that house so many times to eat