need help making decision on taking care of 3 extra dogs

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

My brother needs somewhere for his new wife's dogs to stay, he and she are combining households
for now, and her 3 dogs don't get along with his 2.

Her dogs are medium size and large, the largest is a friendly irish setter or lab mix type, the others are medium size - one is a large sheltie. They currently are staying at her house, and someone has to go over and feed them each day.

The dogs live outside.

My brother has offered to pay me (an fairly generous amount) to keep the dogs in my backyard
until they get a bigger place.

This could be a year or more.

He will even fence in my back yard (not huge, but just big enough for the dogs.).

I am worried about the barking, and whether 3 dogs would be too much in my fairly quiet neighborhood.

The houses in my neighborhood are fairly close although we have privacy.

I need the money, he needs help, but it seems like alot of responsibility.

I already have 1 small inside dog and 2 inside cats, plus an elderly parent to care for.

Is there any way to prevent the dogs from barking, since they are outside dogs?
(I definitely couldn't handle having them in the house, my house is small).

[Coyote_Bandit]

1. Are the dogs

currently outside dogs? If so, how much do they bark? And when?

There is a lab that lives next door to me. He can be loud and barks a lot - at the postman, the meter readers, strangers walking down the street, anyone who approaches or inytrudes into his space. But he is not a dog that barks at squirrels or birds or falling leaves. We all know that if he barks it is for a reason. Because of that, nobody complains.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

3. the dogs are currently outside dogs.

They seem to do really well, but they have a fairly large lot, nicely landscaped,
with some wooded areas and a nice sturdy building to sleep in.

My back yard is much smaller.

My brother wants his wife to live at his house, and try to sell her house.
His yard is about the size of mine, but that would make 5 dogs.

I think they plan to move out into the country when they can sell all of the houses,
but right now they want to sell hers.

I would probably end up keeping the dogs for a year, given the bad real estate market.

These dogs don't currently bark alot. They have good dispositions too.

[BrklynLiberal]

2. Could ypu get a trainer that could show you andt he dogs how to

control their barking? A way that you can quiet them down if they are barking?

Or perhaps the trainer should work with your brother on how to get these three dogs to live with the other two.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

4. As long as they don't bark during certain hours of the day

from 1 - 8 pm when I am working, at home.

Thats the clincher.

I could try to ajust my hours to earlier in the day when barking might be least likely
(avoiding the mail delivery, kids coming home from school, etc).

Thanks for the advice so far.

[Coyote_Bandit]

7. So.........

Your concern is not about whether the dogs could live safely and happily with you without unnecessarily disturbing your neighbors.......

IMHO, you should not take the dogs. You clearly have other priorities (an elderly parent, your own dog and two cats and a source of income). Nothing wrong with that. Just recognize it for what it is - and don't use the dogs as your excuse. You should be able to set and pursue your own priorities.

And the dogs deserve to be considered and treated as the companions they are. Not as an imposition and inconvenience.




Edit to add: I don't intend for this to come across as a slam. I think you already have your hands full with other significant and important obligations.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

9. not exactly on one part, correct on rest

I care alot about animals.

I do care if they are happy. I am not sure they will be happy with me, but their human parents need somewhere for them to be for about a year. They love the dogs and are trying to find a way to keep them.

You see, right after my brother got married, the economy tanked, so they now have two houses and the mortgages.

The realtor says that the backyard needs to be relandscaped in order to sell wife's house, but the 3 dogs are currently living there. There's the accompanying mud on the back deck and walkway, plus its just harder to keep looking nice.

I do feel overwhelmed right now.

My brother and his wife need help right now, they love their dogs, and they are also trying to help me out financially. They think of me as a big animal lover, and I have a big backyard, which is why they thought of me.

If I thought I could pull this off, I'd do it.

Right now, the dogs are staying at a house that is unlived in, and my brother and wife are having to drive back and forth to feed them.

[Coyote_Bandit]

10. So the question is

whether you personally are up to the task given your present responsibiliites.

I suspect the answer may well depend on some unknown variables that are impossible to assess. How stable mentally, emotionally and physically is the parent for whom you care? Could the dogs present a threat of injury or significant disruption to that parent? How will your own animals react and interact with new animals? How well defined is the tenure of their residence with you? Could it be significantly longer or shorter than the year you expect? Is the compensation adequate for the time and resources required? Is it possible that the request being made of you is simply an effort to avoid or delay having to determine the ultimate care for these dogs?

I sense that you want to take the dogs in but don't feel up to the task. Would it be possible to take them on a limited trial basis to see how the circumstances evolve? You might find that you are more than capable of meeting the additional demands. Or could it be possible to separate the dogs and take in only one additional dog instead of all three? Would it be possible to rotate the dogs every few days so that one stays with you, one stays with your brother and the third is left to guard the vacant home? Is it possible that four of the five dogs would get along in your brother's home if one dog were removed from the mix (or retrained)?

My own experiences tell me that the demands of caring for an elderly family member can be highly variable - as can the stresses of earning a livlihood - and tending to companion animals. You are the one best able to judge your cirsumstances and capabilities.

Good luck.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

11. good questions and comments

you hit the nail on the head.

These dogs have been kept outside for years, and seem to be happy at their residence.

Myself, I've never liked to keep dogs outside 24 X 7. But these dogs are used to it.
My dog is an inside dog, and I take her outside several times a day.

The dogs seem so happy go lucky, and I guess they entertain each other.

If I take them, I know I would likely be keeping them until the wife's house sold, from 1-2 years.

I couldn't keep them in my house (its only 1200 sq ft) so they wouldn't be around my mother.

They seem to be well adapted to living outside, and if they could be happy at my place, I would be glad to do this for my brother and his wife.

His wife has been very good to him, and they make a great couple.

3 dogs is alot. My daughter is willing to take them for walks and play with them, in between her school and part time job.

Thank you for the comments, Im still mulling it over, and having a pretty day this Saturday helps.

Oh, I have a basement/garage, so if weather was unsafe for animals, they could come in there.

[roody]

5. They won't bark if they are happy.

[catgirl]

13. My dogs bark and they're happy

They proudly protect our yard when people pass by.

[undeterred]

6. If his and her dogs don't get along now

how are they going to get along later? It seems like they are just deferring the real problem until later.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

8. They hope to get a bigger yard, maybe a farm

but they can't sell the wife's house with the 3 dogs there, according to the realtor.

Makes it too hard to show the place.

Once they sell her house, they can afford a larger place where 5 dogs can fit.

[housewolf]

12. Maybe you could set up something with your brother that you could do a trial for a few days

without making it a long-term commitment. It's possible that it could be a good arrangement for all concerned... you could use some extra money and the dogs obviously need a better situation than being left alone day and night with just someone coming over to feed them. If your brother is willing to fence your yard, maybe you could make it part of the deal that he pay for a trainer to come over and teach the dogs (and you) to control their barking.

[LibertyLover]

14. Could your brother and his new wife

hire a dog behavioral expert to give them advice on getting the dogs to live together? We have 4 dogs, and until very recently we had 5, but our senior greyhound passed away. Yes, it took some work on our part to get all of them, adopted at different times, to live together, but we managed by getting advice from an expert. Perhaps an expert on animal behavior could figure out how to make it work?