Managing 3 dogs with 2 full time jobs

CRAZY & TIRED are the first 2 words that come to mind with this title.. having 3 dogs and giving them the love and attention they need and deserve is hard, also, adding on training a new puppy. But I have a soft spot in my heart for dogs. Growing up I never really had any animals, I mean besides fish so I never really understood the bond that people have with their pets. But as soon as we got Ivan and he showed us his funny personality and his love, we were obsessed. So we ended up getting two more dogs 😉

Something that has helped us is a schedule and a routine. We really try to stay with it because it helps our dogs obey and know what’s going on. They eat at the same times everyday (6:30am & 5:30pm) They get up with Grant’s alarm in the morning and they go outside and go to the bathroom and then they eat breakfast. (We always know Ivan is done with his business because he shakes the door handle with his nose 😂) Ivan loves his food and has no problem eating. Koda is a little weird and won’t always eat at the right time which makes it difficult to make sure he gets his food. He eats better when we put the food in his crate with him. Cooper is like Ivan and just wants to eat all the time, he’ll try to eat Kodas food too. We feed all 3 of our dogs Iams Dog Food.

If you have dogs, you know that they’re messy and sometimes they have accidents or they get sick and especially with always having a puppy for the last 2 years… we have to vacuum our house ALL the time. But with accidents and stuff I highly recommend buying a portable spot carpet cleaner, it’ll save your life!!!

This is the one we have!

All of our pups are crate trained and stay in their crates while we’re at work. They know that their crates are their safe place so they will not go to the bathroom in there and they actually enjoy being in there. We have trained our dogs to go to the crate by saying “kennels” and they will run in there and wait for us to come close the doors. We used to keep Ivan our during the day but we found that he got bored and would start to chew on things if he’s left out too long during the day. They pretty much sleep all day in their kennels.

We try to take our dogs out every night to get out of the house and get some exercise. Our backyard is currently getting landscaped and worked on so we can’t take our dogs out there which makes it extra hard for them. But our pups love to just explore; even if it’s just around the neighborhood. But they especially love swimming and going out to the mountains or big open spaces to run around. I also recommend having a portable water bowl for when you take them out.

This is the one we have

Grants job is stressful so it’s super important for him to get a good nights sleep so with having a puppy we really have to make sure he goes to the bathroom before he goes to bed and that he gets plenty of play time. When the weather is bad, Cooper doesn’t get out very much so he will just whine during the night and we won’t be able to get him to stop but if we exercise him and get his energy out, he sleeps super well. The two other pups have no problem sleeping and will sleep through the night no problem. They’re also really good at letting us know if they do need to go.

Some days are just crazy but after a long day coming home and having our pups be excited we’re home and cuddling with us makes it all worth it. ❤️

“A dog will teach you unconditional love. If you can have that in your life, things won’t be too bad.”

🐶 Riley Fam