Our Growing Pack: How We Accumulated so many dogs

A Tale of Two Dogs: The Beginning

Growing up I always had a dog, and I really loved the companionship dogs provided.

I didn't get back into having a dog until our children got a little older (6/4/2) and I wanted them to have that same experience I had growing up. We selected a rough coated, tri-color Collie from a kennel in NJ and named him Shaggy.

We had Shaggy for 13 years, which is a good run for collie. When Shaggy passed we started looking around for our next dog and ended up at "Meet the Breeds", an annual event sponsored by the American Kennel Club in New York city. There we discovered Bernese Mountain dogs, find a breeder and purchased a 2 year-old dog and named her Indiana (after the dog in Indiana Jones).

Indiana was a timid dog and probably only barked 4 or 5 times in her life. As a companion to Indie we purchased a Pomeranian and named him Kirby. Indie was 95 lbs and Kirby was about 7 lbs, but they got along.

Indie only lived to 8 years and died of cancer. She was a good dog.

Expanding the Pack: Adopting Suki and Athena

I now had only one dog, Kirby, the Pomeranian. I worked hard to make him "my dog", I would take him on 5 mile jogs (yes, Pomeranians can run), but Kirby was never "my" dog, so my daughter and I went on the hunt for a new dog.

We found a good candidate at a "rescue" in Connecticut, but when we got there the dog had already been adopted. We looked at the other dogs and none felt like the "right dog" until they brought out a 16 week puppy named Phoebe. We took Phoebe home and rechristened her to "Suki", which is Japanese for "beloved" (and also stands for Super Ultimate Kanine Inspiration).

Suki loved running! She also loved killing chipmunks and any other small mammal that strayed in our path. Part of my running routine become keep Suki on a "short leash" to minimize her carnage on the local chipmunk population (the chipmunks appear to be doing fine).

Figuring that I had two hands so a second dog could go running with me, we started looking for another dog as a companion to Suki and we found Athena. Size and color-wise the dogs look very much alike, but personalities are completely different. Where Suki is a predator and not overly affectionate, Athena is more like "Courage the Cowardly Dog" and loves being with people. Athena can run, and even better, she can swim.

All the dogs swim (Kirby is not a big fan so we got him a floaty), but Athena is a powerhouse in the water.

The Pandemic Effect and Noelle’s Arrival

The COVID-19 pandemic blindsided us all, with everyone one stuck in the house for the duration. Even taking the dogs for a walk was cautioned (I live in NJ) but I did it anyway, the dogs need outdoor time.

By mid 2020 we realized we missed Indie and started looking for a replacement. We found one from a breeder in New Mexico. The dog arrived on December 20th and we named her Noelle in honor the Christmas season.

A Bernese Mountain dog puppy is an adorable thing, but they don't stay cute little puppies for long! Noelle grew at a frenetic pace and soon was the biggest dog in the house (not too difficult, Kirby is only 8lbs, Suki is 30 lbs and Athena is about 40 lbs). But she kept growing. When asked "how big is she?" when I was walking her I'd say "93 lbs", and to the follow up question "how big will she get?" I would reply "85 lbs", Noelle was a big girl.

Now there were four dogs in the house, it was getting crowded and walking them became a logistical issue. I found the comfortable number of dogs to walk is 2, the maximum is 3, so Kirby didn't go on a lot of walks (not that he enjoyed them).

And that's how we got to having four dogs. Next, how we got up to 6 dogs!