10 Chihuahuas?! How to Handle a Multi-Dog Household

At All Things Chihuahua, we thought our household was busy when we had four chihuahuas. We recently met user commienavyswomom on Reddit who has a startling ten chihuahuas. More importantly, they have ten chihuahuas who are very well cared for.

These animals not only receive proper nutrition, veterinary care and grooming, but also many enrichment activities. These lucky chis get more experiences than many single dogs do. We asked for permission to do an interview with them, to help other chi owners who are looking to up-size understand what to expect. Below is our interview. All pictures are copyright commienavyswomom.

We all know chihuahuas are like potato chips (you can’t have just one) but how did you end up with 10?

They are like potato chips — we actually got three wicked close in timeframe and call them the Pringles 🤣.

As for how we ended up with ten: We adopted the tiniest of chi-mixes back in 2013. Her owners were struggling and they were friends with a mutual group of folks and that group of folks thought we would be great fosters. She was a fail and we kept her.

We lost her unexpectedly in 2021 and we were truly broken.

She was special needs. When we picked her up, our vet told us she wouldn’t live past two. She had liver shunts that weren’t operable and her trachea showed weakness early on….but against all odds, she made it to 8. We came home from a hike and her trachea collapsed. We said goodbye to her in a beautiful autumn morning at our home.

Immediately, I wanted to add to the family. My husband, who never lost an animal, was completely unsure — but I insisted and told him that none would ever replace her. I just knew we had the love to give.

But I was traumatized. I wanted a Chihuahua but I was petrified that they wouldn’t be healthy. It was irrational, but at the time, it seemed appropriate to look for a reputable breeder that did genetic testing for their dogs. Enter our now friend, Jess.

After finding her, vetting her, reading her health guarantees and testing her dogs for hips/knees and heart — we had a three hour conversation via zoom (she’s in SC).

After a ton of talking, we picked out a black Merle girl and named her Lumi.

Two days before she was to fly out with a nanny — I had a panic attack. How could we bring a baby into the house with two older dogs? We CLEARLY needed a second for Lumi to bond with so we were back on the phone with Jess to pick another pup…a boy that we named Moose.

Moose’s full brother and pack mate was also a serious consideration because he reminded me so much of Wren (the girl we lost). For ten weeks after bringing Moose and Lumi home, we watched him sit at Jess’s (he was a “plain brown” dog) — so I convinced Adam (spouse) to bring home him too. He is named Koda and so the creation of our group known as the “Pringles”.

A little over a year later (we talk to Jess almost daily), we decided we wanted another boy. We asked Jess for opinions and the one boy she sent reminded me of a little reindeer. At the time, Adam was finishing his course to become a pastry chef, so I looked up the French word (French pastry was his specialty) for reindeer and it is Renne (pronounced the same as Wren, the girl we lost). After a ton of crying, we brought her namesake home…and he’s a little (now big) gem.

Less than six months later, Jess’s daughter asked if we take in two breeding program “failures”. Dizi, our littlest girl, developed an underbite around 9 months old and they don’t breed any dog that doesn’t fit into the breed standard. Giovanni Tortellini (our smallest boy) was just too small to breed and he was bullied in the larger dog household. They were bonded, so we said yes.

Less than two months later, Adam and I decided that we wanted to round out the pack from 8 up to 10. As luck would have it, Jess wrote a few days later (we joke and say she heard us) and simply said “we are thinking of retiring Kaiya (Lumi’s mom).” Before she finished, I said “YES!” because we always talked about Kaiya.

Kaiya was bonded to another retired mom (Jess only breeds the girls two times or less over the course of their life and then she retires them to homes that have placed puppies), Khaleesi, so we said yes to both and the cartel was complete.

We had Kaiya a year when she developed seizures. She is a wonderful spirit and we love her so much as she learns to live this new life (they are currently under control with medication).

What does a normal day look like for you?

A normal day for us starts before sunrise (usually around 3am in summer and then later as the days shorten to around 4:45-5am). We get them all up, get them out and get the ones who are scheduled for a hike dressed. We give Kaiya her meds and then off we go into the woods for our daily walk.

The young babies (Gio, Dizi, Renne) average about 3-5 miles every other day and then the Pringles (Lumi, Koda, Moose) average 2-3 miles every other day and then the elders (Cleo, Finch, Kaiya and Khaleesi) get about 2 miles.

After the hike, we get home and do enrichment training for everyone on our property. Some days that is a refresh in basic training (sit, down, come, stay, wait, leave it, follow, etc)…some days it is scent training and some days it is using the property as a snuffle mat to work their smell and brain. On other days, it is leash work (general walking, heeling, etc).

We then head inside and get breakfast for everyone and then we let them relax while we do clean up around the house (we vacuum daily, mop, dishes of course, etc). We then take them back out and work on property stuff while they sniff and play (gardens, downed trees, mowing, etc).

The rest of the day is fairly loose. We make sure the house is clean, make sure the yard is tidied, make sure they get their afternoon meal and then we do another short training session. This training session is usually one-on-one and we focus on each of their strong points. Cleo, Lumi, Koda, Renne and Dizi are usually trick training and the others are obedience.

We retire to our den around 6:30 and the rest of the evening, we just take time to be with them. We cuddle them, love in them, etc until their bedtime (8:30pm) and then start the day over again.

How do you handle vet bills?

Vet bills — this is always a question. I’m going to preface this with “knock on wood”; but currently, all of them are relatively healthy. Cleo is starting senior screening her in a few days (we think she is getting dementia), Finch has Cushings, Kaiya has seizures. The rest just get their annual exams, vaccines/shots, flea/tick treatments, dental and we do that in a large chunk during taxes (it’s a great way to not be overtaxed financially). So, all in all, especially for rural vets — our costs aren’t that much (all their annuals and dental come to about $2000)

Do the dogs ever have conflicts?

Not really. Since we operate as a pack, they are very well behaved with each other in general. I would say that Renne and Gio are the most likely to be crappy with each other; but it is so limited it’s not even a concern. When they decide to be slightly crappy to each other, we take them alone on a pack walk so they have to work together and that usually stops nastiness immediately.

Any multi-dog management strategies you’d care to share?

Our strategies are fairly simple. When we first bring a dog/pup home we allot the time they need to become adapted to our home. We go by the rule of 3 days (to realize they are in a new place), 3 weeks (to begin adjustment) and 3 months (to learn routine). During this time we do slow integration via gates and pens, pack walks, hand-feeding, etc so that everyone can “adapt” and learn where they fall in the hierarchy with each other. We also spend that time potty training, basic command training, etc.

We treat them as dogs — not dolls. They learn about potty, harnesses, leashes, bite inhibition, jumping, etc. We always say “if you wouldn’t want a big dog like a Dane to do it — then don’t let a chi do it either.” None of them have big dog syndrome because we’ve always taught them that they are dogs.

Are they all potty-trained? Any secrets?

Are they all potty trained…ABSOLUTELY. Potty training is #1 priority for as long as it takes for them to be potty trained. They were all easy. Tips: if they can’t be watched/monitored, they are in a pen near the door with a piddle pad. Once they stop eliminating so much as little pups, the piddle pad gets removed from the pen. If they can be watched/monitored like a hawk, we keep them on leash and near us during the process. This allows us to see anything before it happens and it builds a bond between dog/human as well as teach them about leash. Kaiya periodically has a diaper on because of her seizures, but that isn’t a lack of potty training but a lack of control during a seizure.

How do you manage a hike with 10 dogs? What do you do if there’s an oncoming loose dog?

When we hike with all ten, we split them even by speed. While loose dogs can always be a threat, our area is remote so hiking early we often see either the same dogs or we see no one. We hold military training (me with dogs) and there are tactics for soft control (ie not hurting the dog but controlling it away from ours). We always have a plan — who will take the dogs, who will take the rogue dog, etc. We’ve had it happen once and as the dog ran at me, I put out my foot and it ran right into it and then ran away. Most dogs don’t want a full fight. It also helps that our dogs are small and we can easily pick them up.

How does feeding time work?

Mealtime is really easy. Each of them have a “place” and they know that spot is where their bowl gets placed. We start with the eldest and work our way down until all bowls are on the ground. They know that their bowl is theirs and no one else is allowed near the others’ bowls. When they finish, they are taught to get up on the couch and leave bowls alone. When everyone is done, bowls are picked up and meal is over.

I know a lot of folks say “wow, ten dogs!”; but the reality is that we are boring, have a schedule and spend as much quality time with them as possible…so the biggest excitement we get is a singing fest (when asked…they also know silent).

Similar Posts:

• Why Senior Dogs Are The Best Dogs
• Ultimate Guide to Potty Training Your Chihuahua
• Free Chihuahua Potty Training Schedule
• How Much Exercise does a Chihuahua need?
• Introduction to Chihuahua Potty Training