Have you ever wondered if a dog can have more than one owner? It can be a confusing topic to consider. Let’s explore the truth behind this question.
Can a dog have multiple owners?
The answer depends on the personality of the dog, whether they are a one-person dog, the alpha male or female consideration of the family, the personality of the owner, and the extent to which the dog’s needs can be met through multiple owners.
While having multiple owners for a dog can provide benefits, it can also lead to potential problems. It’s important to be aware of these potential issues in order to avoid unexpected situations.
Can a dog have multiple owners/masters?
Since this depends on a few different factors, there is no definite answer for this.
Here are the considerations we wanna look for.
1. Multiple owners from the same family.
If you mean by “master” or “owner” by two or multiple different family members, the answer is more inclined to be “YES.”
Because every one of you lives in the same household, sharing happiness and sorrow equally.
So, as long as everyone in the household treats the dog equally, it means giving exercises, feeding, spending quality time with the dog, giving them nice walks, bathing, playing, cuddling, and being more likely to treat the dog, everyone, without any distinction.
2. One person dogs are usually bond with a particular person.
Although many breeds can have more than one owner, certain breeds are meant to bond with a chosen person in a family.
One reason may be that these dogs are one-person dogs. Of course. Everything depends on the dog’s personality, but the personalities of these breeds are more inclined to welcome only one family member as their owner.
For example, if we consider Labrador Retriever, they like to spend time with the whole family, paying attention, loving, embracing and sharing everything they could possibly give.
With regards to a breed like a Chew Chew, Shih Tzus tend to make a thriving bond with one person.
3. Influenced by table scraps.
A dog might be vigorously attached to one person and intends to choose him/her as its owner.
When taking into account a one-person dog, even this canine may find the father of the family as its owner while exhibiting some level of interest to younger ones in the household because it gets some awesome table scraps from them, and it makes them excited.
4. Considering Alpha male and Alpha female.
It’s no secret canines are pack animals. As alpha males and alpha females, they’ve had two Alpha animals insides the pack while having more power and respect toward the Male one.
So, that hereditary predisposition might still have in your dog, means it tends to choose one male in the household as its owner/master while picking a female as its Alpha female.
When we glance at the situation from that perspective, most dogs can have multiple owners.
5. Multiple owners from different families.
Frankly, it’s less likely to happen in a situation where a dog shares between two households or a dog has two owners from two different houses.
Of course, a dog may show some level of interest or be entirely enthusiastic when he sees his favorite person from a different family.
But, that doesn’t indicate where the second person also accepted the dog as one of the owners.
Because the level of attention, caring, or even commands that they used to communicate with the dog might be different when we taking into account living a dog between two different households or when a dog has two different owners from various houses.
Here is why does your dog love your neighbor.
What are the benefits if a dog has more than one owner?
Well, having multiple owners for a dog has a handful of benefits for both dogs and owners.
But, the fact is some of them might not be relevant to you, because as we discussed above, the facts depend on many factors.
Here are some of the noticeable advantages.
1. Sharing of responsibilities
If a dog has multiple owners, or at least the dog intimates to multiple householders, one member does not have to take on all the responsibilities of a dog, feeding, exercising, bathing, grooming, and other needs and wants.
In fact, you cannot look after your dog during the day when you are at work. So, that’s why sharing responsibilities are much more important.
2. A great time saver
People can save a good chunk of time without wholly dedicating several hours regularly just only for the dog.
If you give 2 daily walking sessions, feeding 3 times a day, potty breaks, playing times for the dog, the time you have to set aside will be a minimum of two hours.
Spending 2-3 hours out of 24 hours, I mean from 18 hours (if you sleep 6 hours) just for the dog, will be at your wits’ end.
3. A good answer to busyness
It’s a hard fact that we should all agree on is people have to be busy at some point in their lives. Or you can be a person who would love to own a dog.
But you get that reluctant to do so due to the busy lifestyle you lead. If everyone in the household can take care of the dog by establishing an excellent thriving bond with the dog, it will be a breeze for you!
4. Control over multiple people
This is the danger of having a one-person dog with a somewhat aggressive personality. So, If the dog bond with several owners, it is fairly simple to control the dog in any unexpected situation.
5. Nice together times
If the dog has bonded with multiple owners, they can have nice together times as family in the backyard on a nice eve by playing games and hanging out around.
6. Cost efficient.
When a dog has more than one owner, someone takes care of the dog when others are away from home.
That means no need to hire dog walkers, spend money on doggy daycares, pet sitters, and so on.
What are the drawbacks if a dog has more than one master?
We can identify a few disadvantages of having two owners for a dog. Of course, there are ways to match the mismatches.
So, here they are,
1. Possible confusions
A dog controlled by multiple owners is much more likely to get confused by mismatching commands and training methods.
For example, if you wanna the dog to lay on the floor, you might be using “Down.” If another member use “Sleep,” the dog will be confused.
In fact, even though two of the family members know the exact same training procedure, the approaches both of them take might be slightly different when it comes to training sessions.
It seems to be similar to humans, or at least for these mentioned two family members, but not for the dog.
2. Difficulty to form a bond
If the canine is a one-person dog, it will be challenging to form a strong bond between the dog and multiple owners.
So, the other family members will find it difficult to meet the dog’s needs and wants when the owner is away from home.
3. Not everyone knows about the preference of the dog.
Of course, everyone has their own likes and dislikes. These preferences may be varied on a handful of different factors.
So, if you are the person who spends the most time with the dog, you’re well aware of these likes and dislikes, and other householders are not.
If the dog doesn’t like a specific type of food, you can inform other family members or owners about that. But, as both of us know, certain things are not explainable to others that you have gained by spending time with the loving pooch.
For example, identifying dog expressions and doing the necessary things is something you can improve, but not obtainable. But, it can be acquired over time. I think you got what I mean.
4. When the owners are from two nearby houses
Although this is least likely to happen, say, a dog gets used to staying in your house. One of the nearby houses, and these people are so kind and generous, but still, have a hard time afford to adopt a dog.
Here, the dog is most likely to get confused by where to sleep, where to eat, and other related issues.
In fact, when one house spending the most amount of money on the dog, controversial situations can arise over time.
If you start to think about that, I’d say that is precisely like a rollercoaster, like it never gonna stop.
But, don’t regret it. Lemme tell you something. a good friend of mine named Thejan who owns a Doberman like me is allowed his dog to live among 4 different houses. Actually, all of them are relatives.
This dog is used to eating and sleeping wherever she is currently staying, and she is moving around all 4 houses all over the day. So, she has probably dozens of owners.
By the way, here is what to do if a stray dog doesn’t leave your house.
How to train your dog to attach more than one owner?
When we are brainstorming through all of these pros and cons, we can conclude that having multiple owners for a dog is much more beneficial as long as we minimize the possible drawbacks.
If you wanna make the dog bond with more than one person or with other householders, I’d rather like to suggest the following because I’ve personally experienced them top properly socialize my dogs with the family and other people.
So, consider the following.
- The first thing, to let others feed the dog. Occasionally hand-feeding is recommended.
- Encourage others to exercises with the dog.
- Work on a schedule and encourage others to do so.
- Encourage others to play with the dog.
- Tell others to bathe, groom, brush the dog.
- Let others know how to cuddle a dog correctly and tell them to sit side by side and spend some quality time with the dog.
- Educate others about the likes and dislikes of the dog.
- They should be playful with the dogs.
- They should teach the dog new tricks. Praising compared with positive reinforcement is much more critical in order to thrive a good bond with the dog.
- Communicate clearly with the dog. Everyone should use the same commands to avoid confusion and misconception.
- Everyone in the household should be well aware of to understand the language of your dog.
Things to be aware of.
I guess now you have a will junk of good knowledge regarding the topic.
Understanding whether a dog can have more than one owner/master with proper awareness about all the pros and cons is much more crucial.
However, there are a few other certain things you need to be aware of as a responsible owner.
So, here they are.
- It’s better to be aware of the dog’s responsibilities so you won’t MS any essential things. What I mean by that is say you gonna late today and you are the one who usually is taking the dog out for walking in the evening. So, another householder should do a walk without a second thought. Where is how a family lives in peace and harmony by helping each other and scaring the dog?
- Educating others regarding the dog’s diet and other exercises requirements can lower numerous unexpected problems.
- Never ever skip regular veterinary checkup. If you are the one who is well aware of the dog, you should take the dog to the vet.
- Don’t hesitate to tell others every fact regarding the dog. While it may seem simple and obvious, you still need to let others know.
- If the dog is used to beg table scraps from your kids, do not let that happen anymore. Because most human foods are poisonous to dogs.
Conclusion
Many people are curious to know if a dog can have more than one owner. Well, In this article we’ve discussed whether this is true or not with possible benefits and drawbacks. I hope you found this article helpful. Have a nice day.