Each: Spending Special Time With Each Pet In A Multiple Pet Household

4/5/2014

Everyone: The Cascadian Nomads canines (Huxley, Brychwyn & Wilhelm,) feline (Amelia) and psittacine (Leo.)

Typist: Bethany
Everybody in our household likes to spend time as a group. However, when living with multiple pets, it is important to spend quality, focused time with each pet individually. I get comments from people all the time about how they think caring for their one dog or cat or bird would be easier if they had two or even more. Well, it's not. Yes, the pets will occasionally play together. Most pets appreciate friendships with other animals. But human companionship means more to our pets than anything and when there are other pets, the humans time is divided. Humans with multiple dogs, cats, birds, etc must schedule together time and then time with each pet separately. While I know that I should concentrate on spending time alone with each of my pets everyday, I will admit that I do not. Though when I do spend quality time alone with each pet, I know that they appreciate it and I can tell that our bond increases. On a very basic level, I am taking the time to get to know Wilhelm, Amelia, Huxley, Brychwyn and Leo as individuals outside of the group dynamic. And they get the same understanding of who I am. Everybody deserves the chance to let their unique personality shine through, human or otherwise. We each deserve special time of our own.

Wilhelm savors a chance to enjoy a sniff of the breeze or some sunbathing with no other pets around. His ideal alone time is just having someone quietly by his side as he sniffs and we both enjoy the world.

While Amelia does adore walks on her stroller, where she feels safe and secure, she and I both enjoy time outside while she is in her harness and on her leash.

A very wise dog trainer once told me about Huxley "he loves to move, Movement is his reward." Huxley's special time is all about moving- agility, fetch, running- anything fast and fun!

Brychwyn loves his massage time. He is the king of the world when just his SAMP and I are fawning over him. But he also makes his alone time with me about massage too. Brychwyn will lean in for rubs where his muscles are tight- usually his neck and chest- or just roll over for a tummy tickle whenever we spend time alone together.

Leo appreciates walks around the garden or through the neighborhood all by himself. When he gets this alone time, he does a lot more talking about what he sees and he cuddles up for some scratches during or immediately after a solo walk.

This may be my very favorite photograph ever of everyone. Each personality really shines through.

Please click on any of the photos above to learn more about the subject.

A to Z Challenge: Yesterday was D for Downward Facing Dog: Train Your Dog To Bow, tomorrow is Black & White Sunday and Monday is our First Monday Positive Pet Training Blog Hop with F for Flight Harness: Training Away Fear By Encouraging Choice.

Have you been following your favorite pet blogs as they post from A to Z?
The blogs bellow are posting the alphabet all month long so be sure to click around and check them out!

26 Comments

Molly The Wally link

4/4/2014 07:15:57 pm

We agree having multiple pets has it's own challenges. Making time for some one to one me time is something you have consciously make an effort to do. Love the thought of Leo going for walks with you. Have a super Saturday.
Best wishes Molly

Bethany

4/12/2014 04:43:50 pm

Thanks, Molly. I know the pets get a lot out of time together too but one-on-one bonding is indeed important... and tough to make time for. Leo especially loves his alone time with me. We get to do a lot more talking than when the other pets are around interrupting.

Reilly and Denny

4/4/2014 10:04:35 pm

We agree....it is only by spending 'special' time with each one that you truly get to know their personality.

Bethany

4/12/2014 04:46:34 pm

Yes! And sadly, the more pets in the house, the longer it has taken me to get to know the newest. Poor "baby" Huxley is two and a half and I feel like we are only just now beginning to really get to know one another and connect. The funny thing is that I can tell the other pets are just beginning to understand him as well. I think it helps that he is almost done being a teenager...

JC link

4/5/2014 03:03:59 am

Jodie Belle says WOOF to her brother.

Bethany

4/12/2014 04:47:24 pm

So glad you stopped by to see what Huxley's up to!

Meghan aka FireBonnet link

4/5/2014 03:11:16 am

That last photo is simply splendid! What a wonderful fur (and feather) family!

Bethany

4/12/2014 04:48:54 pm

Thank you so much Meghan! I often pass over photos where all the pets aren't looking at or at least towards the camera but there is something about that one... :)

Sage link

4/5/2014 11:13:12 am

That bonding time is so important for each of our furry friends.

Bethany

4/12/2014 04:50:45 pm

You are so right Sage. It's nice of you to share time with those crazy cats!

Rebekah link

4/5/2014 11:27:09 am

This is something that I often think about. I try to make a point to spend one on one time with each dog several times per week, and have been trying to explain to my OH why it is important. I just emailed him the link to this post.

Bethany

4/12/2014 04:52:47 pm

Jason and I do a nice job of helping each other remember one-on-one time with each pet. Even if it is just a car ride with him or going to work for an hour with me. The team work does make a difference with so many pets to bind with and so few hours in the day.

Rebecca link

4/5/2014 10:51:08 pm

As of now we are a one dog home and I've often wondered about adding an additional dog into the mix. This gives me some great insight into spending quality time with them. And I do like the last photo really well. It truly does show personalities!!

Bethany

4/12/2014 04:55:22 pm

A friend of mine who fluctuates between sharing her life with three to four (show) dogs always cautions others about the insanity of time division as you add to the pack. And one-on-one time is especially important when training for the ring!

Danielle L. Zecher link

4/6/2014 03:36:19 am

It is so important to spend one on one time with each pet in the family. They love each other, but they do seem to appreciate their special time too. I love how you do different things to spend alone time with each pet based on their personality.

Bethany

4/12/2014 04:56:19 pm

Thank you, Danielle. I certainly try. I wish I could do more but there just aren't enough hours in the day!

Erin @ The Five Dog Blog link

4/6/2014 01:52:18 pm

Individual attention is soo important when you have multiple pets - great post!!

Bethany

4/12/2014 04:57:37 pm

Too many people get a new pet as a companion for another pet and forget that each pet needs to bond with the humans of the family too! Thanks so much for your comment.

Wallace & Samuel link

4/6/2014 03:48:38 pm

What a wonderful post. Our sister cats live upstairs and we live downstairs so we all get to spend special time with our parents depending on where they are in the house.
Wally & Sammy

Bethany

4/12/2014 04:59:19 pm

We don't purposely divide up the house since everyone gets along, but the dogs can only come downstairs with permission so it has kind of always been the special cat place. It really is nice for each pet to have a special place to go with their one-on-one time too!

Taryn link

4/8/2014 06:32:19 am

This is a great post. With only two dogs, it's not too hard to accomplish one-on-one time. Any more than that and I can see where it would get tough. Add human kids to the mix and it would almost be impossible!

Bethany

4/12/2014 05:01:58 pm

I thought we did a very good job of one-on-one time when we had only two dogs (Wilhelm and Tynan) but Wilhelm still had a very hard time when Tynan died. All we can do is try our best to help them bond with us AND each other! And you are correct that with human kids... ACK!!! How do people do it?!?

Me, You and Zu link

4/8/2014 12:57:01 pm

ZuZu and I get our one on one time when we're out walking or running errands. My time with the cats comes during lazy times; they love to curl up with us when we watch tv or before bed when I do the crossword. Right now we've got a good groove...but we're talking about adopting another dog and how we'd incorporate a new dog to the mix.

By the way I LOVE Amelia's stroller and that she likes being in it. I would get my eyes scratched out if I even came near Chubbs or Roma with that!

Bethany

4/12/2014 05:04:31 pm

Oh, it would be SO easy to make all the one-on-one time be lazy, cuddle time. But I try, especially with Amelia, to do some playing and training. Sometimes the nice thing about adding even more pets is the humans get more exercise! :)

Amelia jumps into the stroller on her own! She is a very strange cat...

Kimberly Gauthier link

4/9/2014 10:25:04 am

And I thought WE had a lot of pets. Wow! I love your house :)

Bethany

4/12/2014 05:06:13 pm

Thank you, Kimberly. I learned most of my lessons in one-on-one bonding time with dogs from raising litter mates- and you have double the challenge!

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.

Cascadian Nomads
Pet Adventurers

Cascadian Nomads adventurous dogs and parrot with pet and travel blogger, Bethany Clochard.

Cascadian Nomads canines and psittacine on a road trip with blogger Bethany Clochard.

Pet travel blogger Bethany Clochard shares a lifetime of budget travel experience, camping, and enjoying outdoors & Pacific NW adventures with pets. She currently hits the road with three dogs, a cockatoo & a cat.

Follow on Instagram

Find anything on our site by searching here:

Click any sidebar image to learn more!

Cascadian Nomads only places ads for products we use, made by businesses we like. We highly recommend a click to
visit our sponsors:
(not affiliate links)