One way to help a person self limit, is to take a cue from the tribe of 99.
(they lived on an island and self limited their human population number to 99 people - each with a different name, which must be one of the 99 allowed names).
When you have fixed the maximum number of dogs, then fix the names too. One woman told me she called her 7 show dogs: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday . . .
I look at her, she had to be kidding!
But no. She said she got too many dogs, and they became a mess. She had no time. The kids had to raise themselves, she was too busy with the dogs.
So she asked herself: How many dogs can I properly take care of?
She felt that she could bathe one dog each evening, so 7 was her limit. She called them: her Sunday dog, her Monday dog, etc. because that was the day they were scheduled for her to bathe and groom them, and that became their names.
If a dog died or was sold, then the replacement dog got the name of the dead dog, and his slot in her bathing schedule.
I wouldn't name dogs after the days of the week, but I could understand picking your 7 favorite dog names and re-using them.
If that makes no sense to you, then you have probably have not deal with having to supervise a pack of dogs running about a yard - where you have to call out a dog's name at split second notice to prevent a fight.
But above all else, remember what happened when an outsider ruined the culture of the Tribe of 99. Extra people, malnutrition, cultural collapse.
Never go over your dog limit.
