Need Advice With A Husky

[Led-zep]

Hi,

I've had this discussion previously though now we are about a month from deciding on what we are going to do. My partner and I want to adopt a husky pup- we have done extensive, extensive research - reading online, watching countless videos and YouTube about the breed etc

I'll be looking to adopt in December but I just want to make sure our lifestyle will suit and help us the pup in a good environment. In December I'll have 3.5 weeks off annual leave, so I can spend a lot of time when we get him which will take him from 8 weeks old to almost 12 weeks.

My partner works approx 10 mins from our home, though I work about 1 hour away so will be away all day. My major concerns are once I return to work how he will be on his own

I do have my mum who can look after him around lunch time for a couple of hours and my partner gets home at 5pm and there are times I can get back home between 5-7pm

I've looked into a puppy day care though I'm not sure if he would be old enough to be left there after lunch?

We both have time to walk him before and after work, I have an area in the house (laundry and living room) where he can hang out all day and we have a park literally outside our house.

What are everyone's thoughts? Are our circumstances ok to adopt - not sure how people who work full time have puppies but we want to try.

[Starkehre]

Congratulations on making your decision, that is often the hardest part :)

Have you found your breeder and they will have a puppy available for you in December?

Regarding your concerns about leaving the puppy alone, you should not have any issues.

The 3.5 weeks you have off are to be used in several ways -

1. safe socialisation every day. This involves taking your puppy out to smell, see, hear and experience novel environments/situations/people/dogs. So you pop the puppy into the car and off you go each day. This entire trip will only take an hour or so including travel.

2. Quality time inside and outside your home training your puppy and playing with your puppy. These should be 2-3 times a day each but for only 2-3 minutes.

3. If you look at how much time you are actually spending with the puppy during the awake hours of each day, it is a small portion compared to the rest of the time.

This remaining time is super important. You need to be teaching your puppy to be comfortable and confident in its own company, not with you all the time.

The first couple of days when puppy comes home, this is what I would be working on the most. The amount of quality time and training you put into this will set your puppy up for life.

Much of this requires pre planning setting up your home (inside and out) to ensure that you are setting puppy up to win, not fail. Speak to your neighbours, take them a bottle of wine and some ear plugs and apologise in advance that your puppy may disturb them for the first week while it is settling in. This way when your puppy cries outside during the day or inside in its crate, you won't be worried about the neighbours and tempted to give in to your puppy. Also your puppy is less likely to carry on if it is habituated to being alone from the very beginning. Buy a lot of quality interactive toys and ensure all is ready to go.

Spend time pretending you are going out and spy on your puppy. Practise going out for short period and parking up the road and retuning. Make no fuss when you leave and return.

Use these weeks to get your puppy ready to be alone and you will be perfectly fine.

Puppies can and do cope alone. However the likelihood of success is 100% up to you and your family to ensure he does not become overly needy in the first few days. Puppies need a lot of sleep, sometimes forced rest, use these times to initiate the alone times.

Train, leave alone, play, leave alone, socialise, leave alone...rinse and repeat.

all the very best :)

Edited August 26, 2016 by Starkehre

[Flashsmum]

We took on a 9 week old great dane whilst both working full-time. We spent a long weekend with her, and then she was on her own. We were able to come home for nearly an hour during the middle of the day to let her run around and play.

She was generally pretty good, although had to be kept occupied with chew toys etc. The neighbours told us she spent the mornings snoozing, and the afternoons playing and wandering around more. She did the normal things like playing with the clothes on the clothes line, digging in the garden and rearranging flower beds, but if we had lots of things for her to do, she was better.

I think as long as your Mum can come and visit, it should work, but every dog is different. Flash was a confident girl with no separation issues, so that was good for us. We also lived in a country town, so everyone knew the big black dog, so there was no fear of her being taken as everyone looked out for each other, so we were able to let her out in the yard, with access to the house.

Good luck. I t can work well!

[Flashsmum]

We took on a 9 week old great dane whilst both working full-time. We spent a long weekend with her, and then she was on her own. We were able to come home for nearly an hour during the middle of the day to let her run around and play.

She was generally pretty good, although had to be kept occupied with chew toys etc. The neighbours told us she spent the mornings snoozing, and the afternoons playing and wandering around more. She did the normal things like playing with the clothes on the clothes line, digging in the garden and rearranging flower beds, but if we had lots of things for her to do, she was better.

I think as long as your Mum can come and visit, it should work, but every dog is different. Flash was a confident girl with no separation issues, so that was good for us. We also lived in a country town, so everyone knew the big black dog, so there was no fear of her being taken as everyone looked out for each other, so we were able to let her out in the yard, with access to the house.

Good luck. I t can work well!

ETA: Starkehre has great advice!

[Flashsmum]

Sorry for the double post

[Led-zep]

Thank you both for that. Builds our confidence that we can do it too!

Was very nervous about leaving him alone once we head to work but we can make it work.

Hoping to hear back from a breeder soon regarding December availability.

[persephone]

Hi :)

I think you will find the following discussion very helpful :)

CLICK HERE

I am a believer in "start as you mean to go on' ;)

My partner and I want to adopt a husky pup- we have done extensive, extensive research - reading online, watching countless videos and YouTube about the breed etc

And how many have you met/walked/played with /seen at shows, or at your chosen breeders ?

Edited August 26, 2016 by persephone

[karen15]

I work full time and got a puppy last year. I had long service leave available, so took 3 months off to play with my puppy :D I found him a friend a month before he was due to come home. The first four weeks revolved around him. I'd look after my horse in the morning (that takes 1.5 - 2 hrs). To start with the dogs came for the trip and after a couple of weeks they stayed home while I went out, at which time the dogs would be separated. He had his lunchtime nap for a few hours, which me and the other dog were both really pleased about as he was a little livewire!

In the fifth week I started painting. That was a wonderful ease in to not being with me and amusing ourselves. The bedrooms open to the back yard, so I could monitor as I worked. I was only doing a few hrs painting a day, so that plus the horse was about half a day without me. Moving to the front of the house put me out of eye sight, so I was more removed. I started riding again then too.

Final month was the practise for me going back to work. I'd go shopping, visit friends, go out riding etc etc.

By the time I went to work it was a non issue. There's been minor chewing and that's it. Obviously the dogs go out daily. I prefer to take them before work as that gets their need to check out the neighborhood out of the way. The neighbours have said they're fine, not noisy etc They also get bones to chew on and activity toys to get food out of. The pup prefers to chase a toy for his kibble than to eat it from his dish.

[Led-zep]

Thanks for all the feedback

Quick question - do you all leave your pups/dogs indoors or outside when you leave for work? I'm just a little concerned about destruction but then leaving him outside in a kennel seems a bit rough

[persephone]

start as you mean to go on (unless weather is very cold, or rainy, etc)

puppy pens can be used indoors - having free run of a room/the house is an earned privilege - not an automatic right ;)

if I was to get a well brought up husky pup - there would be a secure pen and shelter outdoors for their use when not with me indoors /outdoors .

[Kirislin]

would it be worth contacting the breed club or Husky rescue to ask what the main reason is for Huskies being surrendered?

[Led-zep]

I've done a lot of reading as to huskies being sent away back to rescues - we won't be doing that!

Just curious as to people's methods of keeping them occupied and out of trouble when your not home, I mean I can't be there 24/7 I doubt anyone can

[Kirislin]

I dont know the reason people surrender them. I imagine the dogs were doing something the owners weren't expecting or prepared for.

[Papillon Kisses]

Just curious as to people's methods of keeping them occupied and out of trouble when your not home, I mean I can't be there 24/7 I doubt anyone can

Lots of environmental enrichment activities and interactive toys. This goes for all dogs though. HERE are some suggestions. Dogs are meant to sleep during the day too.

Edited August 27, 2016 by Papillon Kisses

[Dogsfevr]

Sibes are great escape artists & hence often dumped at the pound as the homes just weren't right for them fence wise & time wise .

There not the breed for everyone ,the shed like crazy,escape,howl & can be terrible offlead .You can't be there 24/7 but its important to access if your home is Sibe safe & then set up accordingly .

If your fully aware & ready to work with these aspects then your heading down the right path .

If you plan to be home for that time frame when the pup is there then it truly is important to set the pup up for success for when you go back to work.

As it will be summer you need to plan where the pup will stay & adapt the environment for summer because you do need to set it up for what your routine is for life .

It would be very wise to discuss with Sibe rescue many of the pitfalls that owners fail to think off .Keep in mind Sibes are more of a pack dog than others so there may be better ways to manage a one off Sibe household

[persephone]

leaving him outside in a kennel seems a bit rough

;) start thinking as a pup/dog ...

as long as there is adequate shelter ..a drink/some interesting and varied toys , something to watch , ie: clouds/birds and perhaps a chewy bone and a bed to wreck , whether it be in a marble castle, or on a patch of lawn doesn't matter .

in fact the patch of lawn is BETTER from a pup's p[oint of view..it contains scents/textures us humans can never appreciate !

[Led-zep]

Cheers all.

I will have him secured in a puppy pen if you will for the first few weeks and take him outside every day - we have a good size back yard with a huge alfresco area and lot of land. Our fences are high enough so I doubt he will escape for the time being :laugh:

Will work on a good routine and ensure that he is capable of being alone whilst we are away as well

Thanks for all the suggestions and feedback

[DogsAndTheMob]

I owned a Siberian Husky for 13 wonderful and fraught years. She was everything I wanted: very people-friendly and dog-friendly, albeit quite dominant, and fascinating to own - her behaviour and even her facial expressions were very different from my other dogs. An obedience judge asked me why I got a "feral" husky, but I found her generally easy to train and she did well in Novice obedience competition - I just had to find the right motivator. Despite this, I decided not to get another husky; her prey drive needed careful management and she totally lacked the instinct to stay with the pack that my border collies and german shepherds display. This meant that I rarely let her run free in the paddock and I couldn't take my eye off her when I did. I felt that this impacted on her quality of life - and so, no more huskies for me.

[juice]

If you are having a secure pen and then taking her outside what happens when she is too big for the pen and you go back to work?

I would aim to do now what you will do then, nothing wrong with being outside with lots to explore , rather than shut up in a house with lots to destroy.

[Roova]

Teaching pup to handle being alone and being alone outside was a huge focus with my last pup. It was an opportunity to train the things I'd learnt in this forum after doing it all wrong previously and Im so glad I did! The foundations you lay now, when the pup is young and a learning sponge mean everything when they're older and an outside pen can be a place of awesomeness for a pup :)

I used chicken wire and made a run which went down the side of our house then half way under our verandah. She was only small so it was plenty big enough for her and lots of enterainment (and learning) things. I had a small gate under the verandah made using Bunnings compost panels (best things ever) so was able to teach a sit and stay while the gate opened. Inside the pen was a tunnel with a tarp over the top, a kiddy pool with ankle deep water, a tub full of plastic balls which I would throw treats in, a tub full of sand for digging and on warm days I'd wet it and she'd dig and lie in in, a tub full of big dry crunchy leaves, a larger tub with a wooden ramp leading up to the top. Her crate was warm and cozy under cover and I had tug toys hanging off the clothes line.

From day one I started with five minutes alone time and each day increased it until she was alone for hours. I'd taken two weeks off work and although I wanted nothing more than to be squishing and hugging her it was the best opportunity for masses of simple training. I gave her a big meaty bone only in the enclosure (with no bits to bite off) to help keep her occupied. She had fun in there and even when home and the gate was open she would often run in there and bounce off the tunnel in the middle of a zoomie or have a mad dig in the sand before running off. You can definitely make it a good thing if you use your imagination. These are the only photos I can find and it was middle of summer so very dry.

Edited August 27, 2016 by Roova