Mazz

I used to get chewing gum in my hair when I was a kid. My mom used creamy peanut butter. Just take a glob of the stuff, and start to work it in. The oil from the peanut butter sort of dilutes the gum. Should work.

Wow Sarah, you have a lot on your plate. I'm new here as well, also live in Iowa. It's a good thing you are doing research on Huskies. There are a couple red flags that went up, however, in reading your post. Huskies can be an issue with cats. Not all Huskies, but some will have their prey instinct triggered, and the cat usually loses. You need to be aware of that before bringing a Husky into a home with a cat. Geckos? Not sure how those will do with a Husky. Best to keep them so far apart that the Husky knows nothing about them.

I think you'll find, as you continue to do research on Huskies, that they are highly intelligent, easily bored, have selective hearing when it comes to commands, will dig, dig, and then dig some more. Huskies are escape artists. They can easily jump a 4-5 foot fence, easily dig under just about any fence, and can climb a 6 foot chain link fence, all in the pursuit of freedom. They can be destructive. Our last Husky totally destroyed a recliner, pulled up newly laid carpet, and bored a foot wide hole through the dry wall just to see what was inside the wall I suppose. Our current Husky is nothing like that. . . .yet!

Above all, Huskies are such a beautiful breed, they try your patience, they challenge your authority, they completely ignore you when you want their attention the most, but that's what makes them Huskies. Keep doing your research, check out some other Web sites. Husky Rescue Web sites are good for information. Also, if you find a reputable breeder, they most often would welcome a call if you have any questions or concerns. You've got time on your side.

Sounds a lot like the "Native American Indian Dog" story. There seems to be several factions of those as well, with a split in organization and some political issues. It's too bad that man has to mess up what Mother Nature has been fairly successful with.

My peeps is hurtin' after that one. Can you stretch it out a bit?

Aladdin - At 11 weeks, any dog is going to have issues with holding all day. I think a crate is too confining for all day. We have a kennel in the basement that is five feet wide by about ten feet long with a top. When we have to both be gone, Zoya goes to the kennel. We have a pee pad, and she will use that if she needs to. But at nine months, she hardly ever uses it any more. When she was younger, she did go on the pee pad, both #1 and #2.

Do you have a schedule for taking Abu out? In otherwords, do you take him out around the same times and with the same frequency? When you arrive home, and find potty, don't scold him. He won't know what he's being scolded for. When you do take him out, and he does his business, praise him and reward him. It won't happen overnight, and it requires both consistency and repeated enforcement. Evenutally, the concept of going outside will click.

We picked up Zoya at nine weeks of age. The breeder had been using her name for about four weeks before we picked her up. It was probably about four weeks after we brought her home, before she started to respond to her name. So at 11 weeks, I would not get too worried. Just keep using Abu's name, followed by the command. If you use the command by itself, or the command followed by "Abu", it's going to take him longer to figure out if his name is "Sit", "Stay", or "Abu". Find a small size treat that Abu likes, and use those to hold his attention and to reward him. We found that rewarding with a small treat was an effective means to train Zoya. My wife was able to train Zoya to sit, stay, and "gimme da paw" (shake), using small treats for rewards.

Keep in mind, Huskies are extremely intelligent, but also have a very short attention span. They will often go onto some other agenda, leaving you wondering what's going on here. So you just have to be patient and be consistent. Don't let it get under your skin, and show Abu lots of love and attention. Don't try to do training sessions for extended periods either. He's going to quickly become bored. You may want to sign up for an obedience class. We did that with Zoya and it helped more than you can imagine. My wife took her to the classes. Zoya was able to socialize with other dogs, and the instructor was able to show my wife, how to work with Zoya.

Our first Husky, Elke, was a nightmare to train. We could not let her alone by herself, until she was almost four years old. Not even at night when we slept. She would not come when called, would not allow us to trim her nails, brush her, and did not want to eat half the time. We worked with her extensively, but it just took her years before she responded. We think perhaps she was aloof.

Our current Husky, Zoya, at nine months, can be left in the house if I need to go up to check the mail, or if I take a shower. She sleeps in our bedroom, without being in a crate, but that is a recent development. She was kept in a crate at night until she was eight months old. She comes when we call her, stays when we feed her until we say "Zoya - OK".

You just have to work with Abu every day, several times a day. How long are you out when you have him kept in the basement? If it's an entire day, he's probably getting bored. Make sure to take him out for walks. You may have to get up earlier in the day, and take him out for a walk in the morning, then again in the evening. Getting him exercised is key to being able to train him effectively. He's still a puppy, and as a puppy, he's wanting to explore, be entertained, and push the envelope as much as he can. - Dave

If you are really concerned, you might try steaming some rice and mixing that with some steamed ground beef and some chicken broth.

Hi Aladdin - Abu looks great! Exercise Abu, take him for walks, tire him out. I too live in Iowa, near the Quad Cities. Our Husky, Zoya is 9 months old now. She is fairly well trained at this point. She now sits before eating and won't go for her food until we say "OK". She lets us know when she needs to go out, and we still praise her every time. She sits on command, lays down on command, and comes on command. We still cannot let her off leash though, unless it's in the fenced area of our property. The key is to be consistent, don't get short or angered, because Huskies can be stubborn. We found that ignoring Zoya when she did not want to comply, worked well to get her come to our way of doing things. We never did the "pinning" thing with her. That does not always work with Huskies. Keep working with Abu, short periods of traning are better than elongated periods. He's still young and it will take time, but the bond between the two of you will develop and become strong.

Awesome Husky! Bi-eyes (two different colors) are common. Our last Husky had bi-eyes. Fairly common and it's not a problem. New here myself. Looking forward to more pictures.

Can i just point out that i wasn't actually referring to myself lol lol !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then to whom did your husband make the suggestion?

Seems a bit odd with a dot info site.

Both our breeder, our breeder's vet, and our vet say to make the switch from puppy food to adult food between the 12th and 13th month of age. Siberian Huskies do not reach full development until sometime between 12 and 18 months.

As for yours Mazz good luck with leaving yours out of cage loads do this as well mine never knew anything but there cages till about 12 months ago we thought sod it there very well behaved and never do anything wrong lets try um left out there cages great idea NOTTTTTTTTTT they was fine when we was in bed out and about for a good 6 months then one day they went mad and ripped the crap outta the stairs, now we not just talking carpet ripped to shreds NOOO the didnt stop there they chewed thou the whole staircase and the banister as well GUESS where they live now when where in bed or out lol

BTW my huskys are 4 and 2 and never did anything like this before it only takes once

Good luck on that leaving them out lark but not for me no more it cost to much.

Our last Husky could never be left out at night. We did that once and she tore up a recliner and pulled the carpet up (that had just be laid two weeks prior) in the living room. Zoya has a different personality than Elke (our last Husky). She does not have full rein of the house at night, just the bedroom. The key may be that we exercise her, walk her, and run her every day. When she comes in at the end of the day, she is literally pooped.

Hey thanks.

Heres a photo of Elke (red & white) from a few years ago. And one of Zoya (black & white) a few months ago.

I would not feel comfortable letting our Husky sleep outside, while we slept inside. Our Zoya is a few weeks from 9 months old. She no longer sleeps in a crate, but has free roam of the bedroom and bath. She normally sleeps on the ceramic tile floor in the bath. When she needs to go out, she wakes me up, which is usually around 6:00. Letting a dog sleep outside at night, especially a Husky, you'll run the risk of the Husky getting out and running, someone stealing your dog, or another dog coming along and who knows what would happen then. Unless you have a fenced in yard, that you know your Husky cannot escape from, only then would I consider it.

Stumbled on this site last night. My wife and I have owned Huskies for a long time. Not that many of them, we are on our second one at this time. Our first, Elke, was a beautiful red and white bi-eyed, and lived to be almost 15. She passed last June. We bought Zoya, a black and white ice blue eyed, from a breeder in Northern Wisconsin this past fall.

We both love the breed, and learned so much from Elke, that when we got Zoya, it was like a walk in the park. Looking forward to continuing to learn and to share.