HalcyonDays

My little pup is turning four months this Sunday. I hope he doesn't start developing such habits. I actually was curious as to whether dogs did adapt or not. My friend has a German Shepard who is nearing the end of her life (sadly... she's 14 or so now, and beginning to fail, mentally and physically), but when she was younger, she spent most of her time in the apartment and rarely ever got any exercise. Even so, she was the sweetest, loveliest girl you could meet. If need be, would huskies be able to adapt to being couch potatoes without being destructive as long as they got some stimulation? Rawhide dental sticks sounds interesting. I'll check them out, but as he doesn't like chewing on the nylabone anyway, I don't know if it would work. So today, while I was out with him to a supermarket that wouldn't let him in, I asked a stranger, who stopped to chat and pet him, to hold him outside for just a second for me while I got my things. The stranger had to physically wrestle him away from me and out the door, when I handed him the leash. Again when I left home for just ten minutes to go to the pharmacy and left him with my family (who agreed to watch him). When I came back, the entire house was full of howls and barks. When I came through the door, my family told me he was roaming the entire time looking for me. In addition to jumping on me and following me around while I did some things, he now is lying on my foot while I'm on the computer as opposed to normally just lying beside me. While I'm glad he likes me so much ( I think; it might be because I'm his main source of security), I would like him to not have so much anxiety while I'm gone. I'm gone for about 5-6 hours 3-4 days a week because of school (I took off three weeks to take care of him).

He is already neutered. The breeders prefer that their dogs are on a "limited" basis, or what have you, but I don't mind either way as I was only going to have him as a companion, and this would eliminate any humping he wants to do later on anyway. The thing with me is that while I don't mind walking my dog for 2-3 hours at a time twice a day, I get fairly bored playing with him. I think it's because I have a cat personality. Ideally, and this may sound horribly selfish of me, I would want to walk him twice daily (eventually with the roller blades to _really_ tire him out, and only play once or twice for about 20m each time (for 40m), the rest of the time him just hanging out around me or watching TV next to me or something. I think I picked the wrong breed for this. Do you have any toys he recommands? He doesn't like the nylabones very much, but loves a frozen kong with wet dog food in it. His favorite toy is a long blue squeak dog and a tennis ball with a squeaker inside. I ony have about 5-6 toys for him right now. I really need to get more. He's dozing right now after I took him jogging through the local square we have here. He also has been pooping very regularly when I take him out. Three hours per out seems to be the magic number for him. He poops outside, but for some reason, he doesn't pee, and has had two accidents in the house since yesterday.

Thank you all so much for your advice thus far. Update on today: I took him on a 10-15m walk this morning after he ate, and again in the afternoon to a local "square' we have here that is mostly grass-- this trip took a good hour or so walking both ways unfortunately, but I gave him time to rest in between, and he ran around like a lunatic with me on the leash in the grass. Thus far, he has peed and pooped about three times today, all outside, so the potty training is going at the least. I just took him back in from our last out in which he pooped, but he piddled on the floor of the living room as we were playing. I guess he still doesn't associate it as part of his den either. I don't know why he didn't just pee outside too, but I digress. Al-- that's really clear advice, thank you. While I would love to take him out there, with his habit of eating things off the floor, I'm really nervous about it as something back there might kill him. It is a fairly large area, and I guess I could keep him on a leash. It would be like similar to us going outside and just standing around at places he's pooped before for about 10-20m minus all the stimulation with the streets. The only problem is that at night, it's almost pitch black, and because I can't see very well, would be very hard for me to supervise him at night. Jason-- I actually have him signed up for puppy classes at PetSmart coming up this Sunday for about six weeks! I'm really looking forward to it. I've noticed that Flint only likes to pee near or on grass. He won't do it near. I have two new questions now-- 1) I live in a home of about 5-6 adults and two children. The thing is that although they all have no problem with me having a dog, they want pretty much nothing to do with him. They won't get near him, pet him, and the children tend to scream their heads off when he just wants to say hello. This is both very stressful for me and Flint as I am the only person and only place in this house he knows. I've spoken to them about possibly thinking of it in his shoes, and doing it for his sake, but they won't budge. I haven't left his side since he first came home with me, and when I just went to take a 10m shower just now, he started barking and howling and roaming for me. How can I possibly make him more comfortable without the other family members, or is it impossible? My mother is the only one who would be slightly willing, but again, she is not going to pet him. 2) Because I can not drive due to my vision, I take public transit all the time. I made a post about a combination sled/carrier earlier, but got no luck with it. The only way I can see resolving this is either by registering him as a service dog (something I may be able to do, but will need to talk to my counselor), or train him to pull me on roller blades. How would I go about training him to be a service dog? If he were to pull me, at what age can he start doing this? How should I start getting him used to it? How long and how far can he pull a 160lb adult male? Here's a video of him playing today: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScfL12JHPKs It gives you a good idea of the small space he is forced into. I hadn't anticipated my family being this un-supportive. I feel terrible about it because he isn't getting the life he deserves despite me taking him out so often. Now that he's more puppy-ish, even today's combination of two hours of play and 3-4 hours of walking hasn't tired him out.

So the potty thing is coming along a little better. He didn't go at all last night (I fed him at 6:30 p.m., took him out for a walk every hour, until about 1am just standing in one spot for the last few trips as I was getting exhausted). He went this morning after waking up with a very loose stool and pee. I praised him tons, but he just sort of brushed it off and kept on truckin'. Something that I notice he's been doing a lot of is eating everything off the streets. We didn't have this problem until later in the evening yesterday. Now I have to stop at every obstacle, bush, corner, and anywhere else that might have something on the floor to pull it out of his mouth. If it were grass or something, I would ignore it, but it's things like small bones that people litter, cigarette butts, and even on some occasion, a few rocks. Is it because he's not getting enough to eat or something? I put a good amount of food in his bowl every time, but he only eats about half to a third of what's in there. It's currently Blue Buffalo, but his breeders had him on Purina Puppy Chow (Blue) before this. I'm trying some training with him, but he's not food motivated in the least if he has to work for it. When I hold up the treat for him to smell it and back one step away for him to come, he'll stare at me, then at the food, and then just go back to lying down.

You guys are right. I've only just met him, and I really shouldn't be getting this frustrated over this. Before he came to me, he's had no lead training whatsoever and was terrified of stairs. Now he walks fine on a leash (unless he sees something that is super duper interesting; he's only pulled me once over 10-15 walks), and now he goes up and down the stairs without being asked, albeit not that gracefully, so I am making progress, if anything. He also wouldn't play when I got him, but now he loves his toys, especially his blue doggy. He's been getting a little mouthy though, but I know he's not trying to hurt me as he'll let me shove my hand almost to his throat without any resistance. You all suggest for me to take him out every hour, but I have not seen any progress. He was able to pee and poop earlier today in the backyard while some of my sister's friends came over for a small barbecue. He was very playful, and even ran around the yard multiple times and acted very puppy-ish. Although something that concerns me is that now he goes straight to the tree in the backyard. Of course, this would be a good thing, but there are lots of building supplies around there from when my family renovated the place and have been too lazy to clean up. Cleaning up all the debris and materials would take multiple people to do and at least two full days. I've caught Flint chewing on some kind of paper from one of the buckets and had to reach very far back into his mouth to pull all of it out. I'm afraid to take him back there now as he only tries to find these things to chew on it now. It's also the same for the walks too; he's much more interested in finding things to chew on rather than using the bathroom. Because he is fairly good with holding it in (he held it in for about 8 hours the first day home and through two meals and multiple bowls of water), maybe once an hour is too much. He also sees my room as a den and doesn't seem to have an intent to pee or poop in here as he spends 90% of his time in here right now. It's a good and bad thing-- good because it's sort of like a crate, except larger, but bad because I have to keep the doors closed so he doesn't go to the rest of the house and potty there. Would it be feasible for me to just take him out at longer intervals, say, every 4 hours and have him do his business then, as opposed to every hour? I'm honestly getting exhausted walking 20m or so for 6-7 times a day, and I am sure he is too, even if he isn't showing it. Edit: A friend of mine suggested that instead of going for the walks that we do, that I should just take him out and hold him on the lead and stand somewhere and wait for him to do something then.

Back from the second walk, and apparently, the first poop earlier was a fluke. It was another 20-30m walk, and throughout that whole time, he tried to eat 6-7 things off the street, and successfully ate 3-4 of it before I could pull it out of his mouth. Some of them I noticed were leaves, but some of the worse ones were a chicken bone someone left on the street, and another I think was a rock. Both I was able to pull out at least. He hasn't exhibited this habit at all, so I don't know what's causing him to do this. Is he hungry? I feed him two bowls a day; once in the morning and again at night. Despite it being such a long walk, again, he has refused to pee outside and held it in until we got home. Within a second of me turning around to fill his water bowl with fresh water, he peed on the carpet. I lifted him up and he stopped peeing at least, but again, once outside, refused to do so again. How can I possibly fix this? The rest of the family suggests I just leave him outside until he gets used to peeing outside, but I think that's a very bad idea. Not only is he not comfortable in my home yet and refuses to go out, but it won't teach him what is and isn't acceptable inside the house, and we're back to square one. That brings up the question of comfort-- while he's outside, he's very relaxed and greets everybody. If I give somebody a treat, he'll sit down and wait for it patiently until he gets it, and is like a totally different dog. However, I notice he doesn't listen to much at all, especially when I'm trying to get his attention. At home, he's just lethargic, wants to be alone all the time, walks around my small room with his head down and shoulders sagging, and refuses to go outside for more than a few minutes before he's up against my door and begging to be let in. I notice while he's lying down, he whines and cries quite a bit. While I love this dog's personality when he's outside, I feel like I'm getting frustrated with the situation. I definitely don't think these dogs were for me.

Al, I live in a residential apartment building that has about 2-3 floors, each one devoted to a family. They're all the same; 3 bedrooms, 2 baths. We have a large backyard that is 95% pavement/cement, and a small little dash of dirt around a tree. Each floor is divided into two small sets of stairs, about 7-8 steps per stair. We're on the second floor, so he has to get through about 15 steps before we get to the ground. Right now, I'm just generally walking him to any area that has trees and grass around. As long as he doesn't pull me, I let him go wherever he wants to and make sure he doesn't eat anything off the street. I do pick up after him, but the diarrhea poop is a little harder to deal with though. There's no need to restrict his movement as he stays in here willingly and is afraid to go out. I have the door open right now, and even when I walk out, or lure him with treats to come out and explore, he won't. He was willing to go about the house yesterday after our failed walk, but still insisted on sitting by my door and waiting for me to open it. He's still snoozing from his walk (it's been about 40m since) and is just whining in his sleep. I'll try again with the stairs to get him to go down in a little bit, and we can hopefully go on the Subway to get to Prospect Park or something later today.

I'm so proud of him! Last night when I took him out and caught him peeing, it was being very adamant about it, but today when we woke up and he had his breakfast, he actually whined for me to get the leash, and within a block after we started walking, he pooped! Maybe he _is_ catching on! We walked for another 30m after that and just got back in. He's back to collapsing to sleep under my feet. He seems to really lay there a lot these past 12 hours.

Hi everybody, So the treats with stairs worked the very first time. I was extremely proud of him. But as we got more and more done, he easily got tired of it. I noticed that he really responded well to my praise, that motivated him a little further up. Eventually, he wouldn't move at all unless I physically put him in the middle of the staircase and have him go up or down. I don't know if I should be doing this, but what I noticed really helps him with going up the stairs is having me behind him, him almost between my legs, and my hands on his body somewhere. I don't know if that gives him a sense of security or not. Today was also our first day out in the public with other people in the city. We usually only go for walks that are fairly solitary. I honestly was completely surprised as to whose dog I was walking all that time! He was as hyper and good as any puppy his age, and would often greet strangers and let them pet him until he was on the floor on his back. He was especially, especially good with other dogs that were on leashes, never barking first or initiating anything bad. What I really loved was that at PetSmart, when one of the trainers I Was talking to about possibly ways to make him feel more at home was holding his leash and walking him as I was carrying too much, he actually made sure to look at to see where I was and that I was following him. I totally felt like maybe this dog doesn't hate me after all. With that said, he's listening to me more, and will actually come to me and hide when he's afraid of new people or what have you. My only issue now is when he's at home-- he goes straight into my room and refuses to go anywhere else in the house. There's no interest in exploring whatsoever. My second issue is the pottying. He has gone twice now-- one pee, one poop-- and has been very hard to work with. As I've mentioned, I take him out quite often, but he manages to hold it in until we get home and until he can find somewhere to do the deed. I caught him in the midst of peeing earlier, at the very beginning, and picked him up and carried him out. I think he was still peeing while I was carrying him. But when we got outside, he no longer wanted to go at all. I sat out there in the dark for about an hour with him, and he refusing to go. Other than these two concerns, I'm sure he'll get used to me and his new home within a week or two, but I've yet to know how to tackle those two issues of lethargy and potty training. I've signed him up for some puppy classes, so hopefully that will help things out a bit. Here is a video of of him right now playing with some new toys I bought him today. It's been very hard to get him to play at all, but he's finally playing, and has managed to make the toy squeak now. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89UXfA85z9Q On a side note, I want to ask if all puppy's are like this? I understand he's a little older than normal when being adopted, but I feel like he's just so... non-puppy-ish. He should be bouncing all over the walls most of the time, wanting to play all the time, and wanting to go out, but it just feels like he wants to do nothing all day, and it causes me to be a little frustrated even though I try my best.

So he finally pooped earlier this morning after he woke up from his nap. It was obvious he was trying to look for a place to poop, but as I went to grab his leash to take him out, he just did it right there. It was a mix of constipation and diarrhea; I don't know how that happens, but it did. Despite firmly telling him "no" in a displeased way, he continued doing so, and then just went back to his bed and lied back down. He did seem a little sorry, but that might have been from my attempt at reprimanding him. Because of that, I've noticed something else today. Despite me taking him out frequently, for 20-25m at a time, he will not go. He'll hold it in, and within five minutes of coming back inside, he'll run off to find a place to pee or poop. Again, despite corrections, he doesn't listen. This dog also doesn't seem the type that is very food motivated, as I've tried to get him to at least come with both biscuits and doggy treats, but he just puts his head back down and goes back to sleep. Are all huskies this stubborn and strong-willed?

So as to all your suggestions, I'm trying to frequently take him out every hour or so as opposed to 2-3 hours, but whenever I put the leash on him, he'll plant his butt firmly on the ground and won't budge an inch. Most of the time, he'll just lay down and sleep or doze off, or play with one or two of the toys I bought for him. Should I force him outside, even if he doesn't like it? I hope this is something that'll be fixed once he's gotten used to his new home.

I am actually registered with the Helen Keller Center for Services for the Blind here in NYC, and have documentation to prove my disability. However, mine is a bit unique in that although I can't make out fine details two feet in front of me, I can make out the general shapes and colors of everything, so it gives me a sense of being able to navigate on my own just like a normal person. Because of this, I wouldn't be using him for a seeing-eye dog despite that would what he would be registered for. I've spoken to one of my counselors already about this, and he's actually at a loss on what to do about it, or if it's even possible. In his words, the service dogs were bred and trained for that through generations at a very early age, so just getting any old dog and training him that way wouldn't work, or so he thinks. But I don't know ole Flint's personality yet as he just wants to laze about and doze off all day since he got here, so I wouldn't be able to judge if he would make a good service dog or not.

Hi there, As the community was able to help me with some minor anxiety issues with my huskies so quickly and with such empathy, I figured I might give this one a shot as well and see if anybody has known of a product like this, or knows how to make one themselves. Basically, I live in the Big Apple, and can not drive because of vision impairments. The main way I travel myself is via public transit. While I have seen many people bring in their dogs on the Subways and buses here, it's against their "rules of conduct" on the main website, and can be subjugated to being fined and removed from the train/bus if a police officer just feels like it. The one exception to this are pets in a secure carrier. While there are many carriers out there, even though my husky is only four months old, he's a pretty big boy, and will get much larger, and I definitely wouldn't have the strength or endurance to carry that kind of carrier around with me as we stroll along the cities. My solution to this is maybe a carrier that works as a sled as well? I would imagine it would be a typical carrier, like the Furrarri Kennel or what have you, that has a handle on it, and would also have sturdy wheels and straps to attach to a harness. The way I see it, getting something like this would benefit me in three areas; it would tire Flint out more (my husky), it would give him a job to do during our walks, and it would also help me in pulling him along when he's inside the kennel so I don't break my back carrying him everywhere. Does such a thing exist? Would it be too hard to attach the straps and wheels myself? A friend of mine told me I had to reinforce it or some such, and at that point, my eyes just glazed over. Unfortunately, us English majors have no business with anything handy... Thank you in advance for all your help!

Wow, thanks so much for all the fast replies. I did think four months was definitely too young, but I didn't really have any say in it as he was already neutered when I found out about him. I believe the owner just didn't want anybody breeding with her animals, but that's a discussion for another time. While I have no qualms about taking him out every hour or so, he makes it quite a challenge. In addition to being scared of the stairs, he wants no part of me carrying him, so it's a struggle to always go up and down the stairs. He has yet to respond to any treats or praise; just looks at me as if saying, "are you stupid?" and lies back down. I can't get him to do anything _but_ sleep right now, and only fitfuls of it. So in short, just give it time until he warms up to me, and then continue on the training there? Would you recommend taking any obedience classes, or is this breed a no-go for that? Also, I've posted an introduction, but just to give you an idea of what he's like now: http://youtu.be/ci1dzf4fFXM I caught him playing with this while he wasn't looking. Although he doesn't listen to me very much, and prefers to just lay down, he doesn't mind me petting him (he especially loves his muzzle being massaged), and has actually come out of the room when I leave to come find me, and then walk back into the room once he sees I'm following him. I guess that's some sort of progress, right?

Hello there, I would just like to take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Zackery, and I live in New York City. I'm a full-time college student and violinist. As I've been feeling a slight void in my life, with family relations, friends, and my love life, I felt that a dog would be a perfect fix as I was willing to make the commitment, both time and financially, to giving something so lovable a good quality of life. I have loved the look of the Nordic dogs every since I was little, and prefer the bigger dogs as opposed to the imitation dogs people call poodles and the like. I originally was planning to get an Alaskan malamute, and even had one come to the house, but as the size was just far too big, especially with two young children in the house, I felt that a husky would be a better fit. I bought my husky from Jolene Houghtaling of Hudson's Huskies and Malamutes. He is about four months old, and in the pictures I've been shown, is the epitome of happiness. But alas, ever since I have gotten him, he's been very lethargic, headstrong, and just generally not very fun to around despite being very sweet when he wants to be. Here is a short video of the guy. I was able to take the videos when he thought I was dozing and not paying attention to him. Naturally, he was very tired and just wanted to sleep it off. He's still dozing off and on since yesterday, the day I got him, and has no interest in exploring his new home or meeting anybody. In fact, he's very terrified of most of them, and I have no idea how to ease his anxiety as he doesn't listen to a word I say. http://youtu.be/TAKtw1pCFaU http://youtu.be/ci1dzf4fFXM