I'm a newbie with a "new" 6 mo old; crating? sep. anxiety? do 2nd dogs help? future?

[ehosputnik]

Hi.

Just adopted a 6 month old siberian husky. Some of my questions might be covered elsewhere, but not obvious with a little searching.

1st - crating. I've seen a bit on this on here, but would love more thoughts and ideas. Any advice for crate training? What's "too long in the crate" for a 6 moonth old or older, in your experience/opinion? What has helped you ease the transition to "Crate-as-bed-and-happy-place!"? How long did it take to get there (especially for a puppy this age - 6 months)? Conventional wisdom seems to suggest to never use non-reward methods (as in guiding them in even when treats are no longer interesting enough to get them in - obviously not being too forceful); i.e. what are pros and cons of "OK buddy - got to nudge you along a little to get you in there like it or not, because I don't want you eating the house and hurting yourself, and I have to leave the house sometimes."? I need to go to work sometimes, e.g., and am not sure taking him to day care for much more than a few days will be best. (Need to take him to day care for now since he has an e-collar ("lampshade"); he was neutered last week and it'll take a few more days for it to heal up - and not be tempting to lick and gnaw at - at the least, while leaving the collar on seems a risk of him getting it caught in the crate wires and hurting himself.) Also, anyone have experience with their huskies (of this age??) hurting themselves IN the crate (teeth/gums while trying to bite the crate wires; or eating any bedding; etc)? I just want to avoid some of these things and do this as "right" as possible for the little guy. And if it means telecommuting, then that's what'll have to happen, but....

Also, and relatedly, how about separation anxiety? Any advice on soothing or otherwise helping that?

And again relatedly, do any of you find it helps to have a second buddy for him around? Another dog, e.g.? Maybe even another cat (I know huskies can see cats as food, though I also understand raising them with one - maybe even from the age of 6 months?? - might be more like family/"pack" :^) )?

Finally, what's your life with your husky (huskies?) been like from when they were puppies onward? For example, did they get less destructive/"chew-needy" at some age (if they were ever that way to begin with)? Were you ever able to leave them alone in the house for more than 4 or 6 hours at a time? Were YOU ever able to walk them offleash (I know this is generally a definite "don't even try it" to most/all people/huskies...)? Etc.

Thanks - just looking for perspectives! I already love this little guy very much and want to be the best for him I can.

-M

[Sarah]

Hi and welcome to the pack

Crating - most mine have ever been crated is when i'm in bed at night - generally 6 / 7 hrs when i'm at work it's 4 hrs max. Crate as a bed and happy place - easy - never use the crate as punishment - place treats, toys blankets etc in there so he feels safe

Sep anxiety - don't pamper them. If they're crying don't pat them and try and sooth them - all this does is reinforce the behaviour they're displaying at that moment in time. When you go out and leave him, just walk out, don't give kisses / hugs

2nd dog - godsend with mine! lol they keep each other amused and entertained!

My life with huskies? Always busy lol we have a fair few meet ups in the UK and camping trips. They are crated when i'm not home so they don't have any chance to destroy my house or injure themselves.

I used to let mine off leash as pups - they were well trained with their recall then one day they ignored every command known and ran off and ended up in the middle of a road butt sniffing another dog!! NEVER NEVER will i let them off lead, it's not worth the risk.

Ok that's me done i think lol

Where are you from and where's the pics!!!

[ehosputnik]

Thank you very much for the response! I'm from the Northeastern US. And no pictures so far because I just signed up for this. :^)

Seems like the consensus is pretty much don't let them off leash outside secure confines! This guy (still unsettled on a name; just been a couple days, now) comes when he's called really well (and has once *outside* a secure area already... he might have been surveiling the perimeter for security weaknesses when I wasn't looking/blinked, 'cause he found one within our first 2.5 hours). But yeah - seems like the risk is not worth it.

I wonder what anyone would have to say about another breed - non siberian (or even non-canine - though my sense is this one's as universal a "no" as the offleash question) - as a buddy for a 6 month old siberian. Also wonder what people have experienced with their "adolescent" siberians ever hurting themselves INSIDE the crate. And whether people might encourage or discourage splitting time with day care and crate training. Maybe that's known to sort of scramble the "pack" sense at an early age or something??

Anyhow, thanks a ton again for the quick and great reply!

[BingBlaze n Skyla]

not sure about crate training - my boy never needed it and my girl was already trained when i got her so i have no advice there or with seperation anxiety sorry

more than 1? - like sarah said godsend - we already had a dog before we got our first sibe - then about 16 months later we got our 3rd dog (2nd sibe) apart from a few tiffs between my eldest n youngest they all get on wonderfully and keep each other company when left alone

life with huskies -my male only ever chewed paper - so weve had a book or two destroyed - shame the teachers didnt belive my little brother when the dog did actually eat his homework! lol my girl has chewed thousands of pounds worth of stuff! she didnt start till she was around 7 months old and stopped once she hit a year old, mine have never been left for more than 5 hours maximum but have been fine but i think having a friend helped,, i have walked my girl offleash before BUT she has a very high prey drive so i stick to leashed walks - and when i take them over to the feild to play i have them on 100ft leads - my male would NEVER be able 2 go offleash - he slipped his collar once and ran straight across a road! we were very lucky he ran BEHIND a car that went past n not infront of it otherwise he wouldnt be here right now i dont think not worth the risk

[husky princess]

in my opinion i will only use a large crate...plenty of room for a water bowl and so they can fully stretch etc. i only use the crate for a few hours during the day and i personally feel that they shouldnt be crated for more than 4hrs.

Yes my pup did hurt himself on the crate on one occation. i needed to take the adult out for a longer walk which was too far for pup...he didnt agree and chewed the crate. i started to leave him with stuffed kongs and that worked well & never happened again.

in my experience defo happier in their own little pack. they play and occupy each other and i wouldnt have it any other way. storm taught thunder and they are just such a chilled out pair. i wouldnt trust with a cat though.

Mine arent chewers BUT they are rarely left alone, they are well stimulated and well exercised whcih i feel is a massive part however i also believe that some dogs are just 'chewers' and some arent. i had a foster pup who would eat bedding. in 6mth got through 5 beds and had a major operation. Basically she was left too long on her own whcih is not good for any dog let alone a husky whose a pack animal.

Life is defo different but i wouldnt have it any other way. our lives have totally transformed for the better. We've changed jobs, reduced our hours/pay just so we can be with them and rarely leave them....however i totally believe its paid dividens. Certainly in the UK its a totally new social life - rallies, husky walks etc

[Franklin Phil]

I've got my Adak crate trained, though to be honest, it DOES take time. With a little patience it should go fine. Our crates are in our bedroom. It's their own special "nigh night". After some difficult months, Adak now loves his crate, and will go there to sleep all the time during the day by himself. We've never fed him in it or offered water in it. But as the evening progressess, if we're up too late, Adak won't wait for us but will just go to his crate. In the day, when we have to leave, we just announce to the dogs, "Let's go nigh night" and both will run down the hall and charge right into their respective crates. Absolutely no problem. An earlier reply mentioned not using it for punishment. This is absolutely true. Never use the crate as a way of punishing him/her. The dog must learn that this is their own special place.

[Miked]

Hi

I've recently added a four month old Husky (Luna) to my three year old rescue Husky and found she has learnt really quickly. She was apparently untrainable. To crate train (give the older dog a break) I started by creating a large pen where her bed would be and gave her all the toys to enjoy= happy place, over ten days the size of the pen was reduced and two weeks later she is in an xl crate whilst we are out or in bed. Zeus has a crate but is never locked in as he's been excellant since we've had him.They are in different rooms at the moment just so they get a break.

We've been lucky with her as she is quite happy to go into the crate when we leave as long as she has a chew and toys so no seperation anxiety has occured. No howling crying heard by neighbours. One method I was told to use was to use expanding intervals of seperation to teach that you will be returning then treats and play on your return.

On a second dog she has been a godsend to Zeus, after six months of having him he still had some aggresive tendencies towards my wife, luckily I work in a zoo so vets and behaviourists abound. We came to the conclusion he may need some canine company as he was stressed with life in general. Within two weeks of having Luna his behaviour has become more content, rolling over and offering his vulnerable bits to my wife and being a husky in general. (She has drawn a line at two though). All in all they compliment each other and get to be dogs.

[proximity]

Second dog made a massive difference to us. You have to make sure you have no ego about it though; when you have 1 husky, it wants to know where you are and what you're doing every second of the day. When you have two, they form a very special relationship between one another, and don't lean on you so much for that companionship. To some people, they interpet this as a slight on them. "My dog doesnt love me as much anymore" etc.

It only takes 30 seconds of watching the two play together in a decent amount of space to know that these fantastic animals do so much better with company than alone however.

At 6 months old already, its pretty unlikely introducing a cat to the picture is going to be seen as "oh here's another packmate". We got our girl at ~3 months old, and already that was too old to want to do much more with the cat than chew it for its delicious tender meat

[Tikilove]

Tiki was welcomed into our home at 7 weeks. He cried and cried the first 6 nights! We'd let him out a few times at night but at 6 months your pup should have better bladder control. The trick we had to learn was knowing that his whining didn't mean he was hurt. He is now almost 5 months and holds his 1s and 2s all night. We also don't like to leave him in the crate for many hours but luckily I attend college online so he's pretty free most of the days. He loves his crate though. If it starts getting late into the night and we are still awake he decides to put himself to sleep in the crate. And also, those times where we find him sleeping in his crate midday let us know that he's ok with his crate.

We don't have a second dog.....yet. Still trying to talk my hubby into getting Tiki a husky brother or sister

Life with a husky is awesome!!! It's only been 4 1/2 months that we have had him and he's so much apart of our family. If we are out in town for a bit we both start to miss him. We have made up silly songs about him and have a lot of fun playing chase me and hide&seek throughout the house. He only barks when he knows he's getting food or he's really excited while playing. He's great with other dogs but is still learning that smaller dogs are not play toys. Tiki is a great puppy and we are really thankful that we get to be his parents!

[ehosputnik]

Thanks for the comments. 2 weeks so far and I have to say...challenging - way more than any other dog I've been around. Seeming a bit - so far anyhow - like he might need a nearly full time keeper/companion. I spent several days trying to warm him to the crate and try to continue to do so; he seems to just hate it and yowls for half an hour to 2 hours at a time if I'm gone (I just learned from a neighbor) and it's seeming a bit like a couple 3-4 hour stints in there a day simply aren't going to work for him. Even with an hour of play/walking in the middle of it and with a 2 mile run every morning and another hour walk/run at night with play and hanging out for the rest of the time. Very sweet and fun and even cooperative when it's just him and me. Completely different when anyone else is around. And I think he'd chew up and swallow about anything he could find if I wasn't constantly on the watch. And I mean anything. Never seen anything quite like it. Patience. I'll appreciate all the advice I can get here!

[ehosputnik]

Update. The (now) 7 month old husky boy is a beautiful boy. Love him much and we've figured each other out and it's really a lot of fun. Hi energy and the first month or so (... :^) ) can take energy yourself (a little sleep deprivation can be amazing) ... and so completely worth it. He's a funny and smart and sparky boy and just the best. And a talker/crooner sometimes. Thanks again for the comments!

[sutsibe]

Update. The (now) 7 month old husky boy is a beautiful boy. Love him much and we've figured each other out and it's really a lot of fun. Hi energy and the first month or so (... :^) ) can take energy yourself (a little sleep deprivation can be amazing) ... and so completely worth it. He's a funny and smart and sparky boy and just the best. And a talker/crooner sometimes. Thanks again for the comments!

Happy to hear that things are going better! Good luck with your boy - and don't forget the pictures, please!

[gypsydal]

I can't comment on crate training as both our girls were rescue dogs that were raised without a crate. But everyone I know who had used them now swear by them

I suppose we do use a kind of crate, as we have a garden shed and run that they stay in when we aren't at home. (it's a reasonable size run tho, so they have plenty of room to play in)

We would never leave them in the house or garden whilst we are out. They are both chewers, and I have no doubt they would destroy anything and everything they could get their teeth into.

Lots of exercise helps a little, but if our youngest girl has got it into her head to eat something, she will do that before sleeping!

As for a 2nd Sibe..??? yes ! out little one had terrible separation anxiety. We didn't pamper to her , we'd leave lots for her to chew and eat when we put her to bed, or went to work, but nothing worked and the neighbours said she'd howl all day.

So we got a slightly older (only by a few months) Sibe and the little one change overnight! she loves the company, even tho the older one would rather be left alone sometimes LOL

Freya will still howl a little in the morning if she can hear us moving around the house and she doesn't want to stay in her run any longer. And sometimes if she hears my car pull up after work.

Things like walking become harder work, because you got 2 arms being pulled out of their sockets! and running is almost impossible without being pulled over. But i've learnt not to try running with them first thing in the morning when they've got the most energy!!

Keep going! I'm not sure it ever gets easier, you just become more adept at dealing with them, so it just becomes 'normal'