Sarah Posted July 9, 2013 Report Share Posted July 9, 2013 With respect I will have to disagree We got our first husky and worked...... and still do work, 8 hours a day. All 3 are in crates when we are at work but are well looked after and fed and exercised. They are let out for 50 mins mid day when marc goes home at dinner None of my boys are over weight or have separation anxiety. If they are trained correctly from a pup I can't see why issues into behaviour would be an issue. Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katie (and Zara the Husky) Posted July 9, 2013 Report Share Posted July 9, 2013 I guess everyone's situation is different, some dogs thrive in one living situation whereas other dogs struggle. It must be absolutely heartbreaking to see a lot of rescues and put so much hard work into them. But David I can also see that you're putting a lot of thought into the process. Posting here and being open to both the positives and negatives shows that We were lucky (or perhaps unlucky...!) that I've been quite unwell the last 12 months. I've been able to be home with our pup and she's been amazing company, as well as motivating me to get up and walk her in the morning when my illness can make it hard to get moving! I've just started back at work two days a week. Zara is an outside dog during the day. We have a secure yard and great neighbours so chose note to crate train but I do notice she turns into an archeologist the days that I am away! Still no dinosaur finds though... You've probably already thought of these things but are you or your partner in the position to change your work hours a little so your new addition isn't by his/herself so long during the day? It's great you have someone in the neighbourhood willing to drop in. There's lots of suggestions for games/mental stimulation to tire pup out so that boredom isn't so much of an issue on this forum too. Like anything in life, you keep working at it until you find a formula that works Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormy Posted July 9, 2013 Report Share Posted July 9, 2013 Both mine are crates while I work and let out half way and I spend almost all my time out of work with them and they are happy. in an ideal world they could roam free but I could potentially come home to a hurt dog for eating something or destroyed house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Posted July 9, 2013 Report Share Posted July 9, 2013 Both mine are crates while I work and let out half way and I spend almost all my time out of work with them and they are happy. in an ideal world they could roam free but I could potentially come home to a hurt dog for eating something or destroyed house. I agree. I could maybe leave Kodiak out but Nikko would have the place tore up! Mine are in their crates at 8, I get home at noon for lunch and back in around 1 until I get home at 4. They even put themselves in their crates in the morning!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valkyries Posted July 9, 2013 Report Share Posted July 9, 2013 Lol reality check most families now both parents have to work, child goes to nursery or a minder so are we saying here that if both work all our dogs should go to a minder ??? Lol or maybe only people who can't be bothered to work can have them ? Now thats kool the rest of us can work our taxes can keep them home so the dogs are happy. I feel that any rescue that wont rehome to a working family is crazy, so many potential good forever homes being turned away wont help the poor dogs in need will it. we both work, we have 3 huskys - are my dogs suffering NO but maybe i should come out of work so one of us is home with the dogs, but hang on - if i come out of work my dogs would prob be in care as no money for them or just neglected Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raindog Posted July 10, 2013 Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 I feel that any rescue that wont rehome to a working family is crazy, so many potential good forever homes being turned away wont help the poor dogs in need will it. I didn't say we won't rehome to a working family. What we won't do is to put the dog back into the situation which caused its issues in the first place. As Einstein said: Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result - that is crazy!!! Finding good, forever homes for dogs isn't really the problem - there are lots out there. Our problem (and it is one that is shared by all the rescues I know of) is a desperate shortage of experienced fosterers who can accurately assess the needs of each individual dog so that we can place it in the most appropriate home possible. For me, husky ownership isn't a "right" it is a privilege and should be treated as such. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valkyries Posted July 10, 2013 Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 erm these are your words (I wouldn't either sell a pup or rehome a rescue to anyone who intended to leave a dog for 8 hours per day) some people have to work. As for Einstein well these lot's of things i've tried and failed at, so should i give up no i try again and yep i got a better result. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raindog Posted July 10, 2013 Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 erm these are your words (I wouldn't either sell a pup or rehome a rescue to anyone who intended to leave a dog for 8 hours per day) some people have to work. As for Einstein well these lot's of things i've tried and failed at, so should i give up no i try again and yep i got a better result. Exactly! My words are very clear - "to anyone who intended to leave a dog for 8 hours per day." - work is no-where mentioned - as I keep saying, it is nothing to do with work or jobs and everything to do with not leaving a dog (and especially a baby puppy) alone for long periods of time. No disrespect Linda, but I'll go with Einstein! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stranger Posted July 10, 2013 Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 I must be a really bad owner....Yesterday through no fault of my own, the boys were left for 12 hours!!! when I got home they didn't really seem at all bothered, although enjoyed their pee, they was more interested in saying hi then anything else...but that was an extremely rare occasion. Look the thing is, and I respect everyone's opinion, this is just mine.... you don't know how the dogs are going to react, if when you decide to get a dog, your working commitments, and living situation is un realistic, and you don't have the ability or the "money" to get someone in to let them out or check on them, or get home yourself...then maybe getting a dog, Not just a husky, but any dog, is not a good idea. BUT If you are willing to put up with the good and the bad, in sure that the dog is happy, safe, and healthy then getting a dog is a real possibility. Everyone works, and most people work 9-5:30, or at least 8 hour days then you've got to get to and from work so that's at least 9 hours, not all dogs get SA, mine don't, to be honest I can come home from a 2 week holiday, and they simply say hi and go back to sleep....don't miss me a bit AND Everyone here will agree with me that living situations, work commitments, and money problems happen, and the way we deal with them, for the most part, always take into consideration the welfare of our family, thus including the pets. People on here know my living situation changed, when we got the boys there was someone at home, at least 3 out 7 days, then it was just me, so easily 10 hours away from home, and now luckily I have a tenant, and the dogs are not her problem (although she'll argue with me on that)...it was not once a consideration to re home my boys, I knew they would have had, and probably can have a better quality of life, but they are happy and healthy, and until that changes I wont give up, and I don't think anyone here would in the long short of it David, if you can say hand on heart you will treat the dog like a family member, and can say that you would do anything to ensure its happy and healthy even admitting you need help, which we all do once in a while, then why the heck not...you guys Sound like you'll make great owners, and have the dogs best interests at heart.... Like someone else said above, if having dogs was based on not being away longer than a couple of hour, nobody would have dogs, or a lot more people wouldn't work P.S: - Last night was a situation I was not happy about at all, and at the moment I don't have anyone I trust locally with a key to my house or access to my dogs, my tenant missed her bus and I was stuck in traffic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valkyries Posted July 10, 2013 Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 lol you stick with him lol i'm a bad husky owner i got Odin at 8 weeks and worked 8 hours but ya know what , he's 5 years old now happy, well fed and spoilt rotten it did him no harm. As for the need for more fosters to accurately assess rather than forever homes, no disrespect Mick but rubbish i my self have 2 rescue husky's one of which was assessed by you and failed - apparently dog aggressive, people aggressive and food aggressive but hey i adopted her, the other well i had him 3 weeks before my home check but hey ho i may be reading this wrong lol we can't all be right can we but going against Hinstein i will try again with another rescue one day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raindog Posted July 10, 2013 Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 Of course, unexpected situations occur from time to time and there is precious little we can do about it. I realise that my opinions might strike people as a little extreme, but you must remember that they are influenced by the fact that I spend 24/7 immersed in rescue work with Siberian Huskies and a huge proportion of these suffer from serious separation anxiety due to being left alone for long periods at a young age. I really think that the biggest problem for the breed in the UK at the moment is that they are simply too easy to acquire. When I got my first husky 20 years ago, It took me three years. Two years of research, visiting dog shows, races and breeders to educate myself about the breed and its needs, and a further year to convince a good, ethical breeder that I would be a suitable owner for one of their precious pups and to wait for the planned litter to be born. Nowadays, huskies are regarded as just another pet - you can source a pup on the internet, pay by Paypal and pick it up the next day - no questions asked and none expected in return. This is why so many new owners are totally ill-prepared for the reality of husky ownership and why so many end up in rescue by the time they are a year old. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valkyries Posted July 10, 2013 Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 but you have to trust some times, yes some will fail but lots make great owners. there are 1000's of dogs just on this forum and i than god some one put their trust in us inexperienced husky owners and gave us the chance with our first dogs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raindog Posted July 10, 2013 Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 i my self have 2 rescue husky's one of which was assessed by you and failed - apparently dog aggressive, people aggressive and food aggressive but hey i adopted her If a dog shows these kind of aggressive tendencies during assessment, what else can we do but fail it? Do we ignore it and take a risk in rehoming it? After all, everything may turn out OK, but on the other hand someone might get hurt and the rescue would be liable for knowingly rehoming an aggressive dog - not the kind of risk any rescue can reasonably be expected to take - either for its own reputation or the safety of the adopters. We worked with lots of aggressive dogs to turn them round and make them rehomable, but we would never even dream of rehoming until we were 100% certain that the behaviour had been changed for good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valkyries Posted July 10, 2013 Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 pmsl sorry to disagree with you on this but you did rehome i got her as a failed dog, your wife even told me on here not long after i got her that she should never have gone out to rehome, she told me her self she was an aggressive dog and ya know what, there's not an aggressive bone in her body she's just very vocal. But i wont argue with you as your very experienced and i'm bound to be wrong lol so i'll leave it here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raindog Posted July 10, 2013 Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val (Zebedee) Posted July 10, 2013 Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 Sorry, guys, I'm gonna be boring and go David, I commend you for coming on to a popular forum not knowing how you will be "treated" regarding certain topics, for being honest with us about your circumstances but most of all ASKING for help and TAKING ON BOARD advice you are being given. Bear in mind, some of us have had huskies for many years, I have been owned by my first "purchased from breeder" pup for over 7 years so I'm still relatively new to the breed compared with people like Mick (raindog) and have seen a lot of changes in how this beautiful breed has boomed, but to have a prospective owner come in, ask for advice, do their homework & be open with their replies is good to see. In an ideal world, every dog would have a companion either human or animal that could be there 24/7; unfortunately it is not ideal & therefore prospective owners should try & put in place work arounds so they have a happy healthy dog or dogs. I too work with rescues & see how many dogs are in need of a home (I foster as well as have 3 of my own - 2 of which are rescues) and to have someone want to learn and get the basics right is a winner in my book! lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mobezilla Posted July 10, 2013 Report Share Posted July 10, 2013 Back on topic to the OP: I don't think you will regret getting a husky. I say look up on plenty of tricks to teach the new pup, and treat/puzzle games to entertain it on rainy days. Also look up different types of chews, I give my pups moose antlers but won't give elk antlers, some people give elk antlers just fine but after a friends of mine husky had to have a $2000 tooth surgery due to an elk antler.. I steer clear. Also look into puppy classes, not because you're going to be a bad trainer, but for the socialization aspect. Puppies can't be out at dog parks until they have had all their shots, and sometimes dog parks can be bad experiences depending on which dogs and owners are there. Training classes are a safe environment with people who will help you bond with your pup and help your pup become comfortable in different environments. Just make sure you do your search and find a positive reinforcement trainer, ask to sit in on one of their sessions to get a feel for what its like. Look into some nutrition threads as well. You want to make sure you're feeding a decent quality kibble, and many huskies have intolerance to grain and other foods so don't be afraid to switch a couple times. Plenty of people had success with BB, mine did horrid on BB, some people couldn't do TOTW, mine did great on TOTW. It all depends on your pup. As for male vs female.. my male is way more cuddly. He will come up begging and asking for attention all the time. My female is a lot more independent and prefers her crate, but honestly that's what makes it that much better when she willingly jumps into bed with me and asks for cuddles. I feel like I've won the lottery. The great thing about the forum - we all have different opinions, and different advice, but its your choice rather to take it or ignore it. The beauty of the internet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zenapaws Posted July 11, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 11, 2013 Thanks Guys. We will be feeding Kira on dry food but not sure which one just yet. Also we will be taking her to some dog training classes. Need to find Kira first! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormy Posted July 11, 2013 Report Share Posted July 11, 2013 Training classes will be great I sometimes wish i had gone to some when mine were pups Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mydiamond Posted July 11, 2013 Report Share Posted July 11, 2013 Thanks Guys. We will be feeding Kira on dry food but not sure which one just yet. Also we will be taking her to some dog training classes. Need to find Kira first! just wanna throw in a suggestion I think you should go for Taste Of The Wild they're grain free and (I assume) tastes wonderful! Diamond is a very picky eater. He also gets bored quickly but with TOTW he licked his bowl clean every mealtime and remained happy with it for many months. Unfortunately it's a bit too expensive, so switched him back to Blackwood now.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elyse Posted July 12, 2013 Report Share Posted July 12, 2013 I would recommend Taste of the Wild, or Acana, if you have it over there. Both are very high quality and grain-free brands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Posted July 12, 2013 Report Share Posted July 12, 2013 Mine LOVE TOTW! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joey.Zarly Posted July 14, 2013 Report Share Posted July 14, 2013 I too remember all the negative comments i got, even when we first owned them. I had the, you can't let them off lead, you can't do this with them, hard to train raa raa.. ah to me a load of bollocks LOL!! My girl, off leash like a dream..and she is rising 4 years old, she's a super star when it comes to training, doesn't dig, doesn't jump, etc etc.. she's a dream dog..easier then any other breed of dog i have owned and rescued and I am not out walking her twice to day due to studies and caring for my 21 month old daughter. I believe a dog is how you bring it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormy Posted July 14, 2013 Report Share Posted July 14, 2013 I agree with holly a dog is how you bring it up. I have seen husky owners around this way where there dogs walk to heel like a dream etc it's because they brought them up like any other dog without the saying huskies are bread to pull so not putting the time in leash training because of it and me myself is even guilty of that though mine are pretty well behaved for huskies to be fair Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zenapaws Posted September 10, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 10, 2013 Hi just to update we have put a deposit down and pick her up on Thursday. We went for a female but have decided to call her Zena. Here is a picture, I'm sure you'll agree she is a stunner! Been busy this week getting all her stuff ready. It was very hard to pick one from the litter! David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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