Its not 11 hours straight I don't know where you got this its only 11 hours from me. He never goes any longer then 5 with out being let out and took for a walk and this isn't every day even.

If you only got the pros of husky ownership then you didn't do enough research. Bear in mind, we only know what you've told us which isn't a whole lot.

Regardless, no one can help you if you are going to shut down and get defensive and ignore everything that has been said. I'm not going to waste my time offering advice since you've ignored everyone else's and the people here only want to help and offer what's best for your pup. We're here to help, not sugar coat things for you or only tell you what you want to hear. Best of luck to you and your pup.

jjesz wrote:

Meredith you not sorry don't lie and I hate to sound mother like but If you can't say anything nice don't say thing at all. I wasn't looking for a magic answer I just though that people with husky would know something I didn't.

Btw, I'm not saying Meredith was not being honest, I believe she meant what she said. Also, you don't sound like a mother, you sound immature.

Thank you Valerie I just wanted to do the best for Diesel even if that wasn't me and I got attacked for giving up on him.

You need to take your emotions out of this decision and think what is really best for this poor husky puppy. If you think it is best for you and your dog to stay with you, then great do that but you have to put in the time. You need a daycare facility or a full time dog walker where you work so far away. You need to have patience with your puppy, and he needs to be a FULL TIME indoor dog until he is a lot older and then a run or something for the day. I 100% agree, if you are going to re home him PLEASE do him the favor of finding someone who has previously owned a husky, as you really don't want him getting into the wrong hands and having an awful life of re homing among other things. I was 21 when I got my first husky, and I was up for hours on end every night, and he could of screamed all night and day and I never would of traded any of it for the world. So if you don't feel that way, and you can't give him everything that he needs then its time to come up with some other options. It can be done, where you guys can both live happily but he is going to need a lot of training and a lot of exercise, and if you can't commit, then its better to do it now while he is young.

Thank you Jen for calling me immature for trying to do what best for Diesel even if that wasn't me.

Jerica, I think you need to calm down.

No one called you a liar, and no on here lied. To be honest, everyone has been blatantly honest and I for one appreciate that honesty.

The real issue here is that you see no problem with leaving a roughly 4 week old puppy alone for 5 hours. I'd raised a puppy and I'm getting a second one in the fall. I wouldn't get that puppy if it was going to be without me or my husband for 11 hours.

Every 5 hours for a potty break? What do you expect. This puppy can't even hold its pee and poop, sometimes it just comes out. If I did that to Cato, he'd have pooped all over himself multiple times. Be realistic.

Probably the most troublesome thing I read was you stating that he was never intended to be an inside dog. Why on earth would would get a dog, whom you banish to the outdoors, while you are away for 11 hours?

Having dogs isn't sunshine and rainbows.

Erica I understand the dog care idea but I got to understand that where I live there is nothing like that. I could hire a high school kid to watch him but I don't know if I would trust them and I'm worried that Diesel would no long do anything with me cuz he would be to attached to them. I don't know what to do cuz some times he seems so happy and doesn't bother anything or say a word all day or night (at least not that we notice) but then next day he can cry all day nonstop.

jjesz wrote:

Thank you Jen for calling me immature for trying to do what best for Diesel even if that wasn't me.

You are immature because you came here asking for help, help was offered, it didn't fit what you wanted to hear, you became extremely over dramatic and insulted everyone that offered you advice and information.

Wanting the best for Diesel is a good thing. Actually doing the best thing for Diesel is what will show your true character.

jjesz wrote:

I could hire a high school kid to watch him but I don't know if I would trust them and I'm worried that Diesel would no long do anything with me cuz he would be to attached to them

Case in point.

I'm not banishing him to the outdoors. All dogs I've ever had were out doors and most people that I know that have bigger dogs have them outside. That just the way it is that's how I was raised dogs belong outside. I any of the previous animal im referring to loved it as far as I noticed.

jjesz wrote:

I'm not banishing him to the outdoors. All dogs I've ever had were out doors and most people that I know that have bigger dogs have them outside. That just the way it is that's how I was raised dogs belong outside. I any of the previous animal im referring to loved it as far as I noticed.

Does he even have shots?

Just because everyone else does it, doesn't mean it's right. Lots of people over vaccinate, feed pedigree and never walk their dogs - doesn't make it right. Sorry this is one thing I will not budge on.

Jen please explain why you quoted what you did. Was that a bad idea?

No, you will definitely need an experienced dog walker especially where your dog doesn't sound like he is going to be the best with leash training and I'm sure if you Google some stuff somethings around your area you will be able to find things. I mean I live in Maine, we are behind on a lot of things here, and we have dog walkers, I'm sure some where in your neighborhood there are some too in North Dakota. And not wanting to get your dog attached to the dog walker is an awful statement to say, and I'm sorry but you need to think of YOUR dog who is home board and your not going to do something to benefit him because he would be attached to someone else? Come on, thats ridiculous. I don't think you are thinking rationally about this at all. You have become very defensive. I think you should talk to someone, or even show a this whole thread to a third party and just get there opinion. We want you and your dog to be happy but there has to be compromise on your part to get there.

Alright, I'm going to start over since I think we all kind of let our emotions flare up there. He's a puppy and he misses his human. Shadow cries too when we crate her and she knows we're still in the house. They are very people oriented dogs, and a lot of them do get separation anxiety. We had a little bit of a scramble after the plans we originally made to care for Shadow on work days fell through, but we were able to make it work. Check out www.care.com for accredited dog walkers, you can probably get by with having them come by twice a day while you're gone until Diesel is a little older. I looked into it before we finally found a daycare that could take her, and a lot of people only charge $5 or so per visit if they're just letting the dogs out and not actually walking them. To put it in perspective, on the days we have to take Shadow to daycare, it's $18.00 so hiring a walker would actually be cheaper. I'm in a position now where we don't have to take her every day though, so it works out. If there isn't a daycare by where you live, but you work 70 miles away, have you tried looking near where you work? Also, try asking around with vets offices, the one we finally found that worked for us didn't show up on google searches as a daycare and someone I work with told me about it.

I really think we all just want to see Diesel get the best possible life, and there really can be a solution to the problem.

Yes his is up to date on all shots. And its not that everyone else does it I did it and my Border Collie wouldn't even come in it house either did our Blue Heeler when I was a little kid they didn't want to. They rather be in the yard (fenced in) chasing the random bird for just rolling in lawn.

I really dont want this to come across mean. Just trying to get more information. I might of missed it if you already answered it. But, the 2 times you take him for a walk, how long of a walk is that? Also do you do any other activities with him? If so what?

Erica its not that I don't want him to like the dog walker i'm just concerned that he won't like me anymore then and i'll have a lot of problems with him when hes home even once he gets older. But actually you would be surprised he does amazingly well on a leash. Im sure there are some in North Dakota but I live in a town of less then 300 people and the nearest city where such people would be are 70 miles away but I will look. I really just wanna get him over this learning curve. Ok here some back story My family has a farm and my dad goes out there everyday being we don't actually live on it and Dad would love to take Diesel with him when he goes out cuz dads all alone and would love the company and Diesel would love the farm/exercise but we just can't trust him off a lease yet. He's not just my dog he's really a family pet.

Alright, I tried to be calm, but this makes me nauseous.

HE IS A BABY. Would you expect a toddler to go 5 hours without a diaper change? He literally can't hold it. At that age, he needs to be taken out every hour until he learns and gets the bladder control.

I just can't imagine getting a puppy that young and leaving it outside for 11 hours a day.

They love the outdoors, yes, but they love their families too. They need to be with their people, AND they need proper exercise. If you aren't willing to give him the exercise and training he needs, no, you should not have the dog.

But have the heart to do the dog a favor. You said he was "expensive", but do not sell him or put him on Craigslist. Care enough about the dog to give him to a breed rescue.

One solution with the farm thing would be to build him some sort of run or get a tie out. I would heavily caution you about letting him offleash. Some people are able to train their Huskies to pull it off, but most are never really reliably trained.

Unless you can work with him EVERY single day with recall and most likely wait till his teenage years past then maybe you can trust him off the leash. It can be done, but huskies are not off leash dogs, they are born to run and not stop. If he isn't going to be on a leash with your dad, I honestly don't recommend doing it. He will not just wake up one day and have recall its a never ending battle that most people on this site don't even do. And there is no learning curves with a husky. This stage isn't just going to pass, its going to continue to get worse. Huskies aren't even like reasonably calm dogs for a long time. They require constant exercise to be in the state where they are not destructive.

Meredith thanks for the link but even better the vet comment I never even though about our local vet I could talk to them. I really want the best life for him too I care i really do even if what I do is coming across as terribly wrong to some people. and honestly I think that after the puppy problems/stage of life is worked through everything will be fine.

And don't take this the wrong way but I think you should read Siberian Huskies for Dummies. I found this book before we got our second one and it really helps and gives you a realistic picture of huskies as a whole and has puppy sections and training sections and just a lot of really good information. Its not a super long read, I think I got so hooked I read it in one night.

Im sorry this is going to be mean. And your probably going to come back all fired up. But im not even going to look at this post again. You are acting really really selfish... Im sorry.. You dont want a dog walker cause your afraid he might like them more than you..... You admitted to not being able to be around him for 11 hours a day. Every idea people give, u shoot it down. Which is fine it might not work for your situation. But i feel you didnt think enough about getting the dog before you did your research cause you saw that "doggy in the window." Goodluck! I hope you can work it out and are able to keep him, i honestly hope you realize he needs to spend a lot more time with human contact than your giving him.

Hi Eric to answer you questions. The morning walk is about 20 min the even walk is anywhere from 30 min to a hour. We also play with him in the evening like tug a war and such. and on the weekends he goes everywhere with us like to the farm and we let him run around on a long leash cuz we don't want him to run away. We also thought of taking him to the lake with us to see if he like water and swimming but that was just a thought.

It sounds like you have a lifestyle more designed for owning cats. I understand the pull of dogs though and am a recent husky owner as well, but I started by adopting an adult dog. I only work 7 hours a day and live 10 minutes from my work which is light compared to your schedule. I couldn't imagine having a puppy with those kind of hours on my plate. Living in the middle of nowhere does cut down on amenities that a lot of others have. When I first started I kept hearing about this thing called a dog park. I too live in the middle of nowhere and things like parks and doggie daycare are a foreign concept. Have you tried your vet though? (depending how close you live) My vet used to board animals and I think that's pretty common across the country. They might be willing to work with you on a daycare type scenario and there would be multiple people there so you wouldn't have the whole him getting attached to someone other than you quite the same as you would with a permanent dog sitter. This could be something you could do at least until he's a little older and had some training. Then you could take over fully from there.

On the screaming thing. You said he does it some days and not on others. What is the difference between the days he screams and the days that he doesn't? Are you home one and not the other? Is the tv on more on one day and not the other? Are there people around one and not the other...you get the idea. If he isn't doing it all the time then something must be triggering it and i think it's worth taking the time to write out the differences that could be the culprit.

*side note* chances of keeping a husky as a purely outside dog is slim. i'm not sure there is such thing as a fence cunning enough and I've tried. Once he is trained and you've gotten a rhythm I would strongly suggest revisiting keeping him inside. If only to save him from the summer heat and dog nappers.