i have a nine week old husky pup. omg she wants to eat everything. i understand that is all about owning a puppy but i literally cannot let her roam around the house without following her anywhere because she will go into all of the nooks and crannies in the house and try to eat anything and everything she can find. she'll go into the kitchen and under the cabinets she will find anything to put into her mouth. several times i have had to pull broken glass out of her mouth because she somehow finds a piece that i have missed with my continuous sweeping i have tried to get whatever i can. she seems to find things anyway. i'm guessing a glass or something broke in the kitchen at some point and not all was swept up no matter how hard i try to get it all she finds another piece so i block her from the kitchen. i put her on the couch since she hasn't learned to jump off yet and she tries to dig into the cushions for whatever might be underneath. right now she is licking the couch ugh. i have taken her on walks to get rid of some of the energy i have played with her it seems endlessly til she is panting and she still in search and eat mode. i feed her three times a day and giver her chew toys so i know she's not hungry but just curious. i'm really just wondering how long this stage lasts and maybe a way to train her to not want to eat everything?? i'm at the point i want to pull my hair out   i'm afraid she will get something she will hurt herself when she swallows it.

I'm guessing you haven't had her for very long if she's only 9wks old? The panting and the general curiosity is probably because she is still getting used to you and her new home.

I think most people would suggest that you tether her to you for now. Until she learns to be good at home (this includes potty training), she shouldn't get any freedom. Tethering her to you also gives you the opportunity to correct her right away when she does something bad, such as scavenging under the cabinets. I wouldn't let a 9wk old roam around the house simply for potty reasons!

Even my 10mth old right now doesn't get freedom if there is no one watching him. He's not tethered anymore. But i still don't trust him to be alone when i'm in the shower haha. I once found him on the dining table... ever since then, he gets to spend some quality alone time in his kennel when mama showers

oh absolutely. i always put her in her crate when i have to clean or shower or i try to get my husband to take care of her for the moment but he is definitely not the kind to follow her around lol. never thought of the tethering. i am definitely going to do that. i have started the poochie bell potty training method and she is catching on with that really quickly very smart but very very very curious and energetic. it's been a long time since i had a puppy. my current dog is eleven so definitely not used to having a puppy again but maybe all this craziness will help me get some exercise in the mean time haha

Sounds like you need to puppy proof your house better. Honestly, your puppy needs limits and shouldn't gave access to your entire home unsupervised. You wouldn't let a toddler have full roam and left alone, same applies to a puppy.

You should look into a puppy class as well. It will help you learn and will tire the puppy out.

Give your pup some chew toys, stuffed kongs are great!

To be honest, if your going nuts already at 9 weeks your really going to hate it in a few months when she reaches her teenage phase lol. Start training now!

For us, this phase lasted about 2-3 months, so as Maggie suggested, I just limited his access to stuff. If I couldn't watch him, he had to go into his crate. After a little bit I could trust him in an area that is baby gated. Now, he has free run, but still gets locked up when I'm not home. He's fine when I'm in the shower because he likes to stick his head in and watch the soap bubbles.

Just stick with it and it will get better. If you're not crate training, I highly recommend it. There were times I would get frustrated with Diz and put him in his crate for a while. Mommy needs a glass of wine... Lol. They can definitely be difficult at that age, but limit their access and make them earn the privilege of exploring the rest of the house.

Your pup is really cute! I hope you stick around and start a photo album!

Same with us! Our last dog was 14yrs old when he passed, so it's been a solid 15 years since we had a puppy! And our first was a shih tzu! I definitely suggest an obedience class too. She might be too young still? Probably needs all her shots first. But it's just a good refresher, also good for her to socialize with other young pups.

This forum has helped a lot for us. We adopted our rescue husky when he was 4mths old. He's not 10mths old, and going through the terrible teens. For some laughs (and possible a look into your future ), here are some good reads:
https://www.itsahuskything.com/t11577-to-all-of-you-with-teenage-huskies-i-sympathize
https://www.itsahuskything.com/t11412-need-help-with-nanook

We had a very very VERY rough first couple months with Gus. Separation anxiety, giardia, random acts of destruction and guarding. Never let your guard down haha. It gets better, and all the hard work does pay off. And when it does, it's so rewarding

I love her colour!! She looks like a husky in a border collie outfit haha

lol yes she gets mistaken for a border collie often lol i always have to correct people but her color might change with age.thanks for the advice guys. i am definitely crate training have been for the last 2 weeks and she is getting better. thank you again for the advice she is absolutely a go go go kind of pup lol

I noticed that once my puppy hit 6 months, it was much easier to tire him out. Also, at a certain point something kicks in where training and mental stimulation is exhausting for them. Dizzy is at that point now. He still needs the physical exercise of course, but if I make him work (think) he tires faster and is more satisfied. She looks like she might be a jet black puppy, if so her coloring won't change with age. I love her! May I ask who the breeder is? I can't wait to see more pix.

thank you i know she looks just like her mother. except her mother had less of a grey streak on her face. i got her from a lady in alabama named patricia. her kennels site is puppylovkennels.com ...she is a very nice lady and has called me a few times to ask how the pup is doing. her huskies are beautiful. i will definitely post more pictures as she gets older. oh and already this puppy is so talkative. i can't wait tip she starts singing for me. also how big was dizzy at nine weeks? i weighed samoa at petsmart yesterday and she is 8.5 lbs but i swear she weighs more when i hold her she is so solid lol i'm trying to figure out how big she might be once she's an adult. i know her mom is 55 lbs and her dad i think the lady told me was 80 or 90? don't remember. i'm sure she will be around the smaller end since she is a female. anyway thanks again for the info guys. oh one more question. what is everybody's opinion on the easy walker no pull harness? i'm thinking about getting that for her once she's older. she sure is a puller no matter what i do :/

Holy cow! 80-90 is huge for a siberian! Males are usually between 45-60, with 60 being the max! And females generally 35-50. Diz was around 14 lbs at 9 weeks and is about 45 now, i expect his max to be 55-60. Check out this thread. A lot of people regularly update, so you can see how puppies grow and gain weight over time. It helped me when I was wondering if he was growing at a normal rate. At that age, Diz was gaining about 2-3 lbs a week. He is a monster eater though, I've never seen him full! Weight at 9 weeks isn't really a good predictor of how big they will get though, it depends more on their parents, so I'd say you're in for a big girl.

Oh, also, I haven't tried the easy walk harness, but I know a lot of people like it.

lol when i found out how big the dad was i asked if he was a mal mix or something. but he's akc reg. sibe. maybe he's a little overweight or something? lol yes i definitely am trying that harness once she grows a little more. our walks have been crazy she wants everything and everyone. 

We use the Easy Walk harness for Gus. It's great! It made a very big difference when we first started using it. I think the harness with the combination of loose leash walking training techniques is what really did it though. After we took him for a walk in an unfamiliar place, and he was a nightmare, we started, what we like to call, loose leash bootcamp haha. Everyday, 2-3 times a day, for at least 10-15 minutes, we would practice in a familiar territory with him. I'm only 5 feet tall and less than 100lbs, so i'm not a strong person!! I can still handle him when he tries to overpower me and pull me down the street haha, but loose leash walking is very important to me so that we can take Gus out with us everywhere we go and not be stressed out and annoyed with him. It's never too young to start! I wish I had started loose leash bootcamp the day we brought him home

Thank you! I definitely try to teach her as much as possible lately. Potty training she is picking up pretty well. I started incorporating the bells so hopefully she'll learn that quickly to ask to go out. The only major issue I have is the leash training and she's showing food and water aggression. I've been working on that though by hand feeding. Feeding while holding the bowl. Petting and praising when she isn't showing aggression I test her three times a day with every feeding so hopefully she'll get out of that soon. I have kids and definitely don't want that aggression nonsense so I have to get that under control now while she's small

I did not have food guarding issues with Gus with humans. He is a food guarder with other dogs though. I think Jen had to work on food guarding from humans with Dizzy? She will probably have some very good advice for you. Or you could search for it too. Not sure which threads are out there, but I'm sure there are some.

But just in general, i see most people suggesting hand feeding, so it's really good that you started to do that right away. I hand feed too (when i have time). Not for guarding issues, but I do training sessions during meals. Kind of forces us to have training sessions with him without having to put it in my schedule and also prevents him from getting an upset stomache from too many treats If i don't have time for a training session, I always pet him or take his food away, then give it right back to him. I would continue hand feeding. Sounds like she is already improving! The goal is to build trust with her. So that she understands that when you take something away (food or toys), she gets something else better, or she gets the object back.

As for the kids thing... I don't have kids. But if i did, i would probably only get them "involved" only once you are comfortable that she is no longer guarding from you. Then maybe you could start with just having the kids present during feeding, and then work your way from there? Of course, it depends on how old they are too!

hrangelotti wrote:

lol yes she gets mistaken for a border collie often lol i always have to correct people but her color might change with age

I don't have any extra advice for the obedience stuff, other than what was said above.

But I can tell you that he probably will change colors, Jasper's face was almost identical to your girl's with a little bit more black on his nose, and within two months more white came in. As you can see in my avatar, his face is definitely not black anymore  

Your girl looked just like my Juneau when Juneau was a puppy.



Here's Juneau now:



Anyways, I would always have Juneau in the same room as me. Close the door to keep her in the same room as you so you can watch her. I watched Juneau every second of her life until about 5 1/2 months. She was fully potty trained by 4 1/2 months because I constantly corrected her on the spot and immediately. She got free range of the house at 10 months because she doesn't chew on anything. Each husky is different. We would start in increments too. 1 hour here, 2 hours there, etc.

Perhaps you could get her some bones or a bully stick to chew on to keep her occupied?

Beautiful pup btw.

Dizzy was showing very mild signs of guarding behavior at around 4-4.5 months starting to develop so I decided to be proactive about it with trust building exercises and teaching the command 'off.'

Teaching 'off' started with me having a treat in a closed fist and him biting/licking my hand. When he would stop contact with my hand he got a click and treat. Then we progressed to toys, socks, etc. He takes one end of the sock, I have the other (not tugging, because this engages a reflex for him to pull back), I say 'off' show him the treat and he releases to eat the treat, click then treat. Then gets the item back. The last part is key, because even if he has something really good, he'll still give it to me, because he always gets it back.

For the guarding, I basically would give him his most guarded object (in his case pig ear). I'd sit next to him, but not too close, on the floor and toss treats his way. At first he would tense up and get nervous that I was going to 'steal' his pig ear. Eventually the temptation overcame the fear and he'd gobble up the treats. I'd be totally still so he could finish his treats and go back to his pig ear. Then I progressed to holding the treats out to him in my hand. Again, same reaction, same process. Stay still, let him eat the treats, and then go back to the pig ear. Through the whole process I never touch the pig ear. Eventually, as soon as I sat down, he'd drop the pig ear, walk away and come over for his treat, at the stage I started touching the pig ear. Then I started trading him. Putting my hand on the ear, commanding 'off' and giving a high value treat when he released and then GIVING IT BACK. Again, the giving back is the most important part in my opinion. Now I can take anything from him, because he trusts me. He trusts that I'm not a litter mate that is going to grab his stuff and run, or a big mean human that won't let him do anything.

In terms of petting and eating, the exercises above pretty much took care of any food guarding. He loves his dog food, but its nothing compared to a pig ear. I feed him half raw now, and I 'practice' the trust building with his raw food. I continually take and give things back to him to reinforce to him that he can trust me and usually gets a bonus treat in the process if he does. Now, I will say that a dog does need to tolerate petting around the food bowl in case someone stupidly approaches him while eating, or a child gets away from a parent, but it really isn't something that should be done every day. Let your dog eat in peace. Would you want your husband, friend, mom, etc. standing behind you while you were trying to eat hugging you? It would annoy me, and its going to annoy your dog. Should your dog be able to handle it? Yes. Should you do it on a daily basis? No. I don't think its necessary.

If you focus mostly on building trust, most puppies will outgrow an issue like this. They guard because litter mates grab and run. Just show her she can trust you're not going to do that and the guarding will go away as she matures. On the flip side, if you counter her aggression with aggression/scolding, she'll learn that she was right not to trust you.

Forgot to mention, with your kids, they need to be 'trained' too. Teach them to respect your dogs space and not to bother her while she's eating.

thank you so much for the info. i will try your suggestions with the food guarding. she also does it with other dogs too. i only noticed that yesterday when i took her on a walk with a friend and her dog and we stopped for them both to get a drink. thought they could both drink but she lunged at my friends dog trying to protect the water from him so i didn't know what to do but let him drink first and then let her drink. don't know if that was the right move i hope it was. but thank you for the info on trust building. also Juneau and Jasper are beautiful dogs. i can't wait to see what my girl is going to grow up looking like. i know her mama was beautiful and wolfy looking so i'm hoping for the same with my Samoa. thanks again for the info.