I have an almost 9 week old puppy, he's been with me 5 days. I have a few questions I'd like to ask about him / puppy care in general:

I've tried to slowly get him acclimated to his new surroundings and potty training has been the main focus. For him, his main focus has been sleeping :)So, that said, I've tried to not change too many things too soon.

He's doing great, however:

-He's got dry skin / dandruff
    I didn't want to bathe him right off the bat, I'm thinking of getting him in the water tonight but absolutely do not want to further his dry skin. I'm reading oatmeal shampoos are best. Any other suggestions in this area? I'd like to try some of the other ideas I've read..adding fish oil to his food, and he likes carrots, so that's a plus!

-He's got a very dry patch on his belly.
    Where the fur meets his belly just south of his genitals, he has some bad dryness. It looks itchy. He's due for a vet visit at the end of the month, but I will get him there much sooner if it doesn't clear up. Is there maybe a product out there I can try to start? Like I said, he's due for the vet soon, but 1 trip would be better than 2.

-He's got odd smelling breath.
    It's not necessarily "bad" per se, but it's very odd. No other dog's mouth has smelled this way. He eats and drinks regularly, hasn't gotten into anything weird and we don't have a cat/cat box for him to get into.
    Is this something unique to Huskies? Should I be concerned?

-He prefers water over just about anything.
    He's on Iams large breed puppy right now as to keep the same food as he received with the rest of his litter for the first 8 weeks. I'm reading this might too salty? Best foods for a puppy / husky in general?

-I'm starting to realize what people meant by "they're hard to train".
    Potty training has so far been a breeze. I'm cutting no corners and he's excelling. He's so smart. I attempted to start eye contact training / getting him to recognize/respond to his name. He was interested for about 2 minutes and then would look at me, look at the treat, and if he could have opened his mouth and said "I just don't really care about this anymore, but thanks anyways" he probably would have. Is this just how it's going to be? Lol Maybe indication that he's too young?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Welcome! I'll try and answer some of your questions to the best of my ability - here goes!

RockosHuskyLife wrote:

He's doing great, however:

-He's got dry skin / dandruff
    I didn't want to bathe him right off the bat, I'm thinking of getting him in the water tonight but absolutely do not want to further his dry skin. I'm reading oatmeal shampoos are best. Any other suggestions in this area? I'd like to try some of the other ideas I've read..adding fish oil to his food, and he likes carrots, so that's a plus!

I don't usually bathe Stark, but when I do, I use oatmeal shampoo - the vet recommended an oatmeal based one as well. Only thing with a puppy, is maybe try looking for a puppy shampoo - they're like the dog version of the "No More Tears" ones.

Fish oil is great! I swear by it, but that's more for the coat than for the skin.

RockosHuskyLife wrote:

-He's got a very dry patch on his belly.
    Where the fur meets his belly just south of his genitals, he has some bad dryness. It looks itchy. He's due for a vet visit at the end of the month, but I will get him there much sooner if it doesn't clear up. Is there maybe a product out there I can try to start? Like I said, he's due for the vet soon, but 1 trip would be better than 2.

This, also to the skin flaking/itchiness part above, could be happening due to allergies. Huskies are notorious for having sensitive systems when it comes to food. There are a few huskies where I live who ended up with allergies (one really badly as a pup), and the owners didn't need to take them into the vet, so you should be fine. Maybe see if you can change his food and eliminate the allergen if this is indeed what's going on. I've got Stark on raw food, and there are some great kibbles choices out there - we'll get into that more later on.

RockosHuskyLife wrote:

-He's got odd smelling breath.
    It's not necessarily "bad" per se, but it's very odd. No other dog's mouth has smelled this way. He eats and drinks regularly, hasn't gotten into anything weird and we don't have a cat/cat box for him to get into.
    Is this something unique to Huskies? Should I be concerned?

Puppy breath is normal and very distinctive as well. I've got cats and it's always a doozy to keep Stark away from their litter boxes. If it smells like poop, then just make sure he's not a poop-eater. When I got Stark (from a BYB), he smelled like poop too, but that's because he was rolling in it and probably eating it too =\ This stopped though, when we got him dewormed (he was infested REALLY badly)

RockosHuskyLife wrote:

-He prefers water over just about anything.
    He's on Iams large breed puppy right now as to keep the same food as he received with the rest of his litter for the first 8 weeks. I'm reading this might too salty? Best foods for a puppy / husky in general?

Uhh, Iams really isn't a good food to feed your dog. Basic rule of thumb is, if you can get it somewhere you get your oil change for your car, then it's most likely not a good thing. There's a really great website that you can check out called www.dogfoodadvisor.com and see if you can pick out a four or five star rated dog food for your pup. It will make a WORLD of difference in a lot of things throughout its life - trust me. Stark was on blue buffalo before we switched him over to raw - and that was only because almost every food we tried wasn't agreeing with his little tummy. Hopefully you find a kibble on there that works for you guys!

RockosHuskyLife wrote:

-I'm starting to realize what people meant by "they're hard to train".
    Potty training has so far been a breeze. I'm cutting no corners and he's excelling. He's so smart. I attempted to start eye contact training / getting him to recognize/respond to his name. He was interested for about 2 minutes and then would look at me, look at the treat, and if he could have opened his mouth and said "I just don't really care about this anymore, but thanks anyways" he probably would have. Is this just how it's going to be? Lol Maybe indication that he's too young?

2 minutes is a good amount for a 9 week old pup. I'd be happy if I got 30 seconds out of Stark before his puppy ADHD kicked in or he fell asleep.  For now, two minutes is just fine for training. It will increase as they get older, but as long as you're consistent with them. Another good tip is to get them a little tired first (with play) and then they'll be less likely to get distracted. :)Welcome to the world of huskies!

Hope this helped!

Im sorry i dont have any input for the dry skin. Never had to deal with that. Im sure someone else will chime in though.

For the breath. It could just be puppy breath. Puppies sometimes have a different smell to it for a lil while.
For food, there is not really one best food for any breed or any dog. However a husky is tech not a large breed dog. But if your thinking of switching, a lot of people on here feed grain free dog foods or raw diets, if you check out some of the food threass im sure youll find some help. A lot of people love the site. dog food advisor also go head check that out. Im actually also in process of finding new food cause my store is going to stop getting it. Im looking into earthborn holistic. Some other popular ones on here are blue buffalo and taste of the wild.

Training, yes they are super smart but stubborn lol. Just get training sessions short, and stay consistant with everything and youll be fine.

Goodluck!!

Thanks for the responses thus far!

I think I'll look into Blue Buffalo or another quality kibble. I'm interested in a raw diet, but the missus is absolutely repulsed by the whole idea. Lol

As for his breath, it's really more of a plastic/rubber kind of odd smell, ha! I guess we'll see as he goes on (He definitely hasn't got into any feces of any kind)