Hi my fellow Husky lovers.

Me and my Wife are in a spot as of now and we need your help.

We have a very lovable and discipline husky puppy. 8 Weeks old.
He lives with Me,my Wife and my parents. We all have been having amazing time with him in CA.

But for some family issue my Parents have to move back to East coast for a year.

And this is where we are in a bad spot.
Me and my Wife work but are home by 3:30 PM and then we spend our whole day with the puppy.
And when we are at work my parents were with him, but since they would be moving out, worries me. As he would be alone for 7 to 8 hours.

We have never left any of our dog alone for this long. So we need your help.

We don't know what to do. We don't want to give him up. We love him and he loves us way too much.

Please let us know how to take care of this situation.

That's him.



Thank you.

Where are you moving?  You can hire a dog sitter or dog walker to visit your pup or bring him to daycare if available once he is properly vaccinated.

EDIT: Sorry, read that wrong.

Take the moving question out, and proceed

Where do you live?

How soon are they moving back?

This wouldn't be a problem, if he wasn't so young and I mean you can definitely make it work. Almost everyone here works, and there dogs are left at home.

If they are moving back very soon, I would suggest asking a friend, neighbor, or pay a dog walker to just let the puppy out to go to the bathroom once or twice while you guys are gone. The older he gets, and can hold his bladder he will be fine to stay home that long.

Have you guys worked on crate training?

OMG..!! Thanks for the reply. You don't know how much it helps to have someone to talk with on this issues.

We live in Orange County in CA. At a foot hill so it's nice and cold.

My parents will be moving out next week.

He is potty train and does not pee in house. He holds it if he is alone but I don't want him to hold it for that long so I have dogproof my garage and planning to buy fake grass and that pee spray.

He is crate trained, sleeps in our bedroom in the night in a crate. But i have to take him to pee once a night. So if he sleeps at 9:30. He will wake up and call me around 2:30 - 3:00 and i take him to pee and he gets back in crate and stays in there till we wake up.
He is amazing.

He has his first shoot and i will get other this weekend.
Also i will start his basic training so he is around new ppl and dogs.

I have a decent size backyard (1,500 sqft) should i keep him there or garage?
I worried to keep him in the house as everyone told me no... but all of them never own a husky unlike people here.

My Parents move back after a year odd.
But my wife is a teacher so she would be home whole summer. and again he would be alone for 4 odd months till my parents are back.


I hope i answer all the question. Your feedback is awaited and appreciated.

Or should i buy one more female puppy. So they have a company?
I am not sure.. Just putting it out there.

I would not buy another puppy quite yet, because this really won't solve the issue. Its not that he is going to be lonely, its just the bathroom being an issue. I would not keep him in the yard, he is far to young and you don't want anyone to take him or leave him out there to fend for himself against animals. I also would not leave him out in the garage, although its a good idea with the pee spray, and stuff the older he gets the more he will get into it. It is safest to have him crate trained and in there when you guys are not home for at least the first couple of months. I would go back to my original suggestion and see if anyone that you know could let him out? At 8 weeks, my puppies were very well trained, its when they get older that the little issues start.

That is just my opinion, I feel like he could get into a lot of trouble in the garage when he gets bored.

Thanks Erica,
I am worried as people told me that they get very destructive and you cannot leave them alone.

When you say... At 8 weeks, my puppies were very well trained, its when they get older that the little issues start.
How much older and what little issues ?

I think your worrying a little to much. Just take a breath and relax. I defintly would not get rid of the pup. This is normal. Almost eveyone on this forum works and their dogs are alone for parts of the day. There are many solutions. Find a dog walker maybe, turn part of your garage into a little kennel, find a doggy daycare, crate your dog and maybe find someone to let him out around lunch if possible. I have a kennel / run built for koda that he can go inside to a sectioned off part of the garage and also go outside to a sections off part of the yard when he wants to. Id sit down with your wife and consider some of these options. Let us know if you have anymore questions

They will just start to get a little more comfortable, and really start to get into mischief if aren't watching them. They will chew things, and there energy level will start to rise, and then will find ways to release it that you may not like. For example if you left him in the yard, I bet he would start to dig even if he has not done it before. Or if you left him out of his crate unattended he could chew up furniture and what not. I just think of safety reasons its best to have them crated, so they don't get into anything that can hurt them.

I mean we had to baby proof my house, because my dogs can open the trash, cupboards,  and we have baby gates blocking off certain areas even when we are home. They just are very creative and driven dogs that will get into things you can't even imagine yet.

When he is older if you can afford it (it does get expensive) daycare once or a couple times of week will really help cut down on their energy and help with socialization! My dogs started daycare at 12 weeks.

I was going to mention come kind of containment in the garage (as long as it isn't hot) as well. But I don't know how high you could make it so eventually he can't climb out of it.

Just remember, that this will only be an issue for awhile during the time he is still a puppy. Once he can hold his bladder longer than a couple of hours, you will be able to keep him home all day and not have to worry about it.

Thanks a lot everyone. This helps a lot.
I will go home and share all this with my wife and get back to you all with more question.
Just be there to answer our questions :-)

Thank you a lot.

Hi.
Your dog has beautiful eyes!
I feel your anguish over this, having gone through this three times.
The first two attempts with my first two huskies were abject failures.

I left puppy #1 in the kitchen with the doors blocked off.
He was way smarter, stronger and more determined than I could imagine.
Despite cabinet locks, chairs pushed up against doors, he still got out into the rest of the house.
The worst day was when he uprooted a ficus tree and ran around the living room with it in his mouth, smashing the root ball against the wallpaper, furniture and curtains.

Puppy #2 was left in the garage.
I thought I had puppy proofed it.
He lasted a week in there.
Then one day, I came home to find he had unstacked the firewood and used a log as a personal battering ram to smack holes in the walls.
What fun!

Finally, I had success with puppy #3, Bodhi.
I took him to work with me in my truck.
It was winter, so I didn't have to worry about him overheating from the sun.
I left him in his kennel in the back seat.
Every couple of hours, I would take him out for a pee break.
After a couple months, he could hold it for longer periods and I'd leave him for four hours and just take him out at lunch for a walk.
By this time, I had an "inescapable" kennel built in my back yard.
He got out of there once too, but now it's like Fort Knox.

I think crate training is key for you.
If you can't take the pup to work because of the direct sun, maybe you could take the dog and crate to a neighbor, who could let the dog out a couple times a day?
A dog sitter might be an option, one who could come over and let the dog out for a walk a couple times  a day.
Puppies can't hold it for long.
Or maybe, doggy daycare would be an option, but they usually have a lower age limit.
Good-luck and keep us posted!

One thing that has really helped me is I make sure to take my puppy for a walk before I have to leave for work and then I give him a kong with his breakfast inside. I also have a few friends who let him out twice while I am at work and I visit on my lunch if the roads aren't to bad.

My friends have let me know since I started walking him before work he is much better behaved and is better about going back into his crate.

If you don't have a friend who can visit a dog walker might be a good idea.

I wouldn't recommend leaving him outside, huskies are known escape artists and it's too risky, he's all subject to the weather and somebody might steal him. If you make sure there's nothing dangerous he could get a hold of in the garage (any oil, anti-freeze, cleaning chemicals, etc) that could work.

Have you crate trained him? If so I recommend doing so, and then leaving him with his crate inside the garage (Gate-open).

Does he have all is vaccinations and immunizations? If he does, then you could probably take him to doggy daycare or a dog sitter.

I go to school most my days n my parents also work n we have a backyard a bit bigger than urs I get out at 3:45 pm from my college classes then go back at 5:20 pm I just have lots of toy out for him to play n so he doesn't get bored so its alright but I do try to give him as much loves and attention as possible n its usuallys ok

I work from 9-5 every day and have school 5-9 my fiance works 9-3 and comes home for lunch breaks around 12-1 for an hour as a puppy we crated her its your best bet i wouldnt leave her/him outside sibes are definitely escape artists!

Thank you all for the suggestions and tips. Really helped.
We decided not to give me up and find a way out. He is only 8 weeks old but we are so much attach to him. Thinking of giving him up hurt so much. We never knew that a though of losing a 8 week old puppy will make us cry.

Well so we crate trained him and now he knows crate is his home and it's safe to be in there.
Around 9:30 PM I have to call " Shadow sleepy time. Come to Home" and he runs into his crate.
I have kept couple of toys in the crate which we don't take out. So he knows if he wants to play with them, he has to be in the crate.
I close the door and he plays with his toys and go to sleep.

About 1:00 AM i wake up and take him out to pee and he is back in his crate.
At 5:00 AM he is out again, we play for a while, he gets tired, he eats and we leave for work by 6:30 odd.

I dog-prof the garage. So he has place to walk around and play during the day rather than be in crate.
I Kept his bed, stuffed Kong and lost of other toy. Along with Fresh water and food.

I have a friend who comes every other day to walk him in the afternoon. (He tries as of now)
If he does not come, then i have fake grass where he goes pee if he wants to. He is way good about it. He knows his spot.

We are home by 3:30 PM and we go crazy with him until it's bed time.

He is still not leash trained. (We don't know how to do it so doing some research on that but planning to take a class with him)
Once he is leash train I would be taking him for a walk at 5:00 AM and later in the evening.

I hope this schedule would work for him and let me know if we are doing something wrong.
Your tips and feedback would be appreciated.


That's our Shadow at 8 Weeks.

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He is a cutie. I changed my work schedule to start after 9 on days all 3 of us must leave the house. Then, someone is back by 3:30. Loki is fine. The 2-3 days a week I work at home he sleeps. During the summer we had lots of time off and daughter was at home so leaving for 6 hours started at about 5 months. He was sleeping through night around 4-5 months as well. Just need to make it work for a few months.

He's cute!

Don't feel bad about keeping a puppy in a crate - dogs are den animals and a crate is like a den to them. I would suggest leaving him in a crate or sending him to doggy day care.

Definitely don't leave him alone in the backyard. Huskies like to run and escape when they get bored. Dog thieves also target huskies, so be careful with that.

I'm not a fan of you keeping him in the garage either, but that's me. He might start destroying the walls or scratch up the door. Even if you leave him toys!

Puppies usually sleep most of the day. I was able to take Juneau to work with me until she was about 6 months old and all she did was sleep.

Aww Shadow is adorable!!! I personally wouldn't leave him in the garage either. I learned my lesson with Mya after she ate THROUGH a wall at about 5 months old. After that she was crated until she was 4 years old. Kody was left crated from 830am-430pm/5pm starting at about 4 months and did fine. Asia did fine also. You have a friend coming by to take him out so i don't think crating him would be an issue anyway.

when you say he's not leash trained, do you mean that he pulls or just doesn't walk?

Thanks for the reply Melissa..!!

We just got him 2 weeks ago and he is 2 months 4 days old.
He is comfortable with the collar now but he has never been on leash before so i guess he does not know what to do with it.

Few days ago when we put the leash on him, he just went crazy and wanted it out.
But yesterday I shorten the leash and he did not bother me with it.
He left it on and walked around the house with it. No problem.

But when I hold the leash in my hand and try to walk him, he does not like it. He want leash to be off then. I tried giving him treats but he does not care.

So we are reading about it. If you have any tips on how to train a puppy on leash then let me know.

Thank you.

Leash training I have the same question as Melissa, is he pulling or won't walk on leash.
Either way talking walks on the leash in your yard or house vicinity is the best way to start getting the pup used to the leash. Leash training is a lot of practice walking on the leash.  You can research commands that go with leash walking and you can learn how you want to train him. Things like to know the proper position where to walk by you or just not to pull, or that a leash means manners no jump, etc. You should be able to take him for small walks as practice right now!
Sounds like you are doing good. My 5 year old still gets in her crate on her own as her safe place. My previous husky taught me that drywall is really easy to chew through if they waant out of the garage and into the house. The key for you I think is exercise a tired husky is a happy husky and not a bored husky!!!!

EDITED just saw your post to Melissa.
Place the leash on the pup to go outside even if out to play or do business. At that point he is learning and practicing in the security of your yard.