Hey all,

So I have been making some casual inquires on some huskies in foster care who are up for adoption to consider as a brother for Kesler. My mother in law is of the opinion that I should get a "quieter" breed. While I am somewhat set on another husky. I guess she is of the mind that a less busy breed would calm him down, while I think another husky would complement his...huskiness lol.

I know I am consulting a somewhat biased group, but just wondering if anyone has any opinions regarding this.

Thanks!

I personally don't think a quieter breed will make your husky any different than he already is. His personality is all his own and another dog I don't think will change that no matter the breed. Kenzi didn't become less sassy when we got keno, though he does wear her out playing. Having similar energy levels is nice. As I am finding, two dogs with different energy levels makes exercising more difficult. A lazier dog may find an ever rowdy husky exhausting or simply not hold up to all the exercise your husky requires. And as independent as Huskies are, they rarely care how obedient another dog is. They are too busy living life. Whether you go with another husky or something else you will be fine, but I wouldn't worry about another breed making my husky stop being a husky.

Huskies tend to be the more self confident and assertive of any two dogs. If anything I think the opposite of what you are asking about would be the case. Huskies aren't......easily persuaded to change.

Kiersten, we have been thinking of getting a second as well. Jeff and Jenn are right on though, you can't change a husky, and another dog won't either. Are you ever going to work your dogs, or are they more of a companion, if they are working 2 huskies would be better. If companion you want another dog who can keep up and play and exercise at a similar pace and roughness. Observing Kesler at a dog park can be helpful. With Miya I have ruled out pitts and boxers, both are fearful of her, don't understand her play style and tire too easily for her. We are (even if hubby isn't totally on this page yet) looking at another husky, my number one choice or a german shepherd, my second choice.

In my family, its always been two Huskies. Only other breed ever mixed in was an Alaskan Malamute (my dog) and I remember being told that Malamutes are more territorial and more a "one mans dog" than a Husky, who is quite the opposite in not being territorial at all and loving anyone that showed him/her attention. To add to that is the Husky at the time was male, and my Malamute was a male so it was strongly advised it would not work out too well. But I wanted that Malamute puppy and my mom let me have him. Those two lived together for 12 years (Husky died at 17, Malamute at 16) and didnt have one problem. I think being of the same size, same actvity levels, etc...helped immensely. Watching my current Huskies together, Mishka is quite a bit smaller still and they play rough, and I often have to step in just cuz I'm really a bit worried Kohdi's gonna hurt her on accident, so that would really be my only advice to you is that should you get a second dog, one of the same size (or will grow into the same size) would be beneficial. I agree with you that another husky would compliment his "huskiness" I am VERY biased though, haha. Good luck to you on whatever decision you make...I do believe Huskies thrive on the companionship of another dog, whatever breed that dog may be (but get anothr husky, lol)

Thanks everyone for your opinions! Seems like generally people have the same idea as me

I in no way think any dog with have an effect on Kesler's personality...he is too strong willed (ahem...husky ). I also would never try to change him. I don't discourage his activities (or zoomies), unless they get too rough, so I would like a buddy for him to interact with fully.

My main reason for wanting another dog is to have a buddy for Kesler who can keep up with him. When he plays with other dogs, they alway seem to get fed up with him and just want to relax after a while. So far he has interacted with lots of dogs. The only one who could keep up was a malamute....they had so much fun together!! I wish I could keep up, but this Mumma can only run so far and so fast. Our play time seems to give him more energy rather than less

Generally Kesler is a companion dog, we have a fair amount of land which is fenced so we play with him a lot at home. I also do cani-cross with him and we both go for long runs/jogs with him (my fiance one day, me the next to give eachother a break). We live in the country so we have lots of options for activities. This winter I am going to work on his directional training while snowshoeing, then as he learns graduate to ski-joring.

Still leaning towards another husky

I don't know if this helps but a friend of mine has two huskies and two black labs. They seem to mix very well with each other. The labs have enough energy to keep up with the huskies and also seem to play similar to the husky (it might just be their family).

I have 3 dogs right now. When my lab was put to sleep, my fiance' insisted on another husky. I have, as a result, joined the multi husky group. The benefits is that it is more likely you will have two dogs that share similar behaviors and energy levels as others have said. I think some breeds mesh well with huskies, so if your heart is set on other breeds it may work but you seem set on husky. In either case, I can guarantee a calm dog does not calm down another dog. My lab and shepherd mix were on opposite ends of the spectrum once they hit about 3 years old. My lab liked relaxing and laying around where my shepherd needed a lot of walks, bike runs, and playing fetch. This is slightly hard to manage as others said. The biggest impact I think may be that my lab tended to bark more then I think he would have as my shepherd mix barks a lot. My huskies, they don't ever bark when my shepherd barks now. Also, before Ichigo, Loki still needed bike runs and such to keep his energy down. My shepherd mix and lab being a seniors didn't calm him down, though my shepherd does bark at my huskies at times yell at them I think.

Many of the other breeds I liked my fiance' did not except for akita and some other breeds that can be much higher energy then husky and I was not up for that challange. A big reason I was ok with huskies is I think I like having 3 dogs. My female shepherd mix takes better to males and huskies seem less inclined to same sex aggression in comparison to other breeds I was considering. As I am content with a 3 dog household, I also considered in future I may like to get a female akita inu many years from now, but presumably when I still have my male huskies.

Thanks everyone for your two cents

I just filled out an application to adopt a one year old Alaskan Husky....so we shall see where that takes us lol.