Hey everyone, brand spankin new to the forum here! I just adopted my 3 year old husky; "Kenai" today and will be picking him up tomorrow from the shelter around 4pm. So very excited!!

Can I just say I'm a bit nervous because while researching the breed, there is so much negative stuff about them.. "They are terrible guard dogs", "they always try to escape", "they're not very loyal", "they have way too much energy" all these bad raps over and over again, but finding this forum and reading some very positive posts is very reassuring.

I did my one on one with him today and he was very well mannered, he didn't jump all over the place, wasn't all in your face... He was just chill, sniffing around and curious about everything around him, wasn't jumping or looking up for his first route of escape and he got along really well with his "cell mate" which is good because we have a German Shepherd and a Welsh Corgi also.

I am moving to Fairbanks, Alaska next year and will be moving alone, so I wanted a companion to take with me, a pup that is built to handle the -40 degree winters they get over there was one of the reasons I chose a husky. I'm ready for the commitment of exercising him daily, working with him a lot so that there is a bond between us, hoping that this will eventually be the outcome and being the best pack leader for him. I don't have a picture of him just yet, but when I get him tomorrow I will post one

Welcome! Don't be too put off by the "negative" stuff you read about Sibes. The "positives" far outweigh them. They are different from many other breeds for sure, but they can find a place in your heart like no other as well.

Sibes are what the Chukchi people made them, or maybe better said needed them to be. The Chukchi are a communal people, so there was no point to having a watch dog: your stuff belonged to everyone anyway. Might as well greet everyone with a wag and a smile! Barking, besides being  annoying, scared off game. I have read that during the summer months the Chukchi let their dogs more or less take care of themselves, so they love to wander and look for food. They needed to do this to survive. But when they were needed during the winter months they seem to understand that they will be kept close by being on a lease or under harness. They love to work with you. And when they were needed inside to help keep the kids warm they are well behaved and wonderful to cuddle with. Enjoy your new friend!

They aren't very demonstrative dogs, and sometimes it seems like they love everyone else more than their human, but wait and see. The bond will grow and it will feel like a partnership and get you right to your core.

Congrats and thank you for adopting! he is the perfect age to start working pictures when you can!

a lot of that "Negative stuff" is actually positive stuff if you look at it another way.

They are terrible guard dogs because on the whole they are so friendly to people and not aggressive at all. However their slightly wolf like appearance and medium size does alarm some people so I would say that having a dog still puts people off to robbing you.

They always try to escape because they are very very smart and need to properly exercised and engaged. However I have had Simon with me in 4' fences and he never tried to get out because he would rather stay in and play with me.

They are not very loyal because they are so very friendly. But I can promise you I know my Simon likes me a little bit more than he likes other people but I had work for it and earn it they don't just give it to you.

They have too much energy to be couch potatoes but they are up to going with you on every adventure and are up for anything.

Playing with the Big Dogs wrote:

a lot of that "Negative stuff" is actually positive stuff if you look at it another way.

They are terrible guard dogs because on the whole they are so friendly to people



They are not very loyal because they are so very friendly.

Hence, hubby calls Ami a "people whore"

Thank you for all the post everyone! Meant to post the day I picked him up but it was a busy day! Here are some pictures of him





So, not surprising there are a few hurtles at the moment. Firstly the shelter, by state law had to neuter him before he left, so he's recovering... A 10 day recovery. I feel like he's so wound up, he needs exercise and he wants to play, but I'm trying to limit his activity. Then there is our other dogs, A German Shepherd, Welsh Corgi and a Bichon Frise. The German Shepherd is pretty good with him but when Kenai wants to play, he jumps and nips at our German Shep and this is playing that are German Shep isn't used to, so he'll snarl and show his teeth and bark. The Corgi who is normally cool with all dogs does nothing but snarl and growl at him instigating a fight and our Bichon wants absolutely nothing to do with him, any close interaction and he wants to snap and fight. So it's been a constant effort to make sure we're not getting a big fight. I can't wait until his healing period is over so that I can exercise him, maybe it'll help with the other dogs?

He's a great dog though, he needs some training but I've read on here the first few days/weeks are so new to them that it's best to let them get settled in. He peed in my room and in the house 3 times, but I take him out, let him pee and do a slight praise and I haven't had a problem with it since. He was a little aggressive with food, he was eating and pushing his plate under my bed so I went to pull it out for him and he kind of snapped and snarled, I took his food away and fed him by hand, then put his food back down and hand fed him from the plate and he let me put my hand near the plate and didn't snarl or snap again, so I'm going to keep doing that and hopefully that habit will go away.

Our biggest hurtle is our dogs getting along, Kenai is 3 and the others are all 8 years old, hoping their dynamic will change, it's only his second day home but it's been a little hectic, trying to make sure there aren't any fights, making sure he's not moving too much and then I feel terrible leaving my parents to deal with it when I work. I was hoping our pups would all hit it off and it wouldn't be such an issue but such is life.

Congratulations, he's very pretty. It sounds like you're doing everything right, just give it some time with the other dogs...they'll more than likely come around.

Since the other dogs are a bit older, they may be set in their ways... and here comes a big ball of energy. I am sure once he settles in, and everything calms down, the other dogs will come around. Your German Shepard will probably be the first to come around

I can't wait to see your pics when you move to Alaska... That is where I hope one day to move to myself.

He is gorgeous.  And going by the 2nd picture he has found a friend already.  

Everything everybody said is so true.  Never let the negativity get in the way of what a great dog they are.  They are NOT a pet!!  They are a true companion and deserve to be treated that way.  The love and affection that Juno gives us can never be completely returned.  They are stubborn and incredibly intelligent.  Keep him challenged mentally and physically, and much of the negative behavior will go away.  Good luck and keep us informed how he progresses.

Sorry jimmy, finger slip on the phone.

Congrats on getting him home. All the dogs Will get along in time once they settle down

Hey everyone, thanks for replies and posts!

Sorry for the late post here, but thought I'd update and let y'all know how it's going. Well Kenai ended up getting pretty sneezy, started coughing a lot so I took him to the vet and he had a respiratory infection from kennel cough, so they gave him a shot of penicillin and sent me away with some antibiotics, he's gotten much better, but now all three of our other dogs now are sneezing and our corgi was coughing so we've been giving them some home remedies and they seem to be recovering pretty good, bit of an outbreak here

The dynamic of all the dogs has gotten better too, thank god.. Our German Shepherd was the first to not have any issues with him, if it was just them two outside we wouldn't have any problems. The corgi and the bichon however were the tough ones, the problem is they just don't like the way he wants to play, the corgi doesn't enjoy Kenai putting his mouth on his head so we have to still watch them here and there or else it sparks a fight. The bichon kind of told Kenai how it was and got nasty with him to the point where Keani jumps back and our bichon even chases him and not in a friendly way, so Kenai has learned to kind of leave him alone but he still likes bothering the corgi but all in all it has gotten much better!

His incision for the neutering is healed and we go on long walks everyday, today's walk was early this morning when he woke me up at 6:30 and we walked for about an hour. When we walk he sometimes will walk well with hardly any pull and then will out of nowhere just tug tug tug so I'm trying to correct that, we'll see how that goes, he also tends to playfully bite a lot, but it starting to get a little annoying now and I'm trying to correct that also, how do you all correct small things like that? Just a solid "NO" or do you flick them on the nose? He's becoming close to us but still has a bit of an "attitude" where he ignores you for something more interesting but I figure I've only had him a week haha gotta give it some time Other than that everything else is going pretty good, likes to chew on things a lot but hasn't really tore anything up which is good and no more accidents in the house! Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

lillith87 wrote:

Since the other dogs are a bit older, they may be set in their ways... and here comes a big ball of energy. I am sure once he settles in, and everything calms down, the other dogs will come around. Your German Shepard will probably be the first to come around

I can't wait to see your pics when you move to Alaska... That is where I hope one day to move to myself.

You were dead on about our German Shepherd being the first to come around, he's been so good about the whole thing, now he could care less when Kenai wants to play haha

And for sure, will post a lot of the move up to Fairbanks! Really excited, a bit nervous as well because its so far from my family here, but I just feel like I gotta go, been wanting to go for years, made it a bit more difficult for myself having a dog up there with me (pet deposit) and I will only probably be able to afford a small dry cabin when I get there but where there's a will there's a way so I'll make it work somehow.. Maybe I'll see ya up there eventually!