Hi! My name is Sade! My fiancée and I are new husky owners as of about a week ago. We adopted Flex and he's about 4 to 5 months of age. We are thinking he is a husky and possibly shepherd mix. I am a experienced dog owner but this is my first husky type breed. I also have two toy size dogs. A Shih Tzu mix male (6 yrs old) and a Min Pin female (3 yrs old). My two little ones are very bonded.
It has been a week and my little ones are becoming adjusted to the newcomer. My MinPin female will play with him for a little while until he gets too rough and we have to stop them. My Shih Tzu male has made it very clear to Flex that he is not interested in rough housing and Flex respects his space. The only issue we have come across is Flex has shown aggression when it comes to toys, treats, and food with the other dogs. They do not try to take anything from him but if they walk by him he lunges. Typically, he will lunge and just snap as a warning and then go back to his treat, toy, etc but there has been an instance that my Shih Tzu walked by, Flex lunged at him and my Shih Tzu retaliated which lead to a fight. My fiancée has tried correcting him by to no avail. He is a very high energy puppy and I feel that unless we get this under control he will only become more territorial and aggressive. Does anyone have any training tips on how to get this corrected??!!

Leash on Flex at all times, attached to one of you.
He hasn't earned freedom until he understands the rules of the house.
Sorry, but it's tough love for Flex for some months.

The leash is good advice. It gives you a quick control to correct any bad behavior such as lunging and possessiveness. You are going to have to stand up for your smaller dogs and put him in his place when they cannot and shouldn't. If he cannot handle having things without getting defensive with the other dogs then try limiting his time with things. Play fetch with all the dogs jointly and when everyone can't interact put the toys away. Same with treats. Don't leave them out for him to hoard continually. Give them all something and if anything doesn't get used up in a timely manor, pick it up. During meal times and treat times if he lunges at anyone give the leash correction. He will pick up on what is going wrong if you are consistent.

Thanks for the advice! We've had to feed the other two first and in another room because yesterday he inhaled his food then tried to go after theirs. We corrected him immediately but not before he got a nip in with the Shih Tzu and almost started another fight. This morning I had him go into a sit and stay to wait for his food. Also I fed the little ones first so he's not motivated to try and rush to take theirs.

If he is bad about inhaling his food I would get a slow bowl -> slow feeder If he isn't getting done with his food so fast that should take some pressure off you and your other dogs. It's also way healthier for him. I have this for my second dog who was also food aggressive when I got him. He would bite people and dogs if they got too close to his food when I first got him.

Its going to take time and consistency but I think with this advice we can get him balanced out. Thanks so much! Also I have another question. My fiancee thinks it would be a good idea to adopt another for a little bit older than Flex..maybe a 6 or 7 month old. He wants one that is high energy also so they can play together since my lil ones aremt too keen on rough housing. Initially, I don't think it's a good until we handle is possessiveness. Which we agreed on. Once we get this resolved I wouldn't mind getting him a playmate but I want a medium energy level pup. Jason thinks another high energy dog would work best. In my opinion two high energy dogs together is not a good idea because of the likelihood of aggression and destructive duo activities. A friend of mine and I went to a local social gathering where the SPCA was showing some of their available adoptable dogs. I meant a pup by the name of Pepper..a 5 month old lab/pit mix and her temperament was perfect! Very quiet but curious..dog friendly..great on the leash and very affectionate. Would she be a good fit for Flex?

Hey, there and Howdy from the Big Bend area of our Great State!
I'm gonna get myself in trouble with the powers that be here, but there are several of us on here from Texas - all the way from Houston to the Big Bend up to Dallas (with a stop in "west Texas" - not West, Texas though). What part of the state are you in?

I don't have anything to add to the advice you've already gotten so I'll just reiterate my "Howdy and Welcome!!"

(( Harrumph, that's supposed to be an animated gif!! -- There we go, that's better! ))

Until Flex is under more control and understands the rules of the house and rules regarding the other dogs and possessiveness then I would advise against picking up another dog. It is much easier keeping track of a new dog when all the others tow the line as you wish them to. As for temperament I would get what fits your household. Having a buddy his own size will help him burn off some energy the smaller dogs can't but another dog can't serve as a substitute for people time or just good ol' fashion exercise. A medium temperament dog will probably ease the mind of your smaller dogs, but a dog with enough energy and gumption to keep up with flex would be good. The mix you mentioned sounds like a great dog. You just want Flex to have better manors before bringing another in. If he isn't solid in his training and behavioral issues then he could actually rub off bad habits on your new dog.

The "bad advice" given to jalapeño *may* have been me last night when I logged out I had a window pop up saying my vote had been cast, and since I didn't knowingly cast a vote, I figured I inadvertently gave someone a treat (often happens when I'm on my iPad even though I am trying to be extremely careful now when scrolling) so my apologies to jalapeño and hopefully there are no doubts to the advice he has given.

No prob.
I love your dogs!

jalepeno wrote:

No prob.
I love your dogs!

Thank you! I LOVE Bohdi too

Again, I'm very sorry, im pretty sure it was me because of the pop up I saw and this was a post I read just before I got off here last night. I wish the site would make us "verify" a vote before its cast, lol, cuz those things are sooooo easy to hit on an iPad. Usually it's a good treat I give , which woulda been cool in this case, haha

This site acts screwy for me too sometimes.
I cannot load pictures in Safari- the whole screen jumps when I try to upload.
Anyway on Chrome now so I could do this-

Your dog Mishka looks a lot like my second husky, Tasha.
She was about 12 in this picture.

RIP Tasha, my sweet girl

Michael, she was beautiful

I wish I had more pictures of my first, a girl, Sasha. Boy was she a sassy one!

jalepeno wrote:

This site acts screwy for me too sometimes.
I cannot load pictures in Safari- the whole screen jumps when I try to upload.
Anyway on Chrome now so I could do this-

Your dog Mishka looks a lot like my second husky, Tasha.
She was about 12 in this picture.

RIP Tasha, my sweet girl

Wow Michael, Tasha really was BEAUTIFUL. She really does remind me to Mishka! Wow! I love the name Tasha too, befitting a beautiful girl. Beautiful picture.

I can't load any pics from my iPad, everything has to go through my laptop. It sucks. The jumping screen though, it sounds kinda like what makes me hit the "treats" here, the treats are lined up right where I use my finger to scroll and once in awhile the screen stops or jumps which causes my finger on the screen I guess to activate that "button", I don't know how feasible it'd be but it'd be cool if when we hit the treat button, if a little pop up or something would come up asking if we're sure we want to give the treat, kinda like when a camera sends up a box that asks if we're sure we want to delete a pic, and we click yes or no.

Thank you for being so understanding! If I could, I'd keep adding treats until the red disappeared, lol

Also, can any of you tell me if he is a husky mix? He has rather long legs and his tail is not bushy or curly at all. I have a friend that has a Sibe from a reputable breeder and when I compare them theres quite a few differences. He is much larger, not as fluffy, and the texture of his fur is unusual. He is about 2 months young than the other pup. Having a pure bred isn't important to me, I just like knowing lol

Hi Sade, hey, you're just up the road from me a ways!

While a side picture would help some, he looks like he's pretty much mostly Husky to me. He's going through the "rabbit ear" stage, which all puppies do, eventually they seem to grow into them. Two months in a puppy can make all the difference in the world - he's a pretty pup and I hope you stick around so we can see him grow up.

Oh really that's cool!!

Yea its hard to get him to stand still haha! He is a ball of energy! I'm full of question tonight. Just ooonneee more (for now). I just got new neighbors. They have two dogs; a female Boxer and a male Boxer/Pit mix, both adults. I'm not sure how long these dogs have lived together but it seems almost every night I am woken up by them fighting each other. I mean I hear some ty awful sounds coming from the other side of the fence. My fiancée has spoken to the owner and he says he is working on their behavior and I hope his right. My concern is that their fence obvious borders ours. I caught Flex the other day growling and snapping at them from a small space between the wooden planks (its reinforced so he or the other dogs cant get through) Is their aggressive behavior with each other affecting him somehow??!! I just moved to this neighborhood a month ago and I know that the previous tenants of my home had 6wolf hybrids in the backyard so he reinforced the fence from top to bottom.

Flex looks pretty much full husky to me, too. Huskies coats are on a continuum from shorter to longer to way too long and a fault (see my wooly boy ) My first husky, many, many years ago had a much shorter coat - sort of what I think people mean when they refer to a "racing/working" husky versus the more plush coat of a show husky...for examples of the latter, search for Capellalayla. Arctic_Wind has loads of pictures of a more plush pair (all 3 dogs, Layla, Mishka and Kohdi are beautiful though very different.) Go through the pics on this site and you can see the many variations.

As for the aggressive behavior...I dunno if it would be "infectious" so to speak but I can imagine it could be quite anxiety provoking for a young pup.

I'm thinking full husky as well, I just love his little mask! The white between and slightly over the eyes reminds me of the two racing flags used on the emblem of the Corvette, haha.

The "aggressiveness". I don't know if it's a dog thing or a husky thing but I do believe it's "normal". And really up to each individual owner to curb. My two do it, minus the snapping but only because maybe it hasn't gotten to that point. On either side of me are rental homes, where my two can be exposed to different dogs depending on who moves in. My newest neighbors have a pit bull that is fairly quiet for then most part but does hang out by the fence and will bark, being as he's new, my two are constantly over there and yakking (Kohdi) with him, pawing at the fence (I honestly think all in play) etc. my neighbors on the other side moved in shortly before, and that was the fence my two were hanging out at doing the same thing. As time went on, and all the dogs got used to each other being there, the level of intensity I guess, decreased. But yeah, I'm out there to call mine away from the fence and my neighbor with the pit bull does the same.

Im gonna join along with Aljones and welcome you fellow Texan!
I always get more excited when there's a new member from Texas hoping that it's Houstonian but most of the time that's not the case haha but anyway, I don't have anything to add to what has already been said here but I will say that I reccomend a slow feed bowl. I put my boy Mylo on a slow feed bowl from about 4 months old until now that he's 1yr old. Now he eats at a regular pace and finished up in about 6-7minutes which is great compared to his 1 minute life or death eating thing he did before lol That orange one and the purple one were the ones I used with Mylo.
Flex looks happy in that pic there

AAAGGGHHH!!!! Now I need help to keep my sanity! Ok....so.. while I was at work yesterday, my neighbor's female boxer jumped their fence and my fiancée helped him catch her. The neighbor informed Jason that he had just recently adopted her and could no longer keep her due to the constant fighting with his male pit bull and jumping the fence, so he was considering taking her to the pound. Well being the kind hearted yet inexperienced dog owner Jason is, he told him that we would take her (I apparrently didn't get to have a say in it). So I get home, and Ta DAH! I have a new, one year old, spayed, high energy level, resource aggressive, escape prone, prey driven (chased and almost attacked my Shih Tzu) one person type (she was attached to the husband and snappy with his wife) female Boxer!! Jason is determined that he can train both Flex and Chloe (boxer) to be well mannered dogs. My question is how do I keep myself from killing my fiancée?!

Hello fellow Texan!! I will definitely have to get him one of those bowls!! His training is slowing progressing but its kinda slowed down now because he is terrified of this new dog. He wants to play with her but in typical Boxer fashion, she wants to use her front feet to "box" him around and hes not too fond of that lol

We have the expression "land poor" down here, it's when you own the old family tract of a couple of sections (1500 acres or so) but don't have any money to do anything.  Sound to me like you're rapidly becoming "dog poor"!  << sorry, I tease badly and normally badly >>

You're in west Texas, that sounds like justifiable homicide to me!  You'd probably get off with 6 months probation if that even.  (( before anyone takes me seriously, Texas law does not condone murder except in a very few circumstances ))
Personally, I'd suggest to the fiancée that the boxer needs to go back to her owner.  with the small dogs you have, you're inviting a catastrophe - that may sound pretty hard hearted, but until you get Flex toned down, you don't need to add another unruly dog to the mix.
It's odd that Flex is being standoffish with the boxers boxing ... Husky's often stand up on their hind legs and use their front paws to control their adversary; unless Chloe is much bigger or much heavier or *much* more aggressive I can't picture Flex letting her get the better of him.

Yea Flex is only 4 months and she's over a year old so she had quite a bit on him. He runs around her and bowls but as soon as she gives chase or starts boxing him he freaks out and cowering away. When it comes to Chloe, I'm more than willing to help our neighbor find her a good home. I just can't have her with my pack...