Tomorrow after hubs gets off work we are headed out to pick up our new puppy! I am pretty sure I have got everything ready, I will be doing some shopping in the morning to get him some new toys.

Lets see if I am remembering everything
Puppy size collar
leash
puppy food he is used to eating, for transitional purpose (he's eating puppy chow)
treats
crate
toys, toys and more toys
house is already puppy-proofed
will be getting an ID tag, (maybe 2 in case 1 gets lost) after we are 100% sure on his name.
Anything else I am forgetting?

Now for introducing him to the gang... I know how to go about with the dogs and cats, they are so used to the guide dog fosters coming and going, and friends bringing their dogs that I know they wont be a problem. Its the chickens I am worried about. I know huskies have a high prey drive and that they will never ever be left alone unsupervised, but my hope is that I can have him around them supervised. The chickens are usually kept in a separate fenced off area, just because I don't want the whole yard crapped up, but I do like to let them out occasionally to eat any bugs in the yard (haven't had ticks ever since we got the chickens) Also we do have a large population of cats in our neighborhood, mostly semi-feral from the cat lady down the road. They don't usually come into our yard, but it has happened before I would really like for no bloodshed to occur, I know probably wishful thinking.

I know huskies are known to be escape artists so would you recommend a tie out cable for times I have him outside unsupervised? We do have a fence but it is only a 4foot high chain link so I know that is not good enough.

Any other advise you want to give will be appreciated and I will take any advise into consideration.

Congrats on the new pup, can't wait to see pics. If you don't have any I would suggest various chew toys and treats, teething starts pretty early, dependent of course on his age today, when you bring him home. They love to eat and chew everything. If you have bought it, then disregard, but many huskies do better on grain free kibble. I can't suggest much on the outside thing, I did do a tie out around an oak tree for Miya when she was a pup, but, omg, she just would wrap herself around it and couldn't lay down or anything. so mine are always supervised outside. The prey drive, hmmm, as a pup I would slowly introduce him to small critters, I found that small increments of supervised greetings worked well, although mine will chase off anything and everything off of our property, so the kill thing I guess is not an issue for them, however my older girl did eat a baby duck when she was 4 months old, so we did have to step up the slow intros, and strong supervision, and heavy training of stay, recall, drop it and leave it, be gentle has worked as well. Good luck, they are such a wonderful breed.

I do have lots chew toys, but you can never have too many. I think I may try getting a kong again, I got one years ago for my first sheltie, but they are not very big chewers, none of them would use it so I gave to my brother for his pit bull puppy. The lab puppy prefers sticks What chew toys would you recommend?

My other dogs eat diamond naturals extreme athlete but if the pup doesn't seem to tolerate it I will switch to something different. Oh I also feed some raw chicken, cant afford to feed full time but what I do give them is from birds I have raised myself.

I have heard of a lot of people with farms doing slow introduction supervised. It was for ducks, barn cats, and chicken/roosters. I think it all came to supervision and patience. Then I believe you have to keep the knowledge that one day the instinct might just be stronger than being raised with them. That prey drive might kick in one day but them again if they are raised together i would think supervision and having times when they are separated should work.

I would just get a couple chew toys of kong or rubber type nature to start. Then see which one the pup prefers. Also keep in mind in a pinch an empty paper roll works. (TP or paper towel) Bourbon loved his kong type stuff, Baylin it was chewing on balls, Vlad likes more grow up chew toys.

So, Colby (my Schnauzer) loves any and all chew toys. However, I found that Zhukov (Husky) had a real hard time with any chew toy with a rope. He would eat the rope. Shred it and eat it. So, no more rope toys, to Colby's disappointment. Also, anything stuffed would get the stuffing ripped out and the stuffing was either eaten or spread out all over the house. So now, we de-stuff any toys. And God help us if there is a squeaker in the toy. It seems like he is obsessed with getting that dang squeaker out and then walks around with it in his mouth squeaking away like a freak.

That being said, Zhukov LOVES Kong toys. I got a cone shaped toy that I fill with peanut butter that keeps him entertained for a while. Also, anything that requires brain power. I have a ball toy that you put treats in and he has to figure out how to get the treat out. The thing is the size of a bowling ball and he pushes it all over the house.

He loves to chew on tennis balls, but REFUSES to fetch them. If you throw a ball for him, you better be prepared to walk over to where the ball went to get it back.

Anyhow, good luck and I can't wait to see your new batch of furry-craziness that you are adding to your menagerie.

Jessica, from my wealth of vast experience - the best way I've seen to introduce a puppy is to introduce him to the meanest setting hen you have.  I can almost guarantee that the puppy will remember the introduction - probably well into adulthood.  I've never seen a puppy stand up to a hen - they learn quickly, as puppies, that hens have sharp beaks!  

I spent part of my time growing up on a dairy / subsistence farm in upstate New York.  We always had at least one dog and puppies around (along with cows, a bull, a draught horse or two, chickens and sometimes rabbits).  Most puppies will want to investigate the hens - well, they are new and different; most hens will defend themselves and a nest so puppy learns early to leave them alone.  The only thing we learned to watch out for is if the puppy is face on to the hen she may go for the pups eyes - most hens don't see anything more than the tail after a couple of good pecks!
Most hens will *defend* and once the puppy is gone they're comfortable again; a rooster on the other hand is more apt to cause damage since they'll go on the *offensive*.

Noto bene:  this does not (emphatically NOT!) work well for any pup over about 6 months, they're bigger and more 'foolish' for lack of a better word. A bigger puppy wants to play and playing with a hen or rooster is bad news for both sides.

Question: How do you introduce the foster pups to the hens or don't they ever get to interact??

Mark, you are way too funny, but oh so right....yes I came home many of times to hurricane Miya and the destruction of stuffies and fluff everywhere, she had to get to the squeaker. Well except for Teddy, Teddy lasted a couple of months with her, and then one day Teddy was missing an arm, then a leg, and so forth. I can't say the word Teddy to this day, she runs around looking for him, lol.

Al, I agree at 8-12 weeks old a swat in the face from an independent cat or the beak of a hen normally persuades a pup to not mess with them. The older the pup, the more "foolish" they get.

As far as chews, Miya preferred raw meaty bones, and cow ears. My pup now, Sofie likes the same, but she also likes rubber bones and sticks, ugh sticks. Miya would destroy balls, but will play fetch and Sofie doesn't destroy balls because she loves fetch, but then again Sofie is a gsd.

I wish my hens or my rooster would more aggressive. I don't know if its because they are used to the shelties herding them, but when they see a dog coming toward them they just head for the coop. The tom turkeys on the other hand probably would have done it, but by the time the ones I get are big enough to intimidate, the puppy wont be so little anymore.

I missed one question so I'll opt back in now, Jessica.  For your puppy, the four foot fence should work well.  If he learns as a pup that the fence is not to be crossed you *may* find that he won't try as an adult.

Of my two, I don't have any fences but looking at how high they jump Avalanche could (and would, I have no doubt) easily clear a five to six foot fence.  Sasha came from San Antonio and the people who had her there only had a waist high fence (3-4ft) and she never tried to get out (from what they said)

I'd think it goes back to one of my favourite phrases "Train the puppy to be the dog you want it to become."  For example, if you won't want your dog on the couch, don't let the puppy on the couch; if you don't want your dog outside the fence then don't ever let him outside (unless he's on a leash or in a vehicle)  I'd really be inclined to think that would work until dog sees something outside the fence that's just to tempting - then all bets are off.

Hello! Congrats on your new addition!
Everyone else here has pretty much touched on all of the topics so I'm just going to throw in my two cents on the tie out since we did have a bad experience one time and a couple of other minor ones.
1. I probably wouldn't suggest a tie out and leaving your pup alone until he or she is used to being alone. I say this because we had tried putting Red on a tie out the same day we got her and she would cry, jump and pull as soon as we stepped out of reaching distance from her. So she definitely was not ready to be out unsupervised for even a minute (and even now, I'm hesitant to leave her alone for more than a few minutes at a time). She had excited herself too much one time as I was walking towards her and she yanked the tie out to its very end and caused herself to get pulled back and she landed hard enough to knock the wind out of her. She was only on the tie out with her collar at this time.
2. Once you're ready to do the tie out, I would suggesting using a harness in conjunction with the collar. Tether the harness to the collar so that if your pup ever escapes the harness then you still have the collar as a back up. And connect the tie out to the harness so that when your pup does pull, it's not putting all the strain and snapping him/her back by the neck. I've had Red on the tie out connected to her harness and she's slipped her harness before when she got agitated by a noise but luckily the harness was also tethered to her collar with a carabiner. This method has saved her from escaping on numerous occasions.

Yes Amanda ^^^^^^^Same thing happened to Miya.

@Renee, it makes your heart skip several beats when that happens, doesn't it?!

Sorry, forgot one more thing so I guess it's more than just 2 cents!
I got this same toy at TJMaxx or Marshall's for $3.99 (they have tons of great deals on dog/cat toys but you have to pick and choose the ones you think are suitable). If your pup proves to LOVE squeaky toys as much as Red, then I think this disc would work nicely. I spent way too much money on stuffed squeaky toys only to have Red poke holes all over the toy and pull out the stuffing/squeaker on the same day I give it to her. So she's banned from stuffed toys. We stick with a hard rubber but not a hard plastic. She was given a hard plastic chew toy one time and she ended up cutting up her gums because bits of plastic protruded upwards with the chewing action. She just kept chewing and either didn't feel any pain or didn't care that she was bleeding. She's also banned from these types of toys as well. It all depends on whether your pup turns out to be a hard chewer but it's something to keep any eye on and to inspect your toys for any loose parts or blood periodically.
http://www.amazon.com/Chase-Chomp-Field-Disc-Orange/dp/B00ATMFT3C

I picked up some toys and a bag of puppy chow last night. After reading the ingredient list I remember why I don't feed that garbage! Its only until I can switch her over to a better food, then the chickens can have the rest of the bag. Only 8 hours left to go!

If you use a tie out please make sure that it has a large top or a cap over the top, similar to this or this.  I was in the vets office when a fellow brought in his dog who had impaled itself on a tie out stake similar to this or this

Personally, I really like this one and I think most dogs would, too.

I am *not* recommending or criticizing any of these product individually, I've used most of them or their like at various times and know what *I* feel comfortable with.

If I use a tie out it will either be one of those runner things, not sure what they are called, the kind that hooks to a line up in the air, looks like a clothesline. Or when I am in the front yard, that isn't fenced in I will just wrap the cable around the porch post, in that case the dog will not be unsupervised.

Also wanted to note that I will not be leaving the dog out for hours unsupervised, just at times like when I am trying to clean the house a bit and don't want 6 dogs under my foot! I always (unless its wet and muddy out) keep the shelties outside when I am vacuuming, since they think it is a noisy monster that must be barked at!

The runner works great. My husband also screwed a metal loop into the side of the garage so that there's no risk of impalement.

@Al, Great suggestion and a reminder on that risk.

we have a runner overhead from a tree to a spot in the ground ...soon to be moved to the deck rail instead of the ground

As a kid my parents used an overhead trolly, and I believe they work nice, and no tangled up mess, and possible injury. Though the doubling up of collar/harness is better for a husky monster, we used it on our gsd/husky who was about 10 years old, and our gsd, who wasn't an escape artist with just collars.

Al the Umbrella one is so dang cute.

@jessicar Hey, Jessica, yesterday you said that tomorrow was the big day - - that means today, yes??  

Okay, where's the pictures of the trip and the pup?? ... not necessarily in that order.

@Miyasmomma I'd like to string up a couple of trolleys for my mut's but I learned from the garden that I can dig about 1.5 feet down and it turns into a hard caliche / sandstone.  Avalanche has shade for the hot part of the day and after - and that idiot stays out in it!  Sasha goes out the back door to do her thing and sometimes stays out and that umbrella would be just the thing.

ETA: @Miyasmomma - check out that latest recall from *Fromm*!! That's got to be a first!!

Hope the trip went well! I can't wait to see pics!