I have been waiting and planning a puppy since Feb but at the last minute I have lost faith in the breeder I was following.  Logic kept saying ok that probably makes sense even if unorthodox and then last week with failures of answers and her yet again forgetting who I was when I have been on the top of her list asking questions since feb my heart spoke up too loudly.  I cast a wide net, even messaging a Norwegian elkhound breeder just in case, and  I settled on this husky x northern breeds mix that we are picking up this weekend.  They think she'll be a little bigger than the husky side at 60lbs and lighten up to have a mask.  They are sending me an updated picture tonight but this is what I have so far.



I planned a male to add to my 3 females for simplicity but it didn't happen that way so after much thought because my chosen name was masculine I have gone with Aiko.  As a common name it means beloved child but I chose it more as a name variation on it's verb form where it is translated more as partner or to come together, to unite, to match....  My akita has been my other half but she is turning 10 and starting to show initial symptoms of the same back problems as her mother so while it is extremely sad to think about anything replacing her I will need a new hiking and dog sports partner soon.  We already don't do any activity involving running, jumping, or climbing much.

Wow, how cute! Congrats on the addition.

Adorable!!! Congratulations and welcome to the forum! Cool name too

so adorable, congratulations on your new fur baby.

Crate training night 1: *quiet* *quiet* *squeak* *whine* *whine* *hooooowwwwlll* *hoooowwl* *bark* *grumble* *whine* *quiet* repeat
I tried to let her mouth my fingers a little like I did the husky but she dug in. No good bite inhibition yet. Tomorrow: bite inhibition step 1. She's actually not too bad about housebreaking but she has some diarrhea so she keeps being forced to use the puppy pad section of her pen. At least she's using it and then she tells me about it until I change it and take her outside to try to finish. It's annoying now but it's far more annoying to be going on 3 years of not house broken husky than working out a couple weeks with a puppy who naturally wants to keep their living quarters clean.

Only pic so far is demanding water in the car cause one thing after another happened when we got home.


I think she is black sable or black agouti of some type. The bit of mix breed in there makes it harder to tell. The mother is regular black with white. The father I am not sure on. My dog genetics isn't that strong. All the littermates were shades of red to cream and 1 grey with a lot of white.

After the vet and collar buying it's been a tiring day. No external parasites, you can see she's a little thin now that the pot belly has gone down some, and they are testing her stool. She had diarrhea all night but it's improving today so maybe stress or maybe their attempt to push them onto a complex kibble. We started her on ground raw and are mixing panacur powder in it. She's much more subdued when out than when in the house or car with just us. I've got her to start following me and she sat for the first time while waiting for the vet and got liver treats.

Oh. liver treats! Most of the dogs I've ever had would roll over and beg for liver treats!!!

Diarrhea isn't too uncommon for the first day or so after a transition, whether that's home / people / food / ??? seems as if the dog has a way of saying I'm not happy so @#$ on you!! (( oops, sorry ))

She's a cute thing in that bottom picture, nice, quiet, layed back ... but I'm sure that's gonna change!

Oh she was all wiggly and wild in the morning. Her bite inhibition is not very good and I got bit in the face twice but she's already downgrading to licking faces and being nicer to fingers. She didn't want to chew on the rope toy but found the feet on the hedgehog toy better so after that it helped to have something to shove in her mouth instead of me. I did let her chew on the leash at the vet office but it was better than other behavior options. We can stop that before it becomes a habit and we tend to use cord leashes that don't chew well. My 3 year old husky keeps scaring Aiko for now. She really wants to play with her so she bounces around her and spins in circles. I have to keep an eye on her to tell her to back off when she actually paws Aiko.

5am "hooooowwwwwl" "hoooowwwwl" Take her outside, she chases leaves and eats some grass, eventually bring her back inside, change her puppy pad, change her blanket because it's damp but I think just spilled water, put her back in the kennel, and "hooooooooowl" Sleep deprivation started 2 days ago. The real problem is my husband does have to make it through 2 more days of work.

Ahhhh.... The joys of crate training... Lol! Good lookin pup you have there.

I think we need a name for the illness caused by the training of a new Nordic breed puppy. Also a warning not to make major decisions for 72hrs or until howling only happens once a night. Have you heard what happens when you combine a husky howl with a shiba scream? You gotta laugh at the dying noises accompanying the best attempt at imitating a wolf or you'd go murder the pair of them.

*going to attempt to sneak to the bathroom and go back to sleep without setting off the howling*

You and me too! Mine decided they wanted out at 04:00 so I started playing on the internet while they were out. Mine are un-typically quiet so I don't have to contend with howling - but I am seriously un-impressed with 04:00 potty calls!!!

Fun morning.  I got woken up by howling but then she promptly flopped asleep.  Luckily I stayed awake.  I decided after I finished waking up to feed her but she just looked at me when she inhaled food yesterday.  She was responsive but lethargic and also ignored her water being filled. She didn't explode out of her crate like yesterday.  Sent some texts to my breeder friend and wiped globs of honey on Aiko's tongue (I don't keep corn syrup on hand because I can't have it and I find the complex sugars in honey more useful).  Aiko slowly ate increasing amounts of food between laying down.  Then stood up, squeaked, and passed mucus filled with worms all over before sitting in it.  Yay...  Disinfect puppy, disinfect crate items, disinfect me....  She laid down awhile longer and then started complaining so I let her wander the room a bit where she peed. (My husband's patience would have broken right there)  Bark at the dog who hates her which really helps change her opinion. Followed the cat. Fell asleep on the bed and I put her back in her crate to go take care of my gerbils. She drank a little water and went back to sleep. I'll give her another meal and make sure she's getting enough liquid in a little while. She tested positive for giardia and roundworms and I think the stress of the past 24hrs is catching up to her. She already started treatment and we were increasing her food intake today anyway but I will also consider adding a small meal when my husband leaves for work in the mornings or later at night to avoid hypoglycemia.

Kaliska...your pup is adorable, I highly recommend 3-4 meals a day, and since you are having troubles with parasites and worms goats milk, they make some specific for puppies, some feed stores or pet stores may carry it or chewy https://www.chewy.com/s?query=goats+milk&nav-submit-button= The honest kitchen makes pro Bloom which is out of stock at chewy but if you can locate it somewhere else, that is what I would get, has probiotics in it as well as the milk it will help the pups tummy.

We fed 4 meals. We just started smaller to see how she'd handle the sudden switch to ground raw and the gap between when I went to sleep and when I woke up was probably too long. My husband didn't feed her. He just let her go potty outside before work. She's eating a bit over 1/2lb more today with the last quarter pound fed later and more water over night. I put formula powder in her first meal to entice her but haven't after that because aside from her lethargy this morning she's been slurping it right down. My husband gave her a little over 1/4th pound, walked through the doorway to turn the water off in the kitchen, turned around to see her at the gate and asked if she ate that already. Probably. Turns out yes. If you don't break up the slice she just grabs one end, down it goes in one piece, and she does a quick lick to make sure no blood is left behind in the dish before looking at you like "more?" and then banging her dish to see if that gets more. We'll keep going up a little until she is satisfied enough or is keeping a good weight with no problems. I have extra small whole prey compared to what I normally use stocked up in the freezer too. I usually start with a small leg and work the up to hips, spine, and then the end with ribs. If they start to eat that too quickly I give it frozen which makes it easier to trick them into eating the organs too.

Aiko got bored so she looked for things to bark at. "rrr, rrr" "rrr, rrr" returned bark and growl, nope not that dog. Let's go to the even bigger and more dominant one. "rrr, rrr" "grrawr" *flatten* "squeeeak" She already warned you several times so it's your own fault. Trot up to the cat but we didn't get to "rrr" before *whack* so no barking at cats. She then held a conversation of barks, squeaks, and groans with the 2nd youngest husky who was crated because she still has housebreaking issues while we finished eating. There was no use of the tv until she got taken out to potty and then let loose to play because they just escalated. Life is hard as a puppy.