My latest husky is a rehome of a year and a half, so I didn't have to go through the home remodeling stage. Thank god!

I swore I would never get another puppy in the winter after my first husky puppy destroyed the kitchen when I was at work. We kept him in the kitchen with the doors shut, papers spread and some water. All was fine until one day he got a wild hair. Somehow he pulled the garbage out of a locked cabinet, ate some, and was violently ill (both ends). Then he jumped up on the counter, grabbed the toaster oven and ran around the kitchen, smashing it against the walls. I came home to a sick dog, a pile of garbage in the middle of the floor, poop and vomit everywhere, shards of glass, a destroyed toaster oven and dents in the walls.

My second husky Tasha was born in April. We brought her home in summer and had an outdoor kennel built. It had a run and dog house, but no roof. In winter we sometimes took pity on her when it was pouring rain. In the Pac NW, 33 degrees and ceaseless rain is very bad when the dog won't stay in her dry dog house. One day, we locked her in the kitchen. One of the doors was a swinging door that opened into the dining room. We put a big upholstered chair behind it so she couldn't push the door open - we thought. Puppy was eight months by now. After we left, she figured out she could throw herself against the door and move the chair a little. When she did that just enough, she slithered out into the dining room where she found a potted ficus plant, which she uprooted. Then she ran around the dining and living rooms with the plant in her mouth. The root ball smashed against the drapes and wallpaper. Dirt was all over the rugs. That incident led to her being banned from the house when we weren't home.

She was confined to the garage when it was raining. The garage was a nice dry structure with lots of room to run around. It also had a wall of stacked fire wood. One day I came home and she had pulled all the wood down. She had also run around the garage with various logs which she had thrown at the walls and garage door, leaving dents and holes. I think it was at this time that my wife started referring to the dog not by her name, but as, "Your Dog."

I know the feeling! Mya destroyed my living room when she was about 9 months. I mean, ate our leather couch, tore down the curtains, and ate a hole in the wall! After that she was crated until she was 3! We would also leave her gated in the kitchen, but she figured out that she was big enough to jump over it! Crates are now my BFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Adopted older dogs

knock on wood the worst they have done is uprooted 2 plants and eaten some paper, (including 3 ordered photo albums with the pics printed on the page) , cardboard, blankets, bed comforters, 2 WII games!!!and a few TV clickers.

While we went to home depot when Cheyenne was young (this was when I thought crating was cruel) I came home to our saletite dish ripped off the roof by our sweet little Huskies who ripped the cord off the wall (was nailed in) and tore it down from the ceiling and then played "tug" with the wall where the cord went to the outside dish until they "won" by destroying the wall, pulling some converter box THROUGH the wall, and unbolting the dish off the roof. I swear we were gone half an hour.

I always told my ex to put away any S**t when he left for work. Time and time again. I guess this day he forgot to put the mayonnaise away (brand new, just bought, practically 100% full jar.) I came home and opened the door. There was diarrhea EVERYWHERE! The floor was covered in diarrhea and vomit, his dog bed was oily and greasy from where he ate the ENTIRE JAR of mayo from. The jar was laying in the midst of it all LICKED CLEAN. The smell was terrible OH MY GOD. I closed the door and sat outside to try and control myself. I knew it wasn't there fault but what in the heck is so temping about a jar of freaking mayo!!!???

And finally we left them again for maybe a couple hours. We came home to our leather sofa totally demolished. All that was left on one side was the wood and foam of the skeleton.

And yet here I am... And now I have 4! lol



Cheyenne put me through a LOT. A lot of times (out of sheer anger) I had told her she was going back on that highway where she came from. Obviously I wasn't serious... but that's the limit she pushed me to! After her I swore to myself "never again. Never another puppy, EVER."

Kristina, geezzzzzzzzzz you had it worse than us !! Mya was bad, but omg a freaking jar or Mayo!!!

Kody is now starting on that crazy husky rampage, but his skinny butt stays in his crate during the day! He does sleep with us now because he doesn't wake up nearly as often as if he was in the crate. Spoiled dog..i know! He's been good at night though. Other than that if I'm not watching him he's in the crate. That Mya experience will not happen again!

They are too much. I have so much to add to this. When I got Frankie he was about 7-8 months old. We had so many remodeling incidents while we were crating. I swear he should have been named Houdini.
I used a metal wire crate in my downstairs area on a tile floor. During the day he managed to “slide” the crate all around. He moved the crate into the bookshelves (which were about 10/15 feet away) and bumped the shelves until things would fall off. Somehow he managed to get most of the things into the crate. I had left a tube of children’s vapor rub on the shelf to put it out of reach when I was in a hurry, and Frankie managed to get it. Cleaning vapor rub off of his fur was fun.
I then moved the crate to a carpet area. The howling at night was ridiculous. Someone recommended to me to cover the crate with a blanket. I put a queen sized comforter over the crate. When I woke at 3 am from the howling, I saw the entire comforter inside the crate and torn to shreds?!?!
About three weeks in, I was delirious from lack of sleep and frustration. I came home from work and was greeted at the door by my beloved husky……he had demolished his crate and broke free. In the process he went in the kitchen and took a glass out of the kitchen sink and broke it all over the kitchen and chewed up all kinds of stuff.
I got a new crate immediately. The people at petsmart thought I was nuts when I told them what happened. They took one look and Frankie and said “no way”. This time I went with an airline plastic crate. I also moved the crate into my son’s bedroom figuring he would do better with the company at night. He did so much better up there at night, we were all finally sleeping again. The day time was a completely different story and he wasn’t left alone for more than 2-4 hours. Sure enough, within a week he busted out of that crate too. Fortunately I closed the door to my son’s room. However, Frankie destroyed the blinds, tore up the carpet, bedding, etc. He was alone 3 hours max.
The next day I tried putting bungee cords around the front of the crate so he couldn’t open it…he tore those apart within ten minutes. So I put him in the downstairs bathroom. Again, he managed to get the door open. WTF!!! I can’t keep this dog contained for the life of me. I put a lock on the outside of the bathroom door so he couldn’t open it. This kept him from opening it.
The day Frankie was almost homeless again: I put him in the bathroom after 2 hours at the dog park. I was gone for 2 hours and I nearly had a heart attack when I came. My entire downstairs was flooded!!!! There was about 2-3 inches of water all over my kitchen creeping into my living room and I could still hear running water. When I opened the bathroom door, water was shooting all over the place. Frankie had punctured holes in the stainless steel pipe that runs from the wall to the toilet. He ran out of the bathroom as soon as I opened the door, soaking wet, and went running throughout the entire house jumping on beds, furniture, etc. before I could get him outside. What a mess that was to clean up. I could hardly look at him the rest of the day.
I ended up putting plexi glass over the front of the airline crate with holes drilled in for extra ventilation so he couldn’t open it, which worked so well.
It was quite an experience that I hope to never go through again. Thank goodness he’s so good now and we don’t need the crate anymore.
oh man were those first few months a nightmare, but I wouldn't trade him for anything

Oh, Dee! I know too well the flooded bathroom. We did not know about crate training 20 years ago when we got our first husky. She was so terrible! We started leaving her in the bathroom when we were gone and she too punctured holes in the water line to the toilet. It was such a pitiful sight seeing that drenched puppy shivering in the corner of the bathroom trying to get away from the spraying water! Fortunately, there was not enough water spraying out to actually flood the house, but her and the bathroom were soaked! When still being confined to the bathroom, she also ate the entire handle of a toilet brush. I had to watch carefully to make sure it came out!

It wasn't long before we bought a crate.... However, at about age 2 she "lulled" us into a false sense of security and we left her out of her crate at our brand new house, with brand new not-yet-paid-for carpet for just a couple hours. She found an ink pen on one of the end tables in the living room...it was a lovely shade of blue...and, or course, she chewed it up all over the living room carpet! Then with ink on her little paws, she ripped and raced up and down the hallway leaving her marks where ever she went!

I now have a brand new hole in a sofa cushion courtesy of the new pup. Thank goodness it's just a cushion (I think I can order a new cover from Broyhill since the sofa is only a year old). He's only 16 weeks old, so I'm sure I'll have more home remodeling stories...but let's hope not!

I don't know how any one dog can do THAT much damage in such a short time...it just blows me away to even try to imagine it! I do eventually want a second, and sometimes I think, '...maybe I'll get a puppy...' Then I read your stories, and I look at Ginger and I THANK my lucky Husky Angel above! And then I say to myself, 'I can wait for the right one to come along that needs a second chance at a forever home....'

Woah nelly!! This thread makes me thank my lucky stars that I have a very mellow and well behaved boy... yowza!!

CoffeeK8 wrote:

Woah nelly!! This thread makes me thank my lucky stars that I have a very mellow and well behaved boy... yowza!!

Yes, we have been saved by a really nice Husky Angel from above...

cmanding wrote:

CoffeeK8 wrote:

Woah nelly!! This thread makes me thank my lucky stars that I have a very mellow and well behaved boy... yowza!!

Yes, we have been saved by a really nice Husky Angel from above...

I've been blessed by this Husky Angel 4 times now. NONE of my huskies have ever been this destructive... The Cocker Spaniel my dad/stepmom had however, more than made up for whatever damage we were spared by the huskies. That critter was WILD and CRAZY and so food obsessed that if he had opposable thumbs, he would have taken over the world, I have no doubt.

cmanding wrote:

I don't know how any one dog can do THAT much damage in such a short time...it just blows me away to even try to imagine it!

LOL, My dog trainer said the same exact thing. The best part was after the chaos, he would go lay in the crate. He actually loved his crate as long as I was home.

I do have to say though...he really is a very good doggie now. I think we went through so much turmoil together that eventually we really bonded. The other day he had the perfect opportunity to run away. Someone left the backyard gate open. He was outside for a good 30 minutes before I saw the gate open. I thought for sure he was gone, but when I whistled for him he came right back in the yard. Turns out he never left the front of the house. He knows where he belongs now.

But I don't know if I could ever go through it again....I think I would have to get an older dog.

By reading these posts, it sounds like all your Chewers grew out of this distructive habit. Is that true? Even though Willow hasn't done nearly the amount of damage as some of yours, I am hoping be able to trust her out of the crate some day. Can you all trust your once destructive puppies in your house unsupervised now?

Makes me wonder if they go through all that destruction to really really make sure you care enough to stick with them through it all. And when you do, they are the perfect, well behaved, forever grateful and loyal dog until the very end and will do just about anything you ask from then on?

cmanding wrote:

Makes me wonder if they go through all that destruction to really really make sure you care enough to stick with them through it all. And when you do, they are the perfect, well behaved, forever grateful and loyal dog until the very end and will do just about anything you ask from then on?

I like to believe this to be true

I wouldn't say I trust him 100% unsupervised. All bedroom and bathroom doors need to be closed and we need to make sure all of the end/coffee table are cleaned off. He still has his moments, but at this point more of it is our fault for not putting things away.

Mindy, yes, I trusted Mya loose in the house when she turned abought 2 1/2. She hasn't done anything ever since. But keep in mind that in her teenage years she DESTROYED A LOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We leave her in our bedroom and nowhere near a couch b/c we are paranoid..lol.

Kody will be in his crate till that age as well. He does sleep with us now and he's so good at night. Wakes me up biting my hair b/c he has to go, but other than that he's ok at night.

That is so good to hear! I hate the thought of her being in a crate forever. I only crate her when i am not home, but I do work full time so I would like to see her eventually get out of that crate. And like your Kody, she doesn't have to be crated at night. She's a good sleeper.

I think Sandy (our first husky) did some naughty things even around age 5. She would find a kids toy or book and destroy it and once a fray on the edge of the berber carpet was just TOO appealing so she pulled it and wrecked the carpet. She never destroyed furniture or walls or anything after a couple years. The ink pen chewing happened at about age 2. He also pulled the table cloth off at that age and ate some birth control pills. I don't think we kennelled her after about age 5 and way before that she was out at night. Since she lived to be 17, I think it might have been some of that orneriness that kept her going!

SabakaMom wrote:

Since she lived to be 17, I think it might have been some of that orneriness that kept her going!

Well then Willow should make it to 20!

Atleast now I know Im not alone ! One weekend I had to go home back to New Jersey and left my fiance home with Scarlet (she was about 5 months) He then texts me saying she had destroyed our bedroom carpet and dented a hole in the wall from her crate . I guess while he was out ( no more than 15 mins according to him ) she had shimmied her crate so much that it eroded a nice hole into our wall, then she managed to break off the lock part of the crate and proceeded to pull up and destory a good foot and a half our bedroom carpet ! Shes better now..but we did eventually have to put zip ties on the corners of her crate otherwise she can houdini herself out

Personally, I don't have any submissions to this thread, but today a friend sent me a link to this gem of beauty. Enjoy!

Sh*t my Pets Ruined