Hello everyone! I am planning on getting a husky of my own after my entire family trip to China and Japan. (Btw, im 17 and my parents expects me to be taking care of it 70% of the time and them contributing 30% however they know i am VERY responsible when it comes to my pets) However, I have several worries in terms of getting a husky and if I should get one at all! So I will be listing the pros and cons of our living situation for a husky.
PRO:
-We have a relatively spacious backyard for it to run around
-We live in the suburbs with a really nice community to walk it
-We live right in front of a field thats dedicated to the high school soccer and football team but other people have access to this
-We are economically stable and of course can spend a good amount of money for our future husky
-We are quite the active family as well and are willing to spend more than an hour interacting with our pets
CONS:
-WE LIVE IN CALIFORNIA
-Majority of the time the husky will have to stay outdoors and only come in to sleep inside the house (we will most likely keep it indoors until it is 6 months old)
-Backyard is not pet proofed yet but will make it before adopting/buying
-I do not know if I can stay with it all day everyday as I am engulfed with ALOT of extracurricular activities (didn't mean to sound pretentious)(However, my dad most of the time, works at home and will accompany the husky or the husky can have a play date with my cousins 3 dogs, and 10 chickens xD)

And in terms of SoCal weather it is quite wonky (I will inform those who do not live here), it is very unique in its own way xD. Mornings it will be around 50 degrees and afternoons shoot up to 80 degrees. While one day it will be 60 degrees and the next day 90 degrees (Which we experienced this past week xD) And in terms of summer weather it does not actually start during the summer the summer heat starts kicking in during autumn LOL.
So yes, these are the things I am quite worried about when adopting a husky, and due to the cons, will i be able to make the husky as happy as it can be? Thank you so much before hand if you respond !

You say that your parents expect that you'll provide 70% of the dogs care, then go on with how "WE" will do things.  Your dad works at home and will accompany the husky ... again it sounds to me that you're not invested in owning a dog - any dog - particularly not one with the intelligence of a Husky.

With a knowledgeable owner, weather is seldom of any import.  How you handle the weather can be beneficial for your dog - or it can be fatal.

Hopefully others will respond and be more of a mind to answer your questions.  Personally, you aren't ready for a Husky and you really should be less engaged in the extracurricular activities and more engaged in the curricular.

BTW, for what it's worth I will give you a star for asking .....

If you'll excuse a quote from Samuel Clemens:

Quote :

In promulgating your esoteric cogitations, or articulating your superficial sentimentalities and amicable, philosophical or psychological observations, beware of platitudinous ponderosity. Let your conversational communications possess a clarified conciseness, a compact comprehensibleness, coalescent consistency, and a concatenated cogency. Eschew all conglomerations of flatulent garrulity, jejune babblement and asinine affectations. Let your extemporaneous descantings and unpremeditated expatiations have intelligibility and veracious vivacity, without rhodomontade or thrasonical bombast. Sedulously avoid all polysyllabic profundity, pompous prolixity, psittaceous vacuity, ventriloquial verbosity and vaniloquent vapidity. Shun double-entendres, purient pscosity, and pestiferous profanity, obscurant or apparent.

I honestly have no idea why you're being so insensitive to people you've never met... and in all honesty, stop categorizing people who are in a lot of extracurricular activities as people who are not excelling in school. Because in fact I have a 4.5 gpa and in the 25th percentile of my school and have no idea why you are so rude about someone you met on a FORUM.
And just because you don't excel in school DOES not mean you cant be a loving dog owner and truthfully;
-As I stated I'm SEVENTEEN I said WE because IM NOT A TEENAGE PRODIGY who miraculously owns a house at age 17 and I actually believe I used the term "we" perfectly in context because I SOLEY don't own my own property, and I don't have my name on the deed of the house.
-And I don't understand your second point where you state, "Your dad works at home and will accompany the husky ... again it sounds to me that you're not invested in owning a dog - any dog - particularly not one with the intelligence of a Husky." You're basically contradicting your point because following this statement you've ACKNOWLEDGE that I HAVE extracurricular's and I should focus more on the "circular" so you would know I HAVE SCHOOL to attend which of course is MANDATORY for students under the age of 18.
-Why are you reprimanding me on such tiny issues? I am not prioritizing extracurricular activities over curricular so, you do not need to worry, I am excelling in my studies
-Please give me actual advice and suggestions. Thank you

Okay, we need to keep this on topic and friendly please. The purpose of this forum is not to attack people's grammar.

Amminra, why exactly have you decided that you want this particular breed? I ask because based on your list of pros and cons this doesn't sound like the best breed for you.

You mention the family is willing to spend "more than an hour" with the dog. Is that per day? How much more than an hour? Huskies require a lot more time and attention than it sounds like the family has to give.

You mention keeping the dog as an outdoor pet the majority of the time. Huskies are extremely social and will want to be with their family (meaning your human family) and most will not like being kept separate all day, every day.

I hope that was a joke about a husky playing with your cousins chickens as a husky will almost certainly kill them.

Lastly, living in CA is not a con...well, at least not as far as having a husky is concerned. It will be your responsibility to exercise the dog around the weather concerns. If that concern is heat then get up early and take it out before the heat of the day or later in the day when the heat has passed.

Honestly, it sounds like either this isn't the breed for you or you are not at a point in your life where you should get a dog if you are too busy to provide for it properly.

Going to go in a bit more light hearted for a second and share my story. Take from it what you will.

I live I. A one bedroom apartment. No lifts. Third floor up. The balcony is in no way shape or form dog proof. Also would hardly fit a husky. Thankfully I own it.

Now, a tiny Husky puppy was dropped at my door with a bed, toy. Treats and no food. I had a plan. He wasn’t supposed to stay. Of course life happens. Things change and he is still here six months later not going anywhere. To this day I get a lot of crap and am constantly spoken badly of or to about the situation. “ you have a HUSKY in a one bedroom apartment! Poor dog!”

From the second he was dropped at my door I was faced with challenge after challenge. None that I expected and even more that I could never have planned for. No food. Shops are about to close. Partner not answering his phone. Apartment isn’t dog proof. I had to lock him in the shower and run to the shops. To buy crappy generic food.

Can’t have a 7 week old puppy climb up and down tree flights of stairs to go potty several times a day. I carried him up and down for months. By the way. My arms muscles now! Wow :p

Did he have all his shots? Where did he come from? Medical history? Pedigree? Let’s start all his shots from the start. I am still young. I don’t earn much. Have a horse with a mortgage 100% on my own. I re did my budget and allocated money aside (way too much put aside for toys and treats still )

I am not home much. I have horses. Friends. Work. I go away most weekends and out most nights. Had to learn how to incorporate a hyperactive puppy into that. He has joined me since day one in almost everything. What he couldn’t join me in I changed around.

Day already started at 6:30am and finished at 8pm? Now it starts at 5:45 and finished at 9:30. With an added bonus of a forced lunch break driving back home every single day.

My carpet is destroyed. My savings is hurting. The back of my doors are scratched. I will never get the hair out of my car seats. I don’t go on holidays alone anymore. I have slept in past 6am once in the last six months. I am forced rain hail or shine to go for two / three long walks a day. I have to socialise with people at dog parks. I am more familiar with my vet than I am my doctor. My family and friends have been forced to take a back seat and accept this furry tornado.

Now I’m not saying dog ownership has to be this extreme. My case is different, I have a very active independent lifestyle that allows me to have a very active challenging breed in a small space. However what needs to be taken from this is that all dogs. No matter the breed will bring change. As much or as little as you want. However the dog is that one that has to live with that choice for the next 9, 10? 14 years. I read an article the other day that spoke about the most abused dogs where the ones living in a seemingly large lap of luxury. Owned by wealthy educated owners. But left to their own devices outside in a backyard while the family grew up around them. Again, to each their own and sometimes that works for some dogs especially with company.

At the end of the day no one can tell you if you are ready for anything. It anything is suitable for you. It’s your choice. It’s your life. You can be as prepared on paper as you like. As rich as can be with the greatest backyard and house possible. The pet doesn’t care. He just wants you and if you want him back then you will find a way.

If someone had told me a year ago that I would end up with a dog in my apartment I would still be laughing. Because that just wouldn’t be possible.

I will mostly reiterate what Val said. If you have a lot of extracurricular activities and at only 17 I assume you intend to attend college if you are putting so much effort into maintaining a gpa that takes dual course credit to attain. What will you do with the dog while you go to college? Will you be attending close enough to home that you will still be able to keep up with that 70% of care? What kind of field will you be going into after college? Will you be able to take the dog with you when you move out or will the dog likely be left with your parents when you move away due to issues that many people who rent have with finding dog friendly housing. These are the real questions you need to be asking yourself. Having a dog now is easy enough to do if you are dedicated enough, but what will happen later and what will be your game plan? We here do think of dogs as forever pets. Not, until I can't find an apartment that will allow dogs pets. Not, pets until I would rather spend time partying with all my new college friends pets. My advice is that you wait until you get through college and see where your career takes you. You don't want to have to rehome your dog or dump it on your parents if you get offered the job of your dreams some place where you can't afford a dog friendly home. Where there's a will and some money, there's always a way, but with as much change and life directing decisions that are going to come your way in the next few years do you really want to have to account for a dog in every move you make?

While, yes, it seems like you've done your research, I'm going to have to agree with everyone else and say it's probably not a great time for you to get a husky. I'm 20 and I live with my boyfriend who is 23. He recently(in August) bought a house with a fenced in backyard. Me, having a love for huskies, asked my boyfriend when we could get a dog and if it could be a husky. I explained to him everything I could about the breed and that he would be taking a lot of care of this dog since I have school still. The only reason it was going to work out for us with getting a husky is because he works from home so he's home typically all day. Occasionally he'll go out and do stuff for a couple hours but not often enough for it to matter. I'm gone with school and work typically 1/3-2/3 of the day so I wouldn't be the main caretaker after winter break had ended.We were both on the same page with training and care taking and she would be getting the proper care while I wasn't home because he was 100% willing to help out and spend time with the dog while I was unable to. Even though she's technically my dog, he still is with her more than I am. It doesn't quite sound like you personally have the time to care for a dog and your family doesn't sound overly willing to help out when you're gone for long hours/most of the day. I don't see how it would be possible for you to commit to 70% of the care of this dog when you aren't even home what sounds like 50% of the day. Also, while yes Al may say something that's more rude, it's the brutal honest truth that most people truthfully need to hear when making decisions like these and I always appreciate every bit of advice he gives me no matter how "harsh" it may be. Also, as Jenn asked, are you planning on taking this dog to college? You're 17, which means you'll be going to college within a year or two depending on which year you currently are, so that's another big thing to think of. Dogs aren't allowed in dorms unless they're service or for some places that allow emotional support. If you're at college, you definitely won't have the time to give 70% of the care of the dog if your family is still giving the other 30% if you're living in dorms. Another thing that was pointed out is that huskies are very social and super pack dependent so spending "more than an hour" a day and leaving them outside all the time is not usually an ideal situation for this breed. My pup hates being alone and away from her pack. She always has to be around us most the day weather we're doing something with her or doing our own thing. It takes a lot of time to train a dog as well. Are your parents willing to put the time and effort into potty training when you're away even though it will be more than their 30% of work? Just some food for thought. Keep thinking about it and don't take every negative thing we say to heart, we're only trying to help you find what's best in your situation since you're the one who asked us about it.

Hi, I am a mom with teen daughters and unfortunately I have to agree with the people who posted above...

- As a teen, there are so many friends, activities to keep you busy. Teen schedules can be irregular (i.e. away all day for a tournament, sleeping past noon after a late social night, etc) which make it hard to take care of a dog. Dogs need a regular daily schedule of walking, potty breaks, feeding. There may be exciting job opportunities/career changes ahead (i.e. my 18-year old just took a great summer job in Boston, & will rent a room on MIT campus) where it's impossible to bring a dog. What will you do if offered a dream job in San Francisco? Or accepted to a Study Abroad program for a semester, etc?

- Huskies left alone outside in yards = bad scene. Many of them howl and howl (neighbors will want to kill you), they dig and climb and escape...

- All dogs require TRAINING, which is a big extracurricular activity in itself! Dogs that eat your trash, climb on counters to grab food, jump on visitors, pull on leash, lunge/bark at other dogs and joggers, pee in the house...they are not bad dogs, they are Untrained dogs. And that is what your dog may be like, unless you put in the time to train him/her.

Just some things to think about...
I do believe people can make things work with enough determination!

( Unfortunately after cleaning up the 10th pee in the house, being kept up all night from the howling, etc...a lot of people run out of determination and bring the dog to a shelter. :-(

Thank you all for the responses, I guess I will wait and get a dog after college.
And in regards to the remarks made by cloverfield about Al Jones, I was not offended by him telling my I was not ready for a dog, I was offended as he commented on how "my english is poor and my grammar was worse", addressing to me that I should focus more on A-G education than extracurriculars without knowing my educational background and more offensive comments which he deleted from his post.
I appreciate all your insights

Good call to wait Amminra. Raising our husky has consumed my life. I've lost count of everything he's destroyed around the house. $1000's in vet bills and supplies. Dog fights, Animal Control, backyard escapes. <sigh>

I did my research and knew what I was getting into, but I think raising our 2 boys was easier.

We love him but Huskies (especially ours) are a HANDFUL!

I would also advise you to wait to get a dog if you are planning to leave for college. Everyone has different life experiences but I will tell you my story and hope you will take this heart before getting any pet until you have a stable home of your own.
When I was 14, my parents said I could get a dog if I took care of it. Back in the day, pet stores were still around shopping malls. I spied my dog as I walked around the corner. He was a blue eyed, black and white sib, 7 weeks old. It was love at first sight. My parents were lab people. I got this dog and named him Nuka and we took him home. I did everything for him, potty training, teaching (as much as I understood at 14) and had to take him to all his vet visits, although my parents paid of course. At 6 months old, he got in his first fight with a porcupine after breaking out of our laundry room and escaping. My grandparents found him and took him to vet, a huge bill ensued. This continued throughout his life as he became quite a skilled porcupine hunter.

After chewing on everything in our house and pooping my dad's shoes, which he discovered as he put them on to go to work at 5 am, they were done with him and decided to sell him much to my protestations. Thankfully, my boyfriends parents bought him. I have an usual story as I am happily married to man that was my boyfriend at 14 so I got lucky enough to keep this dog throughout his 16 years of life. My in-laws did not believe in indoor dogs at the time so he became an outdoor dog and came into the garage during storms or especially cold winters. Despite what a lot of people think, these dogs love extreme weather!

They are notorious escape artists, capable of escaping from any type of collar or harness you put on them. I know, I watched him do it as he got older. Every year, he would kill a wild turkey, from his chain, and hide it behind his dog house. He escaped at least every 2 years and when he got out, we would drive at least 60 miles to pick him up. These dogs are bred for distance running, IT IS WHAT THEY DO! People think I exaggerate this who don't know huskies, but I am dead serious. Somehow, I was lucky enough to find him every time, usually because he killed an entire litter of barn cats or was running down deer in a farmers field. He continued to kill at least 1 porcupine every year. By the time he was 9, he could kill one and receive as little as 4 quills in his face.

When my boyfriend and I moved in together after high school, we searched for a pet friendly place to no avail. It took us 5 years to find a place that allowed dogs that size (he was 52#). Finally, we found a place and my in-laws gladly handed him back over to me as he was too strong for them walk anymore.

At age 14, he escaped from us for the last time. He got out of two collars and a harness and ran. He was gone for 3 weeks and I was devastated. We got him back...45 MILES AWAY...at age 14! He lived for another 2 years and was with us when we bought our first house and had a privacy fence installed.

Our second Sib, at age 6 months, could clear our 6 foot privacy fence in the never ending squirrel hunt. They kill everything small and run. They are extremely intelligent and never forget anything. They need to be stimulated or they will find a way to stimulate themselves whether that be destroying your home or learning how to pop out the screens in your windows so they can go exploring. (This actually happened with our 2nd dog and thankfully our neighbor was home and saw it, putting her in the backyard while we were at work for the day.)

If you want a Sib, and they are wonderful, you need to be prepared to take them everywhere. As a PhD student, I am fortunate that I can take our dogs into the office and always have a slew of college graduate students willing to walk them while they take a smoke break. The majority of the people I know in college do not own a dog because they moved and nowhere on campus allows them. They are extremely social dogs and pack oriented but because of their intelligence, if your parents are only willing to commit to 30% of the time, I would not risk it.

I have a never ending trove of stories that make most dog owners run for the hills but it is why we love this breed. If you have any further questions, feel free to ask.

Nicole, this sounds about right We had our first porcupine bout with Ami in the wee hours Tues/Wed. An expensive proposition with pre-anesthesia blood work, anesthesisa/sedation and surgery to remove from inside his mouth. Not my first bout by a long stretch. My second husky had a "taste" for porcupine and taking quills out became a regular occurrence with her. However, after the first vet visit to remove them, I quickly learned to do it myself. But, she never got them inside her mouth.