Hello, I’m about to be a new husky owner of a beautiful two and a half month old pup. I’d love any advice anyone has to offer (I’ve researched a fair bit on the training challenges with these independent doggos). I know grooming will be another strong need for her as she is simply a ball of fluff. I was also wondering if anyone could identify her specific coloring - I myself am stumped because she seems to be every color in the husky rainbow. Those eyes though A true ice queen. Also if anyone has name suggestions please share! I’m thinking she looks like a Nova, but I worry she might confuse “No!” with her name and grow up to have self esteem issues! All jokes aside I’m very excited and happy to be apart of the community.

she look gray and white to me. some gray and whites can turn cream or even peach in color as they grow and then turn gray again.

Like Ronin says, she looks like a grey and white. Both mine looked just like her at that age. You will see her darken up around 3.5 months or so and by 4.5 months she will be showing grey much more.

My theme is characters. Shadow was named for shadow moon from American gods (neil gaimen) spider from the book anansi boys (neil gaiman) squirt was named after squirtle the pokemon and splinter was named after master splinter from ninja turtles. Your idea of nova would even fit the theme.

Spider was marked similarly as a puppy. I consider her color wolf grey with copper highlights. Shes much darker without her undercoat

Thanks for the insight, everyone! Yeah I wasn’t sure why she looked so different from her siblings, even the sire and dam were black and white/grey and white. I think I have settled on Nova for a name though! I’m a bit nervous though because the people I’m getting her from haven’t administered her or her siblings’ first round of shots. When I get her in about a week I was hoping to take her straight to a vet or clinic to get them but I’m not sure how that works - will she simply be on a different t schedule? She’s almost 3 months old and hasn’t had any shots at all.

Yes the schedule is going to be different but otherwise should be fine. One big NoNo is dog parks. Do not take a puppy to a dog park until vaccines are done.

Expanding on the comment from @lostmaniac - it's better if you can keep him anyplace where other dogs have been. For example, Parvo is almost always fatal (unless caught quickly) and other dogs can carry the parvo virus without symptoms. It really is better to skip all socialization - except with known dogs - until after the vaccinations are complete.

Spider is a parvo survivor that was a week of worry i dont want to relive

You should research pros AND cons of owning a husky.

One thing you will see from the cons side is their stubbornness. If you're not patient, then don't get one. If you're not the type to correct bad behavior in public, don't get one. If you don't have the time to train one, then don't get one.

These dogs require a lot of patience and time. Exercising them doesn't always calm down their boredom. They can learn new rules/commands, but will randomly stop. Sometimes in the privacy of your home, and sometimes in public among other strangers. Either way, you have to remember one thing about this breed, they are a pack animal. Therefore, you need to show that you are the Alpha of the group.

ALSO, make sure you get pet insurance! The first month that I had my pup, I believe I paid somewhere around $1200--not including the $900 I paid for him that same month. Then, within the first 6mo I spent probably about another $1k for other medical issues. I ended up getting Healthy Paws. They're considered one of the top insurance companies for pets. I pay about $45/mo. I remember the first time I had to use them, my bill came out to $800 (he got sick). I send the claim into Healthy Paws, and I only paid a deductible of $200. The rest came back in a check. THIS IS A MUST!

So the breeder i got spider from gave me a book to read before she would let me take spider. It was put out by a wolf rescue. It even had a specific section on wolf/husky mixes. Spider is my first wolf husky but not my first wolfdog. Most of her problems are more husky problems in the extreme end of the spectrum tho i do see conflicting behavior sometimes where i could swear she was either 100% dog or 100% wolf.

On pet insurance my vet wont take it. I was notified by my state farm agent that does my home and auto that state farm does pet and livestock insurance.

Hey i get the alpha theory and yes i know dogs are not wolves but within my pack different dogs are basically the alpha in different situations. It also works that way in all wild canids and to an extent primative canids. The husky stubbornness as you call it is the dog willing to step out of line against the alpha for the sake of the group. And some say the alpha isn't the leader at all but the one that gets away with whatever it wants. There are all sorts of new theories. The alpha theory was established by placing unrelated wolves into zoo enclosures and in a totally synthetic unnatural situation and observing them and calling this canine behavior. And this was all done in the very early 1900s.. so over 100 years ago when zoos were small cages and more entertainment then conservation. Its outdated and in current zoo and canine studys has actually been proven as biased and not founded in actual science or behavior of either wolves or dogs.

Your statement about the pack and apha really make me think of cesar milan (not in a good way)

Lostmaniac wrote:

So the breeder i got spider from gave me a book to read before she would let me take spider. It was put out by a wolf rescue. It even had a specific section on wolf/husky mixes. Spider is my first wolf husky but not my first wolfdog. Most of her problems are more husky problems in the extreme end of the spectrum tho i do see conflicting behavior sometimes where i could swear she was either 100% dog or 100% wolf.

On pet insurance my vet wont take it. I was notified by my state farm agent that does my home and auto that state farm does pet and livestock insurance.

Hey i get the alpha theory and yes i know dogs are not wolves but within my pack different dogs are basically the alpha in different situations. It also works that way in all wild canids and to an extent primative canids. The husky stubbornness as you call it is the dog willing to step out of line against the alpha for the sake of the group. And some say the alpha isn't the leader at all but the one that gets away with whatever it wants. There are all sorts of new theories. The alpha theory was established by placing unrelated wolves into zoo enclosures and in a totally synthetic unnatural situation and observing them and calling this canine behavior. And this was all done in the very early 1900s.. so over 100 years ago when zoos were small cages and more entertainment then conservation. Its outdated and in current zoo and canine studys has actually been proven as biased and not founded in actual science or behavior of either wolves or dogs.

Your statement about the pack and apha really make me think of cesar milan (not in a good way)

Looks like you got it all down. Good luck!