Hello, I posted at the beginning of the month about finding a possible husky mix. Would have loved to keep her but we weren't right for her. Anyway, in the process of waiting for her to be adopted we found a 3 year old husky mix that we are adding to our family tonight (as long as the meeting with our dog Demon goes well). She was picked up as a stray so we don't know anything about her background but she is a sweet heart. We hung out with her for over an hour in the play area and she was cautious but not afraid of us. She even came up to my 3 year old and took a treat out of her hand right away. I don't have any pictures yet but will post them soon hopefully. I was just wondering if anyone has some tips on adopting an older dog as opposed to a young one. Also, she needs a really good brushing- any tips on what brush(es) to buy and how to get her to let me brush her if she's afraid of it? TIA!

Kudos to your for rescuing!

I don't think adopting an older dog is any different than adopting a younger one. Some of things you might see when you bring her home is that she might not eat for the first day or 2. Give it time as she's getting used to her new environment and new human family. Some dogs will settle in faster than others, and as a general rule, dogs can take up to 6 months to fully settle in. Take things slow with her, so don't try to throw her in too many different situations that may cause stress. Let her get used to you, the rest of the family and her new home before you start introducing friends and family.

As far as brushes go, I have 3 different kinds: Furminator which is great in brushing out dead fur, a double row rake with rotating pins which is great for brushing out their under coat, and a shedding blade which is easy to brush out dead fur, similar to what the Furminator does. You can find knock-off versions of the Furminator which works just as good but cost less. The shedding blade comes in handy as the dead fur just blows away whereas the Furminator will collect fur in the teeth of the comb. Furminator works better, usually.

As far as getting her used to brushing, again, take is slow. Show her the brush, let her sniff it, and touch it to her body. If she lets you do that, then start stroking her lightly. If she lets you do that, then apply a little more pressure in the brush strokes. Just makes ure with each step, she's comfortable with what you're doing before you do a little more.

YEAH! congrats on getting your new girl tonight.
sierra was 6 and jack was 1.5 when we adopted them. i liked getting an "older" dog cause all the puppy stages were things i did not want to deal with. they were crate trained, house trained and somewhat leash trained. the only thing i have found with sierra is that she did come with some trust issues from her upraising, jack we have had no issues with, that would be the only big difference with an older dog and you might get lucky and she will be fine. if you can hold off on the brushing and washing for a day or 2 and let her settle in and then maybe think of taking her to a self wash dog place so she does not associate something she most likly will not like with your home.
i have all 3 brushes as well that claudia mentioned but i have the knockoff from walmart the furburster and it works fine.

since you have no idea what she was being feed i would go find a food you want to feed her for life and just start her on it. you will have runny stools for a few days or a week as she is adjusting but give it time, like claudia said she might not even eat for a few days to start with. cant wait to hear how it goes and see pictures!

Congrats on the new addition to your family! I really hope things work out with the new girl. :-)

I also have a Furminator, Shedding Blade, Slicker Brush, and my personal favorite: the Undercoat Rake. Each has a particular job it does well. Generally, hubby and I mix up a super yummy Kong with peanut butter, cheese, and turkey, or one of those Merrick sausages, or shred a chicken breast and one of us feeds him a little bit about every 30 seconds if he sits still, while the other works. He doesn't like being brushed, but he'll tolerate it if good treats are involved. ;-)

Thanks for all the reply's and suggestions on brushes. I decided not to buy a heavy duty one yet and just decided to use the one we already have for now then go out and get the others. We're planning on taking it very easy these next few days and not planning on her meeting too many people or taking her anywhere for a while. Since we rescued her she had to be spayed first so she's very groggy and lethargic right now (she's only been home for an hour). She does seem to love attention and she LOVES to be brushed. She was a stray so she's very under nourished. We've been switching between Canidae and TotW with our other dog (he's a GSD/Husky/Lab/Boxer mix) so we're going to start her on Canidae first for a while then see if she'll do well with TotW. Since the shelter never named her (they called her "shelter dog") my husband has proudly named her Valkyrie, Kyrie for short. Anyway, here's a couple of pictures of her. She's obviously mixed and seriously undernourished. You can feel every single one of her ribs by barely touching her. But she's a sweet heart and we already love her.

Aw, she's adorable!