Ok, ready for a long story? Here goes.

Taylor is a beautiful, (4) year old female Siberian Husky, that was running down the street in front of our house. My wife called out for her to "come", and low and behold she DID! We had never seen her before, but her collar had a tag, with a phone # and address. A quick call got an answering machine? We punched the address in the GPS, (2) miles away. Our son drove to the house, no one home.

What to do? We used the cable from our pool cover to fabricate a tether, in the backyard. Gave her a big bowl of water, and began to give her a closer look. (Truth be told, we were falling for her.) A few hours later we called the number again, no luck. Bedtime came, she stayed on the tether. When I got up to leave for work, in the morning, she was gone. I figured my son took her in the house for the night? Nope, she was gone. Funny thing was, how did she get off of the tether? The hardware used, was robust enough to keep the pool cover in place? Nothing was broken, just one missing slip ring.

We looked all over, checked the Humane Society, no one had seen her.

Sadness.

Later that evening, one of our nieghbors stopped in, "Hey, I got Taylor back last night! Thanks for holding her."

WHAT?

Turns out she was baby sitting Taylor, for her mother, who was on vaction. (Explains why there was no answer!) We told her we were relieved that Taylor was back in the custody of her owners, then told her how we were very taken with Taylor. She was shocked to hear this. " That dog is an idiot!!! What a drama queen, I hate that dog!"

Really? Wow.

"Yeah, I hate that freaking dog, she is so stupid!" "Mom won't be back for a few days, if you guys want, you can keep her until then."

Really? Wow.

Ok yeah, we agree to take over the baby sitting of Taylor. We witness nothing that supports the nieghbors assessment of her. She is quiet, content, a little stand offish, but she loves car rides, doesn't understand why the cat won't play? But pretty much a sweet heart.

Three days pass, we come home to a note on the door. Vacation is over, mom's back in town, need to get Taylor back.

Sadness.

Our son sets out to take her for one last walk around the nieghborhood. Just as they get out of sight, the nieghbor pulls up. We explain our son is sad, and taking her out for one last walk.

"REALLY!" " I figured she would have wore out her welcome by now!" "You guys really like her?"

"Hey you can have her!"

Really? WOW.

As it turns out, Taylor originally belonged to our nieghbor's brother. He got her off of eBay when she was (2). (18) months later he died of a heart attack. Sadly enough, he had some very poor personal habits, the kind that do not result in a long life, he was (42) at the time of his death. Apparently the only thing he really cared for was Taylor, but he spoiled her, cooking her chicken for dinner, never giving her any training or disipline. Taylor was then shuffled from his girlfriend, to the sister, then to the mother! At all three homes, she was a nusance. No one wanted to get rid of her, due to the untimely death of her previous owner, but they could not put up with her either.

After much discussion we decide to give it a try. So here we are. After a week in the home, she has been in the garbage once, pooped on the carpet once, and urinated on the carpet once. We walk her daily, bought a craigs list crate, and are attempting to crate train her. One attempt at a game of Fribe, resulted in a long walk, trying to retieve her, as she ran past me at high rates of speed! I'm sure it was fun for her, me? Not so much! We're not giving up yet, but are looking for advise, and encouragement!

Sorry for the long post!

Welcome to the forum! Taylor is very pretty!

Take a look around under Training for tips. There will be an adjustment period for you and your family and for Taylor as she settles in her new home.

If you have any specific question on training tips, nutrition, behavior/personality, etc, post back and we'll be happy to help you get you and your family and Taylor settled in.

Thank you for giving her a home and not giving up on her!

Wonderful story! She is a beautiful girl and very lucky to have finally found a loving family!

Welcome!

Welcome!
I am glad that Taylor ended up with someone willing to give her chance at being a good dog. I got my Frankie in a similar manner, except the previous owners didn't want him and were sending him to the shelter if they got him back because he was a maniac. So when he found us, the previous owners said keep him and we never heard from them again. Frankie challenged me in every which way possible and training was quite a process. But I am so happy that I never gave up on him because he truly has become the most wonderful dog.

It may take a little time and a whole lot of patience, but the bond you will share with her because you stuck around will be remarkable.
This forum is great for support, advice, and recources. Everyone here is great!

Oh, and Taylor is so pretty.

Welcome to the forum! Taylor is beautiful and has the sweetest face! I can see why you and your family fell in love with her. Poor thing has been bounced around from home to home after loosing her owner so I'm sure that it's going to take some time for her to adapt to her new home. Husky's are very smart, but STUBBORN dogs so just have lots of patience with her and try to keep her on a routine. You won't be sorry that you stuck around for her. They are the sweetest dogs ever!!! Good luck and you'll definitely find LOTS of support on here.

Aww Taylor is sooo beautiful and very lucky that she found you all. Talk about being in the right place at the right time.

Welcome!!!

Welcome that's a very interesting story and I'm happy to hear it turned out well for both your family and Taylor. She is a very pretty girl! With all the home hopping she's done in her short life I truly hope she's found her forever home.

So I'm kind of dumbfounded here, you can buy real, live dogs on ebay?!

Well, that's the thing. We are getting our info from two sources. Our nieghbor, taylor's sitter when we found her. And the "owner", nieghbors mother. Nieghbor keeps saying her brother got off of eBay. Mother says CraigsList, but then in the next sentence, she will say " Fenton Adopt A Pet" ( a local rescue organization). When I last spoke with "mother" I was left with the distinct impression that "adopt a pet" had run a criagslist ad. Two days later the nieghbor stops in, and tells the eBay version again? I am reluctant to press for details, because it has only been six months since the "brother" passed away, and they are both still very raw, when the subject of him comes up. The mother breaks down into tears everytime. But if I was forced to guess, I would go with the CL / Adopt a pet version. I tried to call them today, but got a machine. I'll keep trying, just to see if they have any records of her.

Taylor is doing well, she attended a high school, open house with us today, she was a hit! Her manners were impecable, and was very patient with all of the people who wanted to pet her. Afterwards my wife and I took her for a long walk, then home, to a little more crate training.

She is fine in the crate, as long as she can see one of us, if we leave the room, where the crate is, it takes about five minutes, and she begins to whimper, and cry. She did 45 minutes inthere this evening, and was rewarded with a treat, and a quick walk.

Ebay has bought the classified ad website: kijiji

Glad you took her in, many people can't handle this breed!

When I crate trained Pax I did it in very short intervals. I started with 5 mins with me standing there then increased by 5 or 10 minutes every time til about 45minutes. Once he was used to that I did the same thing but with me standing in a different room. Now he loves his crate. I leave the door open for him and he goes in there and curls up about the same time every night with out being asked. He even will leave my bed when he is sleeping with us and go sleep in his crate instead. I'm sure she will master the crate training in no time.

Wow that is a great story! So happy she ran into you guys:) Like everyone else has said, you will need a lot of patience dealing with this breed, but you will not regret it! Soon, you won't be able to imagine your family without Taylor.
I have a 5 month old puppy that I had to bring to a dogsitter on an acreage this weekend because I was working long hours and my fiance was out of town. It was so hard to leave him and I missed him so much...now all I can think about is when I'm getting my next husky!

Welcome! And thanks for rescuing her! They often say that the dogs choose us and not the other way around

Thanks for being Taylor's angel. You will be repaid over and over since these are such awesome dogs. I have two and wish I had at least five!!! Enjoy!!!

Welcome and its so glad to hear she found your family, it is not a simple thing to say come to a lose husky and really have it COME to you! it was meant to be remember to always keep her on a leash or an inclosed area, huskies are not off leash dogs at all! if you want a crash course and a fun read pick up huskies for dummies. i really did enjoy the info. i have a review of it in our book section. and most of the questions have been brought up in resent post so have a look around.

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