Just wanted to drop in and say hello, my wife and I are going to be adopting a rescue husky this Friday! She is 4 years old and a total sweetheart. We've wanted a husky for a few years now and the time is finally right. We are pretty active and do a lot of hiking/camping and mountain biking, really looking forward to having a new member of the family come along!

Couple quick questions - we just ordered a Ruff Wear Knot A Leash and I was wondering if the Ruff Wear Top Rope collar works well for Huskys? I've also read that Martingale type collars work well, can anyone recommend a good one that doesn't have any chain to it, or will the Top Rope collar be fine?

I've been reading up a lot on food and it looks like a high protein, grain free dog food such as "Taste of the Wild" or the grain free Blue Bison stuff is pretty good? Any others I should check out? Recommendations?

Thanks!

Welcome to our little corner of the internet!

Depending on how she is on leash, any collar should work just fine. Usually just a little training gets me right to a flat collar in a couple weeks. The martingales obviously add a little more security to the setup and I know I've seen multitudes of them made all of webbing (no chain). I'm a sucker for reflective collars, mine all wear a flat collar plastic buckle thing. But they're not crazy on leash unless we are in the mountains.

I'll leave the food stuff to the others.

Thanks for the info

Welcome to the forums! Congratulations on getting a new family member.


We started with a no chain martingale and had to switch to the partial chain in public. Isis can hear the chain moving as she starts to pull, and that it often enough reminder that she's not supposed to be pulling.

Here's a good link for dog food:
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/

I use martingale collars on my 2 when we're out walking. When they're running with hubby, he uses the EZYDog chest plate harness: http://store.ezydog.com/chest-plate-harness/
This comes with a seat belt attachment for car rides. Good multi-purpose harness.

We'll use either EZYDog or x-back harnesses to bike/scooter.

When we're hiking or snowshoeing, we have x-back harness:
http://alpineoutfitters.net/Secure/scripts/prodList.asp?idCategory=16

Collar preference really depends on the dog. If she's a big puller or likes to slip collars a martingale would suffice. My dogs wear buckle collars and sometimes a martingale if we're going someplace with high traffic.

As for food in the end it will depend on what food she does best on. Taste of the Wild and Blue Wilderness are pretty $$ friendly and they're good foods. Orijen would be another good option but is more expensive. There's also the raw route which you can look into if you like. Many here feed The Honest Kitchen.

i love the buckle ruffwear collars sierra and jack have. i would like to upgrade to the new metal clasp ones they just came out with, maybe for Christmas... im a believer of if its not broke dont replace it... with RW being built so strong im not sure i can live by that rule on the collars we feed TOTW and they do well on it.

oh and WELCOME and congrats on the adoption

Thanks again for all the great info!

One more question. We are taking a trip up to visit family in two weeks, the ride is about 8 hours. The foster oranization says she travels really well, but what other considerations should we think about.We'll have water, some toys for her in the car and lots of potty breaks. Anything I am missing? We'll also feed her at her normal time while on the road.

I drove from AZ to CO with my 3 year old and all I needed to do was bring a bowl for water, a bag of treats and the day's food, and let him go potty everytime we went to a rest stop. He did fine:)

My favorite leash + collar combo:

+


No chance of the metal clasp breaking or the clip of the leash breaking.. had too many buckles and things break on me and then chasing ensues! My boy does not pull though so I don't use anything other than a "click" collar, though I never really walk him on collar, I always use his harness on walks.

Welcome!

Don't be overly concerned if she doesn't eat that well on the road. My girls were great travelers (multiple bi-coastal commutes and such), but Shania would not eat unless we stopped at a hotel. All of my dogs wear seatbelts. Stormy even had his for the trip from OH to GA when I got him. Trains them not only to wear in the vehicle they need to stay, but it really does keep them safe. I've worked some bad accidents were dogs have been killed because they were restrained or they caused the accident jumping around.

Oh and one more thing....take pictures of them on the road. Twenty years from now you'll be glad you did.

We've actually got the exact leash on order from REI, should be here this weekend

Thanks for the travel tips

Welcome Ryan and Becky and kudos to you for adopting! She really is a beauty, does she have a name?

I use a martingale collar on my sibe but it's really only there to hold his tags since I walk him in harness at all times. I prefer a martingale for that extra security for the very rare occasions that I do attach his lead to his collar (like when we go from the house to the car for example). I use an all nylon martingale that is made by Premier.

As for food there are so many options it can be mind boggling. The best food for your dog will depend on what you want to feed (sounds like you want to stick with kibble), your budget and food availability, and most importantly your dog. There are much better kibble options than Taste of the Wild and Blue Buffalo and neither of them come close to my list of top picks (one thing I am is very picky about what I feed my dogs). As Kristina mentioned, both TOTW and BB tend to be moderately priced which makes them more popular as not everyone can afford better foods that can sometimes cost 50-100% more; and they are relatively easily available. My personal top picks for kibble would be Orijen, Acana, and Fromm Four Star. I have a number of reasons for my top picks and they include not only ingredients but also manufacturer and the company behind the product. As I said, I'm a bit more picky than your average person. Enough about food.

Don't forget to pack everything else she'll need once you reach your destination. But for the car trip I always put down a liner in the back where my sibe will be. I bring either a bed or a really big blanket for him to lay on in the car (for long trips only). I bring a collapsible water/food bowl, a bottle (or 2) of water, always pack extra leads just in case, and a few towels in case they get dirty or have wet/muddy feet along the way. I also bring their vaccination records with me when I travel just in case, I have had occasions where we needed to stay at hotels on our trips (sometimes unexpectedly) that require proof of vaccination. Can never be too prepared I always say.

Storz wrote:

We've actually got the exact leash on order from REI, should be here this weekend

Thanks for the travel tips

I love it, I am anxious for my little one to reach her full growth so I can debate whether she needs a small or medium collar and then get her her own leash and the coupler!

-I feed my 2 Taste of the Wild (TOTW).

Use a prong collar, they learn the limit quickly otherwise Biko just chokes himself on any other type collar. H-back harness is good for daily walk, X-back for any sort of pulling.

Travel great excuse to stop every 2 hours to stretch your legs so she can pee

Welcome to the forum!! I use a prong as well but only on walks. I use a harness on hikes or out in the country by the canal that we walk most times. As for food, I feed TOTW Sierra Mountain mixed with The Honest Kitchen Zeal.

Kale and I say HELLOOO from California

Thanks again for all the great info, we'll actually be getting our little furball Thursday night!! My wife and I both took Friday off so we have a nice long weekend

Remember to post lots of pictures!!! Its a requirement on this forum

Storz wrote:

Thanks again for all the great info, we'll actually be getting our little furball Thursday night!! My wife and I both took Friday off so we have a nice long weekend

Congrats and welcome! Definitely need more pics once you have her! :hello:

That's awesome that you have a full 3 days to spend with her. Make sure to leave her for short periods of time to see how she'd do alone on Monday (i know, it's hard - they're so darn cute and you wanna spend all your time with her!). Just 5 minutes at first, and then 10 and then 15.

and have a crate ready for when you do go back to work on monday and make sure she gets used to it over the weekend.

A couple more pictures from the foster site, once she is home we'll post lots more!

Her coat is coming back much better since the foster first took her in, they found her tied to a tree nearly nursed to death by her three puppies! We are thinking of naming her Moxie, which means "The ability to face difficulty with spirit and courage"

Aww, she is really pretty! Moxie sounds like a great name for her too.

Moxie is home and making herself comfortable!

No hope in keeping her off the sofa now! Have a fun weekend!

I have the Knot-a-Leash and love it. I've been looking in to the top-rope collar, but I just hate how the 1" bands look on Appa's long fur (He's a little on the wooly side). It makes his head look ridiculous.

When we picked up Appa he had a choke/check chain collar, and that thing was miserable. He hated it, it frustrated him, and he didn't learn a thing with it. Switched him to a flat collar and it's been relatively smooth sailing ever since. He will pull a tiny bit, but a couple direction changes until he remembers to pay attention to me and we're back in business.

lol for sure, we are cool with her on the sofa but the bed its still for people only. She jumped up twice last night right when we went to sleep and I just hopped out of bed and called her off, she jumped down with no fuss and after the 2nd time slept on the floor right next to the bed.

We were wondering if this is an appropriately sized crate for her or if she needs something larger?