Hello all...My husband and I adopted a 7 m/o male husky mix, we named him Chief. He is a sweet dog, we're having some issues with potty training, but we've only had him since Sunday. During the day I've been taking him out to the back yard almost hourly and walking to the area we want him to potty...today it seems like he's getting it. Plus he gets praise, belly rubs and a treat when he goes in right area, and not in the house!!!

We are also working on crate training him. THe first night we left the crate in the kitchen and howled for about 20 minutes before going to sleep. I had read to attempt to cover the crate so he can't see....we tried that the second night and the howling/barking went on all night long!! My vet suggested to put the crate in the bedroom with us, or leave a talk radio station on all night long if we keep him in the crate, leaving the front of crate uncovered so he could see a little. Any ideas on what is best??? He gets plenty of excercise. Both my husband and I run 3 days/week, so we have alternated so the dog gets at least a 30-60 minute run daily. Today he got a two mile walk in the morning, 2 sessions of play with running together and tossing a tennis ball in the back yard, half the time he just runs back and forth by himself, then my husband took him for a 30 min jog in the evening. He's currently curled up on the floor snoozing!!

Feeding? The shelter told us to divide his food up into two sessions morning and evening. The food bag says he should get 4 cups/day for his 41 pounds. I've noticed that he doesn't eat much, I would say maybe 2.5 cups/ day. The vet says this may be normal for a week or so as he gets used to a new place, new food, and new schedule. My question is should I lift the dish so it's not available to him all day long? Or should I let him nibble? What I've been doing is leaving it, then at meal time, I've been taking whats left in the bowl (if its still dry) measuring it and then adding what ever is needed to make the 2 cups for that meal. If the food is wet from his water bowl....we toss it.

Also, I've noticed he doesn't like to be outside alone. He will play if one of us is out with him, but if we head back inside, he's right there scratching at the door, tonight he launced himself into the door attempting to get in! I have to close the sliding glass door, because he's so darn smart he's already managed to nose open the screen door to let himself back in and to pee in my dining room!!! Is there a way to correct this? I wanted to leave him in the yard so I could take a shower!! That way he doesn't destroy my house, he's already gotten ahold of two shoes, RIP shoes. We have a fenced in yard and it was a beautiful day.

I'm glad I found this forum because I feel like I have a new baby and I'm trying to everything I can!! Thanks in advance for your help. I wanted to post a pic, but I have no idea how. I managed to put a picture of Chief as my avatar.

Welcome and congrats on your handsome addition to the family!

I'm afraid I can't help with the crate training as we never did that with ours, and I'm no food expert, but 4 cups/day seems to be an awful lot, even for a puppy. What are you feeding him?

I wish I had found this forum 2 years ago, when we got our pups...there are a lot of people on here who are incredibly knowledgeable about almost everything. Good luck and I can't wait to see pictures. There's a sticky under the Scrapbooks forum that explains how to upload photos. If I knew how to do it, I'd provide a link for you.

Congrats! I don't recommend leaving food out. We give our guy 10 minutes to eat, after that we remove any remaining food and feed a normal serving the next meal.

When we first adopted our guy he cried for 20 minutes the first night and it just went down from there, until now he doesn't at all if we crate him at night. What we did was let him fall mostly asleep at the side of our bed, then when he was good and groggy we'd put him in his crate. At that point he was so sleepy he barely put up a fight, and then he learned sleeping in there wasn't so bad.

Appa hates being alone as well, these are very social dogs. I'd be nervous to leave him outside alone, even in a fenced yard until you get to know him better. Huskies can jump fences pretty easily, not to mention they are also expert diggers.

I'd also advise against structured runs/jogs (especially on asphalt or cement) with him until he is at least a year old. Sustained running on growing joints can cause problems later in life.

Huskies are notorious self-regulators with food. If that's all he wants to eat, roll with it. I'd only get concerned if he gets too skinny. Food quality and nutrition plays a major role in how many cups you should feed.

Thanks for the advice. With my other dog, we never had to leave food out. She scarfed it right up in a matter of minutes!! Instead of running with the dog would you suggest just a good long, brisk walk? I know he needs to get out and move!!

To young for running keep him walking for the first year and a half to two. (opinions vary on that)

Welcome! Chief is a cutie!

I will address the matter of leaving the food out. I am not an expert and, as a matter of fact, go against what most experts will tell you to do. My first husky lived 17 years with her weight fluctuating only about 2 pounds up or down her entire adult life and she was free-feed the way you described. We never fed her more than the recommended amount per day, but we gave her access to food all day. If she only ate some of her morning food, we topped it off with the evening serving. We now have an 11 month old that we are feeding the same way. He is now regulating himself to not eat a bite until sometime between 5:00-6:00 pm. I know I should probably just stop putting food out for him to sit and get stale all day, but something in my nurturing nature wants him to have food available if he wants it. I also think 4 cups is alot of food! Sabaka, at 11 months and 50ish pounds, is still eating the puppy food which usually recommends a little more food per day that the adult formulas. We offer him between 2-1/2 to 3 cups per day. Many days he does not eat even that much.

I think you could run with Chief right now on grass. I know there are some days that the brisk walks around the neighborhood and the games of soccer in the back yard are just not enough and Sabaka just needs to "get the wiggles out"! We live near a youth sports complex so my hubby will take him there and run around the soccer and football fields. And if people, most preferably the LITTLE people, are there for games he may not even need to run at all! Visiting with kids is a favorite activity and just the job of trying to contain himself while he visits is very taxing on a hyper sled dog!!

Good luck with Chief!

Running on grass as play is different than a structured jog/run. The start and stop, turns and weaves and pounces are just fine. It's the sustained running that causes problems. We get Appa's need to run fulfilled with play.

Welcome and congrats on your pup! Kudos to you for adopting him!

4 cups a day for a 41 lb, 7 month old seems a bit much but that will depend on the quality of food he is being fed. A lower quality food will require more of it be fed while a higher quality food requires less of it be fed. Your average decent quality puppy food at that age I'd expect to feed 2-3 cups/day. I personally don't recommend free feeding mainly because the food degrades when left out exposed for long periods of time, it may take longer to notice when he's not eating normally due to being sick or something, and lastly because free feeding makes it harder to time bowel movements. I'm certainly not against free feeding by any means, but I think regular meal times offer several advantages over free feeding that are worth considering.

With the crate training we went through the same thing in the beginning. Covering the crate for ours only ever resulted in the destruction of whatever was covering it. At night we moved his crate to our bedroom so he was near us. During the day we moved his crate to the center of the house and left the radio on for him when we were not home. We also dealt with separation anxiety with ours so it helped to leave and come back after varying short lengths of time, lengthening the length of time as he progressed. We also made sure the crate was the source of all food and treats (good things!) and he got tons of praise when he went into his crate.

I'd second Riley's advice on keeping structured runs on hold until about a year old or so. I'd stick mainly to long walks for now, maybe the occasional short run here and there preferably on grass rather than concrete. Free play and running in the yard is totally fine though.

Huskies are pack animals and don't like being left alone, as I'm sure you've read in your research. It's not surprising that he doesn't want to be left outside while you/the family is inside. Why not bring him in and put him in the crate with a chew or stuffed kong while you are in the shower and unable to supervise him? I would advise against leaving a husky alone outside anyway. They are notoriously good escape artists and leaving them alone in even a well fenced yard is no guarantee they'll still be there when you come back to check on them. I would never leave my sibe unattended in any yard no matter how well fenced...too much trouble for them to get into!