This has been an interesting ride to say the least. It has taken much thought, observation, routine adjustments and googling to get through the last few weeks. I suppose the best thing would be to start at the beginning...

About a year before we lost Bubba I started researching Saint breeders for a strong working line pedigree. Emailed back and forth with a handful and determined, that due to the costs and age of our then current pack, a puppy didn't make sense. On the back burner I watched the expecting and litter pages on breeder sites while holding on tightly to the deposit money. Then we started the intense hiking thing and the next dog was a distant after thought.

When Bubba took his bridge walk things changed around here a lot. The pack took several weeks to regain playfulness and Sioux was depressed for months. Our 13 year old (and second) cat passed in November of '10 and the house was nothing short of a series of bittersweet memories around every corner. Something had to be done. My pack was incomplete.

During the summer we occasionally checked craigslist and the rescue site weighing the potential challenges of bringing a new dog into the mix. B's passing shifted our plans to filling the uncomfortable silence in the house. About a week before Thanksgiving, we happened across a post for two eight month old litter mate brothers looking for a new home. Since our last guys were litter mate brothers we bombarded that poor lady with endless emails and phone calls. I think it was a Friday evening when finally brought home C and D. The first few weeks were very interesting to say the least. Thank doG they happened to be declawed. I would be nothing but a mass of scars otherwise, the dogs too. By January both cats were properly integrated and both had experienced Coco's moodiness.

Of course, with the cats and sleds in a harmonious existence we had to do something. I started up with emails and web searches sifting through anything Saint related. Previous rescue encounters left us a bit uneasy to go that route, but I inquired about a dog and included a detailed story of our experience and desires in our next Saint. Of course, not even a hint of a reply. During January I was seeing Saint posts on craigslist twice a week it seemed. Most were females (the Coco problem) and many were BYB litter postings that were flagged in minutes.







Friday February 4th, 2011: https://www.itsahuskything.com/t1528-02-04-11-update-new-addition-day
By this day we were in full search mode. I was checking every regional craigslist within a two hour drive, and Lindsay was on a 10 minute refresh with countless sites. Our morning run was typical and we got back home at our usual 9:30 time. Walking by the computer I hit space to kill the screensaver, hit F5 on the craigslist pets page and took the dogs out back for fresh water. Back inside, I took a gander and the first post was "Saint Bernard (Milliken)". It sounded like another BYB litter thread but this one had a PHONE NUMBER! The details are in the link above from that day. Long story short; we brought home an eight week old pup on Super Bowl weekend with snowboarding plans on top of it.

That was chaotic. Coco had attacked Ridik on the previous Thursday and I was uneasy about leaving him in the backyard for 14 hours with that bitch. Luckily word spread like wildfire about the new Harris dog and dog sitting volunteers lined up anxiously waiting to help. The final plan went fairly smoothly. Ridik and Tambi stayed at Kosmo's house, the Malamutes stayed out back and Puppins went to Lindsay's Danielle's house. It was hard to leave him somewhere new just hours after getting him but those $200 plans were already set in stone. Sunday was a little easier but we still had commitments and had to take the pup with us to a Super Bowl party. Aside from a nine month old 120 pound English Mastiff with a fixation on Tambi, it was a walk in the park.






The New Routine:
For the first three nights I was setting my alarm and taking him out for middle of the night potty breaks. He hated it. Squirming and mad, when I got him outside he would just lay down and never went during those outings. So we tried going through the whole night and hoping for the best when morning came. For the first week he was holding for over six hours every night but instantly whining when one of the other dogs began their morning shuffle. Not too bad, I was able to take him out first thing and cram in another 30 minutes of sleep. I thought I was in puppy lottery heaven, and considering him as a single variable I was. Later I would remember that there are seven other variables around here.

This puppy settled in to the process very easily. Wake up at 4:30-5:00am and potty, chase Ridik around the house then breakfast by 6:00, play some more and chew on something until 8:00, another two potty breaks before 8:30 and then crate until the Kosmo run is over. After I get back I open his crate and dive into the dishes, vacuuming and household stuff until he decides it's time to go out. By the third week he was giving me until 12:00-12:30pm to get things done. As of now, little Limbaugh puts himself in the crate shortly after 8:00am and doesn't emerge until well past noon. Crate training? Check. Why was that so easy?





New Puppy Concerns:
Squishy poos were to be expected. We knew that he would immediately be switched over to a new food and took him out every 30-45 minutes no matter what. Some started solid then ended squishy, some were all solid, some were all liquid and many were a mix of all of the above. Then in the middle of the first week I started noticing tiny bits of blood at the very end of some poos (yes, I was right there watching everything happen from beginning to end). I tried to wait it out but ended up being too worried. The amount of blood was less than one drop from an eye dropper and bright red always at the end. Giardia? Food? Stress? Worms? Intestinal tears? I couldn't take it anymore and called the vet. She wanted a sample of a good one and a sample of a bloody one. So I took some cardboard and followed him around one morning until I got the two samples. When I got there and handed them over I felt her eyes rolling at me even though they physically didn't.

"When you said blood I was expecting blood. We'll check these out and get back to you today."

Sure enough, the tests came back negative for anything and we decided to continue with the food switch and monitor the poo. Within two days it was all solid, properly colored and bloodless. What a relief.






Pack Dynamics & The Legendary "Puppy License":
Having dealt with dozens of dogs being introduced to my pack, I was certain that this would be a process amongst themselves. Visions of puppy learning what's ok and what's not from the others danced in my head. The second week brought with it the first of many incidents. Ridik was on the couch, Puppins was bounding around the living room and he jumped up on the edge of the couch and bit Ridik right in the... ummm... fruit basket. He had a slight puncture on the snout and a little tear on the inside of a jowl. It didn't take much to clean up and care for then we were back on track. Until I F'd up royally.

I know Coco very well. In any other person's care she would be dead several times over by now. This is one intense dog whose formative early life was filled with attacks by another Malamute in the house. (Let me just interject here; Malamutes are a very hard breed that I would only recommend to advanced and well versed dog owners.) I'm sure you've read it before. All it takes is a split second for things to go to hell. He was literally within arms reach as I lifted the Shop-Vac from the porch into the kitchen. Just as the wheels hit the linoleum, the adrenaline inducing sounds of snarling and yelping emanated from the gate area. The sound of my footsteps was enough to send Coco running and peeing herself as she sought refuge in the dog house (first degree time out). My perfect little puppy was defecating and urinating all over himself with a dime sized hole in his head and three other puncture wounds around the snout area. He made the most awful sounds and I had to push the emotions down deep into my bottled up area to deal with the situation at hand.



I know from experience that you don't just go stitching up dog bites. I shaved the head as best as I could with human clippers and began the first aid process. There was a lot going on. His gums were dry, he wouldn't fix a gaze, his heart rate was edging up on what the sleds get from extreme workouts and he was hyperventilating. I cleaned up the wounds, shoved a quarter Rymadil down his throat (per vet talk, her cell is on my speed dial) and held him until he fell asleep. Then I put him in his crate and tried to go about my day.

Later that evening Lindsay's brother stopped by and his wife (a vet tech) took a look at Limbaugh per our request. I feel so stupid for not noticing, but she found a lump in the lymph node area of the neck that was solid and well past the size of a golf ball. It was 8:00pm and things were not getting better with his vitals. Lindsay set out to get a thermometer and by the time she got back I was dressed, out front with a pocket full of cash ready for the E-Vet.

At the E-Vet they man handled him to the back and we waited while listening to his screeching and crying as they tried to sample the fluid in the lump. Being at their mercy, we agreed to sedate him for the shaving and sampling. The fluid was pink and they told us that was good. We got some antibiotics, some pain meds, handed them $277 and went home with instructions to return immediately if the fluid turned white or red.

I've dealt with cysts and lumps before. The tried and true warm compress was used and the draining began. Until the following Monday. I couldn't get the thing to drain and it was getting bigger and harder. Tuesday PM I called the vet and left a message asking what I should do. I seriously considered lancing it with a sterile needle to get the process going again, but decided against it. The next day the vet called back and told me to just continue the treatment without lancing the lump. Later that afternoon it opened up again and a stream of yellowish-pinkish goo spilled out onto the floor. Gross but good.



As of this post his neck lump is smaller than a dime and diminishing by the day. He has been attacked two more times since then. Both by Ridik. I am convinced this puppy never had that "puppy license" I've read so much about. When Jasmine was a puppy they were perfect role models showing her what not to do with minor corrections. I believe she only had blood once on the snout. Limbaugh has had blood from every incident, all six of them. And the attacks are just that, attacks. They don't stop once they start. It's not a simple snap conveying intolerance of behavior, it's a straight attack with the aggressor actively chasing him down to continue. It doesn't stop until I'm actively involved.

On Saturday Ridik got him again while everyone was here. After I got him off the puppy, Tambi tore into him. TAMBI!!! He had a nice rip across the top of his nose and lost a canine in the process. I think that's where most of the blood came from.

This part is going to take some time and life is no longer fun and games for these dogs. I have never seen/heard of this before and my way of dealing with it shall not be posted here.





That's all I've got for now. It's an okay overview of our first few weeks. Later I'll dig out the vet bills and itemize the costs so far. Puppies be expensive, ugh.

wow that does not sound fun hope they start to lay off Limbaugh soon, poor pup. hopefully when he gets big he will start to hold his own.

It's all fun until someone makes Puppins bleed. Heh, not really.

Take the mornings for example. I get up and let the sled dogs and Tambi out back for the morning potty before going back upstairs to let Puppins out of his crate. Then I have about 90 seconds to get to the front door. After he goes I let the others back in and breakfast is on. This is fun because he has no concept of food belonging to whom its given. In between body checking him and monitoring which bowl Sioux is in front of I get to try and make coffee. Before the coffee is done Limbaugh goes out again and this potty break involves lots of playing in the yard and less pottying. Then I usually have to use a cat or a sled dog to entice him to come back in. Once inside I toss a paper towel roll center at him to buy enough time to finish my coffee. During coffee the "entertain me" stage occurs and we play rope, wrestle, chase cats or continually toss toys at him to keep him from bothering the other dogs. I really thought at least one of them would play with him, but that's apparently my job for the time being (the cats are starting to enjoy playing with him). The play thing goes on until roughly 8:00am and that leaves me 20 minutes to get ready for the run.





Yesterday was a big day for little Puppins. He was upgraded to big dog bowls...


Took his first backyard poo...


And he went for his first walk. I tried some video but it's full of serious shaky cam work.

Aww... Eddy, you're a champ! And so is Puppins!! That's so strange about the attacks.... I'm stumped as well as to why the older dogs aren't giving him a puppy license?

Koda wrote:

I'm stumped as well as to why the older dogs aren't giving him a puppy license?

I have two theories:

A) They can smell what he is and how big he's going to get so they're trying to get him while they can.

B)They're stupid and treat him no different than they treat each other, not knowing that his fur ans skin aren't that tough yet.

Either way a bunch of idiots.



















Potty Training:
This was way too easy. Puppy Jasmine had maybe two accidents indoors during the whole process and that's when the puppy bug first bit us. It was apparent that me being home made house breaking fast and easy. But for a long time we convinced ourselves it was a fluke with her. After this new guy I'm certain I have this down.

The evening we brought him home he was set in the front yard and we didn't go in to see all of the awesome new doggies until he went. Less than five minutes later and some happy-go-lucky "good boy" dances we were inside. Four years in dog forums and dozens of books later I knew to expect certain things. The muscles and body functions aren't quite synchronized in puppies and a little bit of excitement will yield lovely yellow stains. So after a few short minutes inside I took him back out and sure enough, he peed again before he got to the grass. From then on he was taken out every 30-45 minutes until he went or we hit 10 minutes outside. If he went the full 10 minutes he was taken back out in 20. The nights were weird with this guy. I set my alarm for 90 minute intervals and went to sleep. The first one he was out cold and pulled back in his crate when I reached in for him. With no whining or squirming, I decided to go ahead with the next 90 minutes of sleep. The second one was identical. Not a hint of any need to go out. I finally just went to sleep.

In the morning he was raring to go. The whining and door pawing was obvious and he unloaded a full night's worth of puppy waste the instant he was outside. There were only two nights that he didn't go all the way through. One was because I worried about him holding for so long, so I forced him out in the middle of the night. He collapsed in the grass and tried to sleep. The other was a late night for us (like midnight) and he woke up at 4:30am crying and pawing. Haven't had any crate accidents whatsoever.

Daily observation of my own dogs has shown me that they like to poo in the same general area. Because of this I decided to let the puppy poo piles linger for a few days to help set in his mind what was going on. I've also seen so many dogs take a crap that I can see it coming from a minute away. They pace, circle, sniff and narrow down to a couple of choice spots and then it's on. I can literally hear his movements without needing to see them. The shuffling and sniffing trigger an instant response and flight out the door. He has not poo'd in the house.

The pattern of predictably going outside sets in very easy in dogs. They know within a few days to expect the sounds that accompany outside time. If you're on top of it, you know to make every outing super exciting and totally awesome so they're eager the next time around. After a few days of the pattern, I started with the paw training (our door is trashed so we don't care if he scratches at it). I never taught this dog a sit, social learning has taught him for me. It was the damnedest thing to see this brand new puppy sitting and looking up to go out front. I started by barely opening the door so he had to either nose through or paw at the door to get through. This went on for another two days. Then I stepped it up by only jiggling the handle and asking him "what's wrong?". From the previous two days he instinctively nudged at the door with his nose and then punched it with paw. He got all sorts of praise as I opened the door and let him out. Within three days of this he was walking up to the door, then sitting and whining to go out. Success.

Mostly. There have been several piddles in the house and they were all due to my own negligence. Things like letting him run and play for too long before forcing the potty break, and getting immersed in GT5 to the point that I'm trying to finish a race as he's standing so pitifully at the door leaking on the linoleum. Nothing happens to him for this. I just let him out like normal and clean up. The only time he has gotten it wrong I picked him up mid stream and set him out front by himself until he longed desperately to come back in.

That's pretty much it for potty training Limbaugh. T'was nothing.

I LOVE Limbaugh so much!!! and he let me hug and hold him for a good amount of time on sat till he had to go potty! im eager to see how big he will get till i can't pick him up anymore. now i have to wait 11 more days to see him glad to hear he is healing ok from Sat. i was going potty when i heard the noise and was like oh shit what just happened!

Omg he's grown! He's so freaking adorable! Just makes you want to hug him for hours! I hope the others let up on him soon

Yet another weekend that makes me feel like I screwed up royally and have no business owning any dogs. I could send Ridik away by himself, but the Malamutes have to go together. Totally at a loss here. I have failed them so far and it's really starting to wear on me. I give up.

Oh no! What happened??

Oh no!! Eddy What's going on?

Same old crap. Ridik gets too amped up when people are here. He either howls and whines out back (which bothers neighbors cuz he won't stop, especially late at night when people are here) or he gets possessive of someone indoors and attacks the puppy. I can't keep up with separating and managing it all and I'm just disappointed in all of them. But mostly myself. I don't even want to look at Ridik and he knows it. Mood is dark around here.













Should have seen it coming... Name him Limbaugh and everyone starts attacking him.

Eddy
this sucks so much, im sorry! but you have not failed, you gave all those dogs a home when no one else could handle them, just need puppy to get bigger so he can fight them off. lets hope they are all still adjusting to the puppy even though they should be used to lots of dogs around i don't know why they are picking on him so much except for the fact he is so damn cute and everyone that comes over fusses over him and the others feel left out.

Hang in there! Quite soon puppy will be big enough that he'll be the bully

jbealer wrote:

Eddy
this sucks so much, im sorry! but you have not failed, you gave all those dogs a home when no one else could handle them, just need puppy to get bigger so he can fight them off. lets hope they are all still adjusting to the puppy even though they should be used to lots of dogs around i don't know why they are picking on him so much except for the fact he is so damn cute and everyone that comes over fusses over him and the others feel left out.

Jenn's right...you gave all of them a home when no one else would!! You have not failed! (I found out a little more about your pack from Jenn on our hike on Saturday).

Hang in there...they all came to you for a reason! You've already done so much for each and every one in your pack!

Maybe that's the solution. Maybe he's getting too much attention?

Eddy, I'm sure you've tried, but just in case, have you tried throwing him in the bottom of the pack order in your own (and everyone else's) actions? I know it must be REAL hard with a puppy as damn cute as that, but does he get fed last, go out last, get attention last? The attention would be the hardest, but I'm guessing that everyone that comes over fusses over him and not the others? Maybe the human interactions need to start mimicking the dog ones?

I think it's Kristina (arooroomom) that mentioned that new dogs into her pack are basically ignored for a month.

It'd be worth a shot if you haven't already tried, yeah?

He's been last at everything except going outside, because he goes out front without the others. I even take everyone down in the morning while he's still crated. Don't take this the wrong way but I've done the new dog thing before many times over. With my requests to pay mind of the regular pack, all I get is people that unknowingly hurry through the motions with the sleds to get to the puppy. Can't change what's in the head and can't change Coco's personality. My solution is no visitors period until they're settled and on a rigid schedule. But that's contradictory to the things Lindsay likes to do and the routine of the people around us. Honestly, we've been doing so much on weekends for so long that I start to loathe them (sure is hard to explain when everyone else loves weekends and getting together). My attitude is trashed by 8:00pm Friday and that's probably where they're getting theirs from.

It has to stop somehow before he DOES become the bully. A 150 pound bully is not on my list.

harrise wrote:

Don't take this the wrong way but I've done the new dog thing before many times over.

Know you have And I very much recognized that you had likely already done that, but it never hurts to be sure Goodness knows I can imagine how much attention that little furball would get in this household! It would be VERY hard to hold back indeed. So I do hope you didn't take offense to my asking, as you know first hand that you're the first person I go to for advice in integrating a new dog

Guess what? Yup, and Ridik again too . Puppins even seems to be getting used to it. This one wasn't quite so bad, but those jowls bleed at first I tell you what. I had just finished picking up the toys so he could be out there and didn't see the Husky following me with his beanie-husky tucked up in his mouth. Limbaugh was happily bounding across the grass towards me when Ridik struck so I got to really see it first hand. It definitely looks like that's just how Ridik is. Really looked like the moves he pulls on Kosmo, and I verified that yesterday while Kosmo was here. The Husky fur and skin must be that much tougher around the face. After inspecting the Kosmonaut I found tiny little scabs all over his cheeks, neck and ears. This changes things a bit. (I still need a weekend off though, and that's about three or four weeks away. UGH)



Guess who's a Saint Bernard? Puppins is a Saint Bernard! He's starting to show some of those traits too. When I put him in the crate for bed he whines until all of the dogs are in the room (Mals stay outside a bit later since they like it so much). The last couple of days he has started people watching out the front door. This morning he watched the meter guy go down the other side of the street and waited by the front door for him to go by. I don't think he was expecting the guy to walk by RIGHT in front of the door. He barked a real bark and I took him out with some cheese to make sure the yard was okay. Oh, and he's got the collapsing thing down too. Bubba was the worst at night. He would go out to check the yard, pee on the mailbox and collapse on the front step to protest going inside. At least I can still pick up Puppins, for another couple of weeks at least.

harrise wrote:

Really looked like the moves he pulls on Kosmo, and I verified that yesterday while Kosmo was here. The Husky fur and skin must be that much tougher around the face. After inspecting the Kosmonaut I found tiny little scabs all over his cheeks, neck and ears.

I noticed those all over Koda too (Hailey not so much, LOL... what a turd!). Poor guy gets beat up but he never seems to mind!

Glad to hear it might just be breed differences. It's good to see your mind at ease

Limbaugh was so cute on sat night! he is all most to the point that its not an easy pick up anymore! he had a blast chasing me around the kitchen in my boots trying to eat the flaps! and i had to go out back and say hi to everyone else, piggy was so funny he was really getting into play mode with me and coco and ridik were pushing each other for my full attention, i started with a black dress on....hair hair hair!!!!
i think by the time you get your weekend Puppins will be able to handle him self!

Glad to see things are looking a little bit brighter.

I waited an extra day to be in the clear. We had a no incident weekend. Coco snapped at him for being in the way on our walk last night but I'm super fast with the leashes on 'em. She couldn't get any bit of him but I stepped on his rear toes and scared him enough.

Finally got Sioux to do the correcting thing. He does it right. I've also been utilizing Kosmo as much as possible to keep him tired. Everything seems to be leveling off slightly. Coco is still Coco, and Ridik is an idiot so we're far from integrated.

I'm beginning to wonder about this crate thing already. This dog might get big. Like a Saint Bernard or something.

Wowsers it's been a while since I've remembered this thread.


As of June 10th he will be six months old and Limbaugh...

Is crate free (he won't fit).

Can spend up to four hours alone free roaming (heading towards six).

Has developed a tolerance of being attacked by sled dogs.

Knows a bunch of commands already from social learning (even the turning commands for the sleds).

Has only peed inside once in the last 90 days (due to an attack).

...and probably more that I'm forgetting at the moment.






Maybe I should move this to off topic. This dog does not, in any way, represent raising a puppy much less a Husky. We hit the jackpot here.

Yum to Doggie ice cream!