Hello Everyone,

We are new to the forum and new to the amazing Siberian Husky breed so thought we would introduce ourselves. I myself had a a GSD/SibH cross when I was a child but she was more GSD than SibH personality/trait wise lol.

We are parents to 3 gorgeous human girls (8,5 and 4mths) and our newest addition is our boy Ranger who is 8weeks old He is a Black/White Dilute with blue eyes as mentioned from his breeder.

Yesterday was his first day in his new home and things are going well so far, he doesn't much like his crate for sleeping in at night and will whine and cry for a good solid 10-30mins depending on his mood before settling down to sleep, this happens every time so far when we put him back in from going outside to potty which is every 1hr lol.

So far for potty training we have had no accidents, he was born and raised outside apparently so he does know to go outside but hasn't been trained to do so to go outside to potty from inside the house. We are using the on the hour every hour rule and crate training along with that as we were told he can hold his bladder for 75mins at this age.

His breeder had him on Summit puppy food but we didn't too much like the ingredients and are slowly switching him over to Orijen LB Puppy which we believe to be one of the finest dog food out there in terms of kibble based on ingredients and of course we like that it is Canadian made with all Canadian fresh ingredients and nothing coming from China. We checked into the Ca:P ratio in LB Puppy and we feel it is good for him even as a puppy. (Please let me know otherwise if not). I did want to do a raw diet with Ranger but DH isn't too keen on the idea even though I told him that it would be cheaper than the kibble we selected and I was even willing to do all the prep work etc even with my high phobia of raw meat and touching it, my DH handles all raw meat in this house currently so he should have understood the sacrifice I was willing to make for our little guy to get the best.

Ranger has had his first set of vaccinations on the Puppy schedule, we have been searching high n low for a holistic vet in our area but haven't found one yet. We don't want to over vaccinate and would be looking for some extra guidance from those who choose not to vaccinate on certain things and times.

Well that was a long introductory lol Also we are looking for anyone with a SibH in or around where we live for meetups and to form long friendships with on our love for this amazing breed.

With out further ado a couple of pictures of our little man Ranger at 8weeks old and 11.5lbs!

Welcome! Ranger is ADORABLE, and I'd love to see more pictures of him.

If there isn't already a meet up group in your area, it's really not hard to start one. I was convinced we were the only Husky owners in our part of FL, but I started a group and in 5 months our membership has exploded. I'd be more than happy to help you start one, and you're going to want to wait for Ranger to get a little older anyway.

Orijen is a great food too, but LB isn't really necessary for a Husky since they aren't really a large breed. I think you guys are fine with it though.

Welcome!

For vaccines this is generally what we follow:

http://www.weim.net/emberweims/Vaccine.html

Knowing what I do now I personally would avoid places like dog parks until the dog is around 4 months old- since vaccination is mostly a guessing game from when moms antibodies allow for the dog to be "protected" by the vaccine. Play dates with known dogs I would feel comfortable with from the beginning.

Have you looked into the premade raw patties? Sometimes that's a bit easier to break into than full out raw initially. I agree with Meredith about the LB puppy, Sibes are considered a medium breed. The LB won't harm the pup though

We started our meetup group from scratch about a year ago, we have 100+ members now. It's not too daunting and it's fun!

Welcome I hope you'll enjoy this forum as much as I am!

Thank you for the warm welcome everyone

Meredith & Kristina - Orijen Puppy & Orijen LB Puppy are very very close in all their values, the only main differences is LB has 2% less protein, 4% less fat and 5% more Carbs. Ca/P levels are exactly the same Oh and kibble size lol, our guy seems to like the LB puppy size kibble over the regular Puppy size.

I am not sure where to start looking for groups lol What age should he be when we allow him to interact in a group of dogs? After his second set of shots? His first set was on April 12th at nearly 7weeks old according to his health record the breeder gave me. There is 2 more sets to go correct? 12wks and 16wks?

I have a few other specific questions about a few things but I will make another thread for those in the right field.

Wait until after the 16 week shots. I have yet to see a dog park that doesn't prohibit dogs under 4 months anyway (I've even seen a couple with a 6 month limit), so for now limit it to back yard play dates with dogs you know well.

As far as meet up groups, I used a ton of social media and whatnot to advertise our group. Not sure if meetup.com covers Canada, but that's a good place to start if it does. Also, look and see about Facebook pages and things like Craigslist or Kijiji. If you don't find anything, pick a date and start advertising for it. I also made a stack of business cards and I carry them whenever I think I'll run into other Husky owners.

Thanks Meredith I will look into those resources and see what I find

You're very welcome. Feel free to PM me any time if you have more questions.

Welcome to the site,

Always happy to see another Canadian pop in and Ranger looks adorable. Great mask and looks like a little terror, I'm sure you'll have lots of fun with him. Congrats again and welcome to the forums.

For dog parks I always liked waiting until my dogs were at least 6 months but that's just me. Tika just didn't have an off button until that time, so overheating was something I was weary about.... Mind you this has ALOT more to do with me having chows before then anything else I'm 100% sure.

We're on Orijen (6 fish), for Her base, as well and love it. Costs a bit more, but I too very much enjoy that it is made in Canada. If you plan on sticking with Orijen and and moving into the adult stages brands do yourself a favor and find a deal on a cheap plastic container you can poor the full bag into. I don't even smell it anymore but 6 fish, and even some of the others, have a real strong smell. Cutting it down will go a long way .

Meredith hit the nail on the head on how to go about finding a meet up group. Some other ideas you can try is talking to the breeder. People who bought Sibes off my breeder started a meet up group themselves and the breeder pased that information along to me when we picked Tika up. It's fun being able to see some of the other "Siblings" from time to time.

I pretty sure you guys have them out in Ontario as well but if you can find a "Global Pet foods" out by you you should be able to use that for a meet up as well. I'm no employee of Global but the things they offer is just great especially for early life stages of your pup.

The one by us offers free nail clippings for any pup under 6 months old once a month. It's a puppy meet up for socialization but you get to meet some great people as well as get a free clipping out of it. They are a great bunch of people to shoot ideas off of and a lot of them are very well knowledge and eager to help.

Back to the point they also always have a pin up board just as you walk in allowing you to place anything from ads for training courses to meet ups for breeds. Just ask the the staff and it should be fine.

We are in global every weekend and it has become a great place to waste time, have fun, and talk dogs with people.

~Chris~

Om goodness Ranger is very adorable....

He is way too cute!!! I love his eyes

Hello Chirs, Deb, and Shawna! Thank you for the warm welcomes

Chris- We have GPF here as well It's the only place I get my pups kibble form I'll ask them next time about the free nail clipping and doggie meets:)