mayazaayman wrote:

As for puppy vs adult adoption, I prefer to go the puppy route, so that it is moulded into our lifestyle from young. Who knows how an adult dog was raised, unless you know the previous owners.

I adopted my female at about 3.5 years of age with absolutely no knowledge of her history, background or where she came from. She has settle in and adapted to our lifestyle extremely well within the first month. I adopted my male a month before he turned 6 years old, and he also adapted well and settled in within the first couple of months.

In my experience, I do believe you can adapt any age husky into your family and lifestyle if you commit to them.

Us too - our boy was a stray and estimated at 4 years old. He's one of the most gentle, well behaved dogs I know. I regularly pick up large dogs I've never met at the shelter to transport for rescue, and all of have been sweet, awesome dogs - we provide on-going support to their adopters and never had an issue - even the ones marked "aggressive" by the shelters. "who knows what an adult dog will do" is a old school myth.

Puppies are a lot more work than any of the 10 or so fosters I have had. Good luck having any sort of normal life with a puppy for at least several months.

Neither of my dogs as puppies made my life difficult....

But someone saying getting an older dog is risky is sort of silly, a dog you raised can snap and have unpredictable behavior as well. All dogs could potentially do something you'd never anticipate. And it isn't like you can't work with older dogs if they need some behavior adjustments. Very ignorant to say. We all have our preferences over puppies or adopting an adult, but saying one or the other is a risk or way worse is pointless.

Heather! wrote:

Neither of my dogs as puppies made my life difficult....

But someone saying getting an older dog is risky is sort of silly, a dog you raised can snap and have unpredictable behavior as well. All dogs could potentially do something you'd never anticipate. And it isn't like you can't work with older dogs if they need some behavior adjustments. Very ignorant to say. We all have our preferences over puppies or adopting an adult, but saying one or the other is a risk or way worse is pointless.

I think you need to actually read his post before you post....He stated his opinion on what he prefers without casting any judgements. Perhaps you should do the same.

paleobones wrote:

Heather! wrote:

Neither of my dogs as puppies made my life difficult....

But someone saying getting an older dog is risky is sort of silly, a dog you raised can snap and have unpredictable behavior as well. All dogs could potentially do something you'd never anticipate. And it isn't like you can't work with older dogs if they need some behavior adjustments. Very ignorant to say. We all have our preferences over puppies or adopting an adult, but saying one or the other is a risk or way worse is pointless.

I think you need to actually read his post before you post....He stated his opinion on what he prefers without casting any judgements. Perhaps you should do the same.

In a way, he did pass some judgement paleobones. He stated that you never know what you are getting with am adult, which is silly. Heather is not wrong, she is very right. Any dog can snap at any time. Rescuing may require more work, but they still become your dog regardless of if they were your puppy or not. That being said, they can still be a handful and come with varying issues whether you get them as an adult or a puppy.

I think Heather is right and actually wasn't being judgmental. Just my 2 cents.

Shucks Katie, how did you know I can't read? I read perfectly fine, thank you for your brilliant and well thought out response. I was not being rude or judgmental, I was giving light on BOTH situations and saying we ALL have our preferences- but regardless, a dog you have had since birth or a rescue you have had for a few years, either one could suddenly be triggered and do something completely unexpected, since they are both DOGS.. How is that judgmental? Saying puppies suck or rescues are going to become crazy would be me being judgmental. I said they both have their faults. I didn't even give a personal preference. I only said giving a generalizing statement about a rescued older dog is ignorant, like any other generalized statement. You, my friend, are the one who needs to pick up a pair of reading glasses and read before getting all pissy and corrective with me when I actually write a post not trying to be an ass and offer insight. Thanks.

I have only had puppies with my two though actively did rescue work for 3.5 years. I agree with A LOT of his post as my two have been excellent and I have really had none of the issues most people do with their huskies and find it ridiculous to base your opinion on the internet always pointing out faults all dogs could have and making them seem like traits they will undoubtably have (run on sentence). Their post for the most part was great insight for this poster, but like SEVERAL other posters here, I challenged their statement about older dogs and rescues and pointed out that since dogs CAN be unpredictable, even if you have a puppy, things could happen. Plenty of bites we have heard reported with huskies or other breeds have been dogs people had raised since puppyhood themselves and said 'they have never acted this way and it was so unexpected." Puppies could grow and do something unthinkable out of nowhere, just like an adult dog you adopted, that is the gist of what I said and I truly don't see why you felt the need to chim in with your little comment.

And there's my novel. If you are going to call me out, call me out when I'm actually trying to start crap and not when I am actually being informative.

Ok then.... For what it's worth, I do not consider Heather's post judgemental. We all have had our experiences, and I was by no means saying never adopt. I merely meant that you do not know if the dog was abused or whatever, and in the context of this post the guy is unsure about Huskies, because he read about all these "terrible" Husky traits. Now al he would need is to adopt a Husky that was allowed to run riot. I believe that for inexperienced dog owners who may not have the skill to adjust a dog's behaviour, going the puppy route is better.

However, I want to qualify what I am saying with this, if you cannot have someone with the puppy all of the time, it will probably run riot, these dogs are always seeking for attention, and if you are not there they will find destruction a good second choice.

The suggestion that you can forget about having a normal life with a puppy has not been true in our case, as ours have always be very content to be around us. In nature they would have spent their first year with their mom. We are now their mom, so they want to be by our side. My experience is that only the first week was abnormal, thereafter as long as the dogs are with us they are happy. I also have 2 young children that helps keeping them amused.

Thank you for taking my post the way it was intended. It really was me just wanting to point out behaviors that could stem from an older dog who could potentially have been abused or neglected in some sort of way could be displayed by a dog raised from puppyhood unexpectedly. I think in short it was just "who knows what any dog will do," haha.

And to sort of ramble on to the original topic.. I feel like anyone who is unwilling to take the time and dedication to train and shape a dog that may have some difficult traits should just avoid getting a dog all around. Husky or any other breed, you never know if you will get a mellow dog or one that that you'd think is secretly downing energy drinks. The puppy may be a little bit challenging the first week as this is as new to them as it is to you, but you can't go ahead and say they will be too difficult when they are only in the adjustment period. With both dogs as puppies (though the first 2 months we had Ro I was not working), I worked, I had dates with my husband, I enjoyed my sleep and quiet time- I just made sure I had time to stimulate them physically or mentally as well. Neither have ever had to have crates or be contained to one area either. Others have had similar experiences, while some others may have puppies that were off the walls and vocal about when they were upset, destructive, not able to be unmonitored, etc.

It depends on the dog and it depends on the owner. Just because a dog is a husky does not mean it will howl all night, jump over your fence, tear apart your couch, or anything of the sort. I, personally, think most of the bad things associated with them are easily able to be trained out with time and dedicated, or at least made more manageable. Exercisewise, yeah, they're active, but honestly I feel like ANY dog should be given the luxury of at least a 20-30 minute walk in the AM and a 20-30 minute walk in the PM (weather permitted).

I can't sleep and it's resulting in really long posts- apologizing for that in advance.

Let's keep in mind we are not 16 year olds in high school, we don't need to be snappy or sarcastic to get a point across.

There are potential issues with dogs raised from puppies and adults, they are dogs. They have the ability to be unpredictable. Rescues perhaps take longer to become comfortable, true. But that doesn't mean they are a danger. I have a houseful.

And for what its worth to the OP I don't agree with buying a puppy and then deciding it not the right fit for your family and returning like a pair of shoes BUT if you already know that your family isn't willing or able to commit to the dogs future needs then you should find him a better permanent home now. And that you should refrain from purchasing another puppy/dog unless or until you are willing to accept whatever he brings to the table.

I want to clarify my comment on not having a life with puppies. If you work 5 days a week 8 hours a day a puppy is a tough road. They cant be left alone for that kind of time, you'll also normally sacrifice sleep which makes work even more difficult. Then there's the time to devote to molding them, not just one or two behaviors to fix but a whole slew.

I've never had felt my life changed much with a rescue, maybe I have gotten lucky. If you are around all day and need very little sleep get a puppy.

Lordbroll wrote:

I want to clarify my comment on not having a life with puppies. If you work 5 days a week 8 hours a day a puppy is a tough road. They cant be left alone for that kind of time, you'll also normally sacrifice sleep which makes work even more difficult. Then there's the time to devote to molding them, not just one or two behaviors to fix but a whole slew.

I've never had felt my life changed much with a rescue, maybe I have gotten lucky. If you are around all day and need very little sleep get a puppy.

I here ya. Life was a lot easier when we got Delilah than when we got Cato. Yeah, we had issues to work with, but she was potty trained and leash trained - Cato was neither of these.

Honestly, I don't think the OP really cares what we think anymore and has made up his mind. I'm done rambling about it.

mheath0429 wrote:

Honestly, I don't think the OP really cares what we think anymore and has made up his mind. I'm done rambling about it.

Then did you really need to state that? Kristina makes a good point. Let's try and be cognizant of how our words come across.

Alright Tori, fair enough.

I just wanted to update everyone and thank them for all the advice. We found Ninja a wonderful home with a family with 3 kids, an older dog and tons of acres to run on. He should be very happy.

I know that all dogs can be exceptions to the generalizations of the breed but after doing a lot of after the fact research on Huskies I still come to the conclusion that the differences in the breed amounted to Ninja not being the best fit for our family. I know some here are upset about that but I still did what I thought was best for Ninja and my family. We're just in love with the Malamute breed. Nothing at all wrong with huskies but every single thing I read on the breed mentions extremely high energy, large amount of exercise, and various other breed specific traits that I wasn't aware of. Yes, I should have been and that's my mistake. Ninja deserves a family who does't think they're getting a miniature Mal and I'm glad I found that family for him.

Yes, he could very well have turned out to be a great dog, even for our family. The Mal we end up getting at some point could turn out to be the monster of all Mals but I can only go on my own experience with Mals and the research I've done and my limited time with Huskies. If we had not found a good fit for him we'd already decided and applied to a foster only rescue and we would have continued to foster him until a good home was found.

All I can hope is that others might read some of my posts and take time to do the research on the breed, any breed, before bringing home a dog.

His new forever family has already sent us some pictures of him in his new home. I'll post them when I get the chance and I hope to continue to post around here from time to time as this seems like a great with a lot of fine people who really love their pets.

I wish you and Ninja well.

Take your time on finding your Malamute this time, as I think you now realize that we can have rebound relationships with dogs as much as we can with love.

I'm glad you found Ninja a forever home.

It was also very considerate of you to post what you did as a learning experience for others. I hope that with you're next dog that everything works out well and that he or she turns out to be the best fit for you're family. Good luck and I look forward to reading future post's from you and seeing lot's of pictures

There are several Malamute owners here, so I'm sure they will be happy to see another Mal around.

Best of luck for you and Ninja glad you found her/him a great home.

Do continue to be part of this group we have several members that have Mals and GSD's it is not just for Huskies.. Also let Ninja owners know about this site I am sure they can get some help with questions when they come up.

You also might consider a rescue when you get another dog a fews years old will not have as much energy as a puppy.