Hello i'm new to the forum but have some questions that I need advice on.

I spotted Storm's ad on facebook back in January from a local animal shelter. He belonged to a family north of my town, and they claimed they were going to euthanize him if no one took him in. Long story short, he was tied up outside, with nothing to do but run back and forth. No compassion, no love. (Exactly what a husky needs.) My girlfriend and I fell in love with him immediately when we went to see him. So, we took him in!

6 months have passed since we took him in. We have become EXTREMELY attatched to him because he is such a loving compassionate dog. He's family! He loves being around us and playing as well. Now I admit I might have gotten in over my head because we live in a 575 square foot apartment and he needs a yard to run in. But i was not going to pass up the opportunity to save a Husky that was in danger of dying. We take him to my girlfriend's mom's house occiasionally to let him run around in her fenced in back yard, though. We're gone throughout the week a lot for work, and are only home after 6pm on weeknights.

During the day, he is docile as can be, sleeping in his kennel and strutting around the place. But if we want to go out at night, he excessively barks, and howls. We have already been complained to multiple times by the neighbor's (and i understand why!). I do NOT want to be "that guy" that has the annoying dog. He is not destructive at all when we are gone, he just howls and barks like crazy. (Keep in mind this is only at night.)

Also, he is starting to lick other dogs' urine and droppings. He also tries to get friendly with inanimate objects. He is 2 years old and is NOT fixed. If we get him fixed will this help with the howling and high energy at night, and the odd behavior? I have looked into obedience training for the barking. But not being able to leave at night without coming home to him going nuts is wearing me out!

Help! ANY advice to a new husky owner that really wants to keep his dog around is appreciated. Thanks!

Welcome and thanks for rescuing!
One thing for the barking and howling, my friend bought one of these for her husky that was barking in their apartment. After 2 days of using it she didn't bark again when they weren't home.
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=12281454

As for the intimate objects, the neutering will probably reduce it but I doubt it will stop the behavior completely since he already learned the behavior.

Welcome! great job saving the boy, bad news is your going to have to change your life style some and maybe try to cut back on the going out at night after being gone all day at work. are you giving him a nice walk between you coming and going? i think your boy is telling you he misses you with all the howling. also getting him fixed would help with some of the issues but will take a few months to see the changes. are you looking for a house with a yard?

Thanks a lot of the replies, and yes our next place will have a basement and back yard for him to run in.

Welcome and congrats!

The run after work will definitely help. Before we leave the dogs, we run them hard and get them extremely tired. They sleep while we're gone. If we have limited time, Hubby takes them out on the bike to get them tired faster. We also leave on the TV to keep them company and we don't make a big deal of out of leaving. No big good-byes, we just say the magic phrase "Be a good boy , be a good girl. we'll be back" and slip out. Does he do this if you leave during the day too - I tried reading your post a few times to see if it's a time of day thing or just when you're gone thing.

Definitely get him fixed, it also prevents prostate cancer.

Get him fixed.

Backyard does not equal exersize - he needs to be ran or biked, something physical. If I know I want to go somewhere I take kiara out on the bike and she will just sleep when I'm gone.

It sounds like this could be improved drastically w getting him fixed and exersize, not just wandering around the yard.

Thanks again for replies! When i take him outside i dont just let him wander, i run after him and he runs like crazy... chasing him around is fun haha.. and when we leave he only has trouble at night. My girlfriend got home today at 4 (i left at 8am and she left at 10am) and she said he was sleeping and being a bum - I will get him neutered ASAP and try to do some exercise with him. I just dont want him to overheat because I'm in middle Indiana and we have a drought and extreme heat right now. He does seem to do okay in the heat though!

brady.law wrote:

Get him fixed.

Backyard does not equal exersize - he needs to be ran or biked, something physical. If I know I want to go somewhere I take kiara out on the bike and she will just sleep when I'm gone.

It sounds like this could be improved drastically w getting him fixed and exersize, not just wandering around the yard.

not sure what's up with your avatar, but it's showing up about 100x too big....lol

Lol Yes well maybe a small treadmill or swimming. I am on my phone and it looks big too, haven't been on a pc yet to see.

brady.law wrote:

Lol Yes well maybe a small treadmill or swimming. I am on my phone and it looks big too, haven't been on a pc yet to see.

Fixed.