So this is my very first post here, so I hope I'm doing it right.
My pups name is Milo (or Milo the Wonder Dog as I like to call him). We got him on July 3rd and he is about 11 weeks old. I've always wanted a husky and have done a good deal of research into the breed so I feel that I was as prepared as possible. (Can you ever truly be prepared?)
Milo was 1 of 5 in his litter. I did a lot of searching online to find him and it ended up that a friend of a friend's Husky had just had pups so thats where we got him. He was only about 5 weeks old when he became part of our family. I know that is a bit too young for him to be taken from his litter and Mom, but the people who were trying to rehome him and his siblings would have sold him to someone else had I not taken him, so I figured it was better for me to take him at a young age than to risk him going to a bad family at a young age.
We live in Texas so due to the heat he is an indoor dog. He, of course, goes outside a fair amount during the evening and mornings when its cool enough for him to not be miserable. As the summer ends I'm hoping to be able to give him more outdoor exercise, but right now its just too hot for him to be outdoors much. We do have a large 2 story home and he pretty much has the run of the downstairs, which is all ceramic tile so its nice and cool for him to lay on and easy to clean up when he messes on the floor.
We also have 3 cats who spend most of their time upstairs or on the stairwell overlooking the goings-on downstairs. Our youngest (and tiniest) cat, Iggy, does seem to have a fascination with Milo and spends a lot of time downstairs with Milo watching his every move. So far they do very well together. Milo has shown no aggression toward any of the cats. He does sometime stop what he's doing and stare at them which does make me a little nervous. I know that that can mean he's stalking them, so I try to break his attention when that happens and make sure he knows the cats are his friends. The cats are still very cautious of him. If he gets too close the hiss or smack him in the head (they are declawed on their front paws) and let him know who's in charge. He generally backs off and whimpers a bit when that happens but he still seems interested in getting to know them. Any helpful advice on how to help encourage him to befriend the cats would be great. (I know that they may never truly be friends and I'll likely always have to keep an eye on him, but it would be great to have input regardless.)
Milo is a very smart dog and already knows his basic commands - sit, stay, speak, down (lay) and off - but sometimes is too stubborn to actually do them , as I've read is very characteristic of a Husky. He is very mouthy and I can't seem to make progress on that at all. I know he's still very young and since he was taken from his litter so young he wasn't properly socialized with his other litter-mates, but any advice in this area would be greatly appreciated. He's not at all aggressive with me, he just wants to play! The other BIG issue we're having is potty training him. He just doesn't seem to care about going to the bathroom outside and not in the house. He rarely ever poops inside but he pees inside still. I take him out regularly and immediately if he starts to go in the floor, but he just doesn't seem to be making the connection. He makes no effort to let me know he needs to go out, he just goes right there in the floor. Sometimes within 5 minutes of him having gone outside. HELP!
He still has 2 more rounds of puppy shots before we'll be able to take him around other dogs, but I definitely want to get him around other puppies and dogs as soon as he's able. I hear that could help with some biting issues as well as give him added exercise and socialization. I would also like to take him to a basic puppy training class at PetsMart - any thoughts on that?
Overall Milo is a fantastic dog! He hasn't done too much damage in the chewing department (only a pillow and an occasional sock). He's not a barker and does great in the car. He's a very smart dog and seems to learn quickly. He's great with other people and we just love him to death!
