So, I only have a few days left before I get Yuki, and now I'm starting to worry about what brand to feed her. Originally I was just going to feed her True Blue Puppy Food like I feed my current dog, I had always heard great things about them. But even though its been a couple weeks since my dog's completely switched over, his stool is still soft and I'm worried that its too rich for him or something? So before I bring Yuki home, I was wondering what you all thought was best for a husky puppy, and if size-specific brands (small dog/large dog) are better than all-around size brands? And the only other thing I'm worried about is that my current dog Cloud eats whenever he wants, he has a full bowl and has not over-ate or gotten fat, but I know a lot of people feed their huskies a specific amount per day.. so I'm worried that the husky will eat a ton of food out of Cloud's bowl and then I'd have a problem on my hands -le sigh- So any solutions to that? And the last thing, feeding in the crate vs. feeding out of the crate, does it matter? Sorry for all the questions, I'm just trying to figure things out beforehand XD

There are a few people here much more knowledgeable than I am, but I'll try to address a few of your questions.

When you say True Blue Puppy Food, do you mean Blue Buffalo?

Huskies are considered to be medium sized dogs, so there's no need for large breed formulas. As for feeding your puppy, each puppy is going to be different. You mention that your current dog has mushy poo and you're allowing him to free feed. Is it possible he's over-eating even though he's not getting fat? Sometimes overeating can cause digestive issues.

When we got our two, we fed them 3x a day, about a cup per day. As I said above, that's going to differ depending on the dog. Allowing free-feeding can make other training issues more difficult, for example potty training. Huskies do really well with schedules and consistency. Mine know when it's nearing supper time.

The issue of the pup eating out of Clouds bowl would also be rectified with supervised, set feeding times for both dogs. Unfortunately, I can't help with the feeding in the crate issue as we never crate-trained our two.

Good luck and hopefully some others will pop in.

Well the one I'm using isn't specifically for large dogs, its the general puppy chicken and rice recipe (my american eskimo is a smaller dog so thats why I wouldn't get the large dog kind XD).

As for over-eating with the current dog, he doesn't really eat a lot. I pour about 2 cups into the bowl once every 1-3 days. The reason I started free-feeding Cloud was because of his dis-interest in his food, he wouldn't eat at feeding time. Although it's going to be hard, I would like to put him on a set schedule for feeding time, but like I said before he wouldn't eat when I poured the food, and then he would whine and cry in the middle of the night because guess what - he's hungry.

Thanks for the quick reply XD Any ideas on how to get my current 5 month pup back ON a feeding schedule? It's not a problem with potty training, he's already got that down, it's just that with the new puppy I think it would be easier to give them set times to eat so that way she doesn't over-eat XD Plus her food is going to have her old food mixed in for a while and knowing my Cloud, he'll try to eat her food instead of his own and get an even MORE upset stomach! Oh gosh he thinks he's a husky with all that crazy <3

Tough love. Put the food bowl down twice a day (or three if you prefer) for 10-15 mins. If he doesn't eat, then he has to wait till the next feeding. No treats till he eats his meal, and no giving in to whining and obnoxious behavior. You run the household not him, you decide when it's meal time. If that means a few sleepless nights with him throwing a tantrum, then so be it. It's like having a child. They have to learn the rules of mealtime.

I gotcha. I still live with my dad so a lot of times (mostly at night) I have to try to appease him so he doesn't wake up my dad. Also, I just recently found out that a spray bottle of tap water is his worst enemy. Is it a bad idea to use a spray bottle when dogs are mis-behaving? I feel like it works really well because he stops what he is doing wrong immediately, but I don't want to be torturing him ><

Nah. I don't think it's too bad (others may disagree and that's fine). If it works and let's your dad sleep, then I'd say do what works. Your lucky that you have something that works other than plain ignoring the behavior. LOL If I did that to Kale he'd be wet and howling haha Plus he loves water. The first morning that I decided that I wasn't going to let Kale tell me when to get up was a battle. Eyes shut, ignoring the pawing, jumping on the bed, whining, barking in my face for a good hour. After his tantrum and he was quiet for about 10 mins, I got up. The next morning maybe 45 mins, next 30 mins, till it ceased. Now he just lays on my bed and stares off into space silently till I get up (he even lets me sleep till 11! ) It just takes consistence and being more stubborn than they are.

Ugh Kiara tells me when to get up... She whines and pants, paws at me... Or her favorite thing is to be on the floor and jump and pounce her 2 front paws on my bed right next to me and sit back down and whine.

If you are having trouble with pickyness, try Dr. Tim's.

All those foods were designed to be accepted by exhausted sled dogs and they are probably the most palatable foods I have ever used.

They are insanely palatable because of the high level of chicken liver in them.

Dr. Tim's Team Momentum had 3 top ten finishes in this years Iditarod including 1st Place. The second best dock dog in the WORLD in the 17" and under uses the food, in fact the whole team uses it.

Several top show SH kennels use the food as well. Joe Henderson takes a team of Mals on 100 day trips into the Arctic on Dr. Tim's.

The food is 5 Stars on every rating website and the highest rated food by users on Dog Food Chat, 9.1/10.

So Megan, only 18 and training for the iditerod already? That's awesome!