Hi everyone!

About a month 1/2 ago, my wife and I had picked up a 2 1/2 month old Siberian Husky at a nearby breeders and needless to say, we fell in love instantly. He's a beautiful dog with tons of personality and energy and he always keeps us on our feet, especially since he is an extremely intelligent dog at such a young age.
But, when it comes to training, the pup and I are on completely different wavelengths.
There are a few problems I've noticed that I keep running into with him: We have been crate training him the day we brought him home and the first two weeks was a holy terror. He would scream and cry throughout the entire night and it seemed like no matter what we did, his attitude wouldn't change. After many sleepless nights, we were almost ready to give up on the crate training, thinking he was one of those dog's who could't stand being in an enclosed area, but thankfully, we stayed dedicated to it and now, when we're all headed to bed, he goes into his kennel, usually when bribed with a treat, and will remain silent. But, that's where my first issue sets in; the first few nights, he would sleep til about 3-3:30 am, needing to go outside, so I would take him out, he would do his business, but he wasn't having it if I tried to put him back in his kennel. After an hour or so of him crying, I would let him out and stay near him by sleeping on the couch and he would remain silent. A few weeks later, there were two miraculous nights, where he didn't make a peep and both my wife and I woke up around 6:30 am to a silent and happy puppy. We thought this was incredible, but the next night, he was back to his regular habit. Although, we have seen progress with his crate training (every so often, he'll go in by himself and sleep for about 30 minutes), he is now at the point where he sleeps in hour 1/2 shifts . The only nice thing to come out of this, is that once he is taken out to go outside, he will immediately go back into his kennel, only to start barking once more an hour 1/2 later. We've tried ignoring him the second time he wakes up, which is usually around 3-4 am, but it's hard to, when we're concerned about getting yelled at by the neighbors upstairs.

What should I do about his crate training? He seems to be getting it, but it's taking A LOT longer than I had anticipated. I probably haven't gotten a full nights sleep in about a month.

The other problem I've run into is his potty training. Ever since we've brought him home, he hasn't pooped in the house once, which is amazing. He's always let us know when he has to go number two outside, but when it comes to peeing, he just goes whenever he feels like it inside. No warning, no hesitation, no nothing. We're at the point where every 30-45 minutes, we'll take him outside and reward him whenever he pees, but it doesn't seem to make a difference. Every so often, we'll lay down pee pads and he'll use those like it's his job, but we're trying to (very) slowly ween him off of those, because when he get's older (and much bigger), he'll fill up the pads with one pee break!

I apologize for the length of this message. I'm just thankful that I've found a husky forum and hopefully be able to get some help, so I can have a happy and well-trained husky!

I know it seems like you have the worst, puppy in the world and this is never going to end. But it will! I hate peepee pads, anything that makes it OK for a dog to go in the house is a step in the wrong direction IMO. How is his water intake? Does he have free access to water throughout the day? I got to the point where as young pups I only offered water after meals and after walks. And the. Was prepared to them them out right after. Other thn that- no free access. Especially after 7-8pm.

Have you ruled out a UTI? Often that can be what's plaguing these little boogers.

He apparently can make it through the night, so make him. You are training him that every 30 minutes he gets let out. The crying will escalate before it gets better, but it will get better if you tough it out.

Pee pads are teaching him it's ok to pee inside, sometimes. It's far easier to just say no to all inside peeing. It's confusing the pup to say its ok inside sometimes but not others. If there's no pad hell find something else to go on. Instead he has to learn that NOWHERE inside is acceptable.

His water intake is a full bowl in the morning and a full bowl around 5-6 at night. It is usually put up around 8ish, because we try to go to bed around 11:30ish or so. I take him out for a nightly walk, usually 30-45 minutes before he goes to bed, so he can let out that last minute energy.
Last time we were at the vet, they had checked for a UTI and it came back negative, which is always great news.

I just think it's strange that out of nowhere, his sleep habits keep changing. One week, it's "wake up every few hours," the next week it's "wake up when I feel like it" and the next week it's "I'll wake up every hour."
I've been told that especially during the crate training, you're not supposed to keep a dog in it's kennel if it cries for more than 20-30 minutes, because then it'll see the kennel as a negative place. I could be wrong, it's just tough to sleep through when a dog is barking it's throat out and will never stop, even after waiting more than an hour.

If you let it out while it's barking it learns "if I bark for an hour they'll let me out." it's hard, but you have to tough it out.

Some dogs need some time for this. Anubis was about 6 Months old when this stopped. Some dogs only need two weeks others a few months but in the end it stops with any oth them.

Totally agree with others.
Don't give in.
I should know, because i gave in with husky #2.
She won and was never crate trained.

Bodhi is crate trained and it's wonderful!

You are almost there to a crate trained dog.
Earplugs?

I'm just thankful that he goes in quietly now, compared to before, when he would howl and bark practically the entire night. I'm definitely going to just suck it up.

With your other dog, what happened since it wasn't crate trained? Is it still well behaved, or do you regret not crate training it?

That dog is deceased.
She was a wonderful dog, but I regretted not sticking to the crate training.
She slept on a bed at the foot of our bed, and often woke us up.

Bodhi sleeps in his crate in another room.
He stays inside until we get up.

I'm very sorry to hear that.
We're actually trying to work up Royce to the point where he is completely potty trained, so he can sleep with us on the bed, but we're waiting at least a year for him to be fully grown and have him do that.
This is my second puppy that I've raised, the first being a black lab mix. I didn't crate train him, because I gave in, which was a bad idea, but he still turned out great, so I know what you mean by how much easier and how much calmer a dog can be if they're crate trained, instead of being able to free roam.

I might've possibly figured out why Royce won't sleep through the entire night. As he was taking a nap a few hours ago, I realized he couldn't sleep in one spot for than about 20-30 minutes. I'm not sure if he's just not comfortable or if it's a puppy phase, but I've figured, that since he's in a position of where he can only move so far in a kennel, he gets impatient. I could be completely wrong, but it's a hunch.