Hey all,

Not really sure under what category I should post this but here goes.
On one of many walks with Ripley today I decided to swing by the pet store where I got her (the owner asked me to drop by sometime if possible to see how she was doing/growing up). This visit however, raised a few questions.

First of all, Ripley's sister was there. They're both the same age yet Ripley has grown far larger than her this past week. Have had dogs before but never returned to visit the siblings after so I was wondering. Is this normal or is this a sign that Ripley is growing faster than her siblings / going to be bigger than her siblings?

Second of all, the owner wasn't there but an employee was. She was happy to see the pup again and the first thing she did was call her. By a different name! Turns out Ripley already had a name at the pet store. Is this a problem? I have noticed that it seems to be taking longer than usual to teach her her name.
Secondly, she actually gave Ripley the commands "sit" and "shake" AND SHE DID IT! Been trying to teach her the entire week without any response and it turns out she already knows how to but is just refusing to do so. Been trying ever since i've known she can do it and so far she's only responded once.

Kind of at a loss here o.O is she just being stubborn/hardheaded or... have the people at the store been naming/training/investing so much time in their pups so much it's like they already had an owner?

EDIT: at the time of purchase they did not mention she already had been named and had training. turns out they do it with all their sibes. I feel that in the very least they should have told me that she already received some training. Ideally HOW she was trained so i could continue upon their work.

Sorry to hear you are having problems, I'd just give it time, regardless of how much they were involved with the pups, you're the alpha now and you'll bond in no time. You'll be with riley for many years so that is lots of bonding time!

You cant buy dogs from pet stores here so I am little help with no experience I'm afraid!

Good Luck

Thanks for the words of encouragement erinc, been thinking the same thing. I have to admit it was frustrating. Seeing your dog listen to a random store clerk while she won't listen to you giving the same commands
I'll just keep it up, give it some time. She'll come around eventually.

Just hang in there. You will be able to get the training you want Ripley to understand being you are the alpha now. As for renaming it is done all the time especially when dogs come from shelters and rescues they may not know the previous name.

Ugh. I always cringe when I see pet stores that sell puppies. Anyway, with her being so young the name change is fine. Heck you get full grown dogs who are found as strays and the new home has to name it something and you can be 99.9% sure it's not the dog's original name.

As for the commands, you can take her to puppy class and learn a ton there. Puppy class is always fun!

Oh yes, I absolutely intend to take her to class. I've already e-mailed a couple of different school a few days ago, asking whether or not the accept Siberian Huskies (oddly enough, some don't). I have heard of a very good reputable school from a friend of my moms. The problem is getting there as it's a bit out of the way and I don't have a car -_-

Yeah, it's stupid that some classes are breedist. Some trainers have it in their heads that siberians are not trainable which is totally false. And some even think siberians are aggressive dogs! Far from it!

One thing that I like to look for in a puppy class is if they allow short play times with the puppies, so the puppies can get to know what it's like to play with other puppies and other breeds. I hate seeing puppy classes where the puppies are kept on leash the whole entire time. Playing with each other at such a young age sets them up to play well as adults. Plus it's sooo cute! lol. I'm a sucker for puppy classes! Hopefully I'll be teaching some soon at the doggie day care I now work at.

Everyone else already covered the command thing. I'll cover the size situation. Ripley is larger then the siblings in my opinion because she isn't cooped up in some store front crate being fed some low quality dog food. Ripley gets exercise and probably a better diet thus grow faster and larger.

That does make a whole lot of sense. Thanks you guys!

On a different note, she most definitely needs more crate training. Stepped out tonight because one of my friends had an emergency concerning their son (a friend of mine of over 15 years) and Ripley couldn't tag along (a zillion cats over there).

She was fine and sleeping when I left but apparently she howled, waking up one of our more obnoxious neighbours who actually hung up a note against my door saying that should my dog howl again at this time of night he'd call the cops on me

Most neighbours don't mind a good howl now and then as a lot of them own dogs themselves and know that pups need training / some getting used to new environments / living situations. One of them actually told me "don't let it bother you, she'll get used to it in no time" it's just this one guy who in general is very obnoxious and arrogant... still, don't want to get the cops called on me.