Hello!
I'm about to make a move from New York to Florida. I've loved the husky breed since childhood and I would love to bring home my first husky probably around this time next year, as long as my situation allows for it. I've never owned a husky before but I have read up on the breed almost on an obsessive level.
Right now, I've got a 4 month old boxer/lab mix, so I might be crazy trying to add a new puppy right after getting out of Callie's puppy stage.
I guess I'm really just looking to chat with other people that love the husky breed so please share your stories or experiences! Any advice for owning a husky in central florida would also be much appreciated.

-Shae

Welcome! We have tons of members in FL, several are in central FL. It's really not a big deal having a Husky down here, most of us just avoid exercise in the middle of the day and our dogs slow down a bit in the summer. I think all of us either have kiddie pools or go to dog beaches with ours as well, and that helps them keep cool. One of our members, SaraB can tell you more about specific breeders down here if you decide to do the breeder route, the one I wound up going to was less than stellar though (as are most breeders here). I would highly advocate going through a rescue or shelter, we get tons of Huskies down here because people don't know how to handle them. A lot of times there will be puppies in the shelters too.

Best of luck with the move!

Welcome to the forums

Quote :

I guess I'm really just looking to chat with other people that love the husky breed so please share your stories or experiences! Any advice for owning a husky in central florida would also be much appreciated.

Whelp, you came to the right place

I lurked these forums for a full year also before actually getting my first Husky. Kelly and I wanted to know what we were really getting ourselves into, and since we would be moving into our first house around that time it just seemed to fit.

We worked our butts off to rebuild a fence as fast as possible and got Tika somewhere in August. We now have a second (Or 1 and a half as Ripley is a mix) and we wouldn't change a thing.

I think you are definitely doing the right thing by coming here early and asking your questions before you get your pup. Educate yourself on what makes a good breeder, and do your diligence in finding a supporting one of those great breeders.

Or better yet if you can find a husky rescue in the area and maybe adopt a slightly older pup who needs a really good home.

Come on these forums and check as many of the posts in the training, nutrition, and medical/health sections you can. If you still have questions after that ask away and I'm sure those who can help via advice or what worked for them will indeed help.

Also being a Floridian (Is that the right term ?) you would be lucky enough to join up with some of the meetups in that area and could possibly bounce some questions or get first hand help with some problems if need be.... If not well you still have those same meetups to socialize with other huskies in that area and as I understand they are all a lot of fun!!!!

Either way welcome again and I wish you the best of luck in getting your Husky... They are TRULY one of a kind, and I'm spoiled to have two GREAT ones.

~Chris~

Thank you! I'll make sure to check those threads. I would love to rescue and honestly think that for my first husky, getting a mature dog would be best to get me familiar with the breed, the only problems are that most places require that you be 21 and I'm not/won't be IF i do adopt in my expected time frame. If I can hold off til May of 2014, it might be doable. Another problem is, I might not be able to get into a home with a fenced in back yard right away, which tends to be another big thing. I completely understand why shelters are so strict, it just makes it hard for me. I fully understand the exercise huskies need and I've already looked up all the dog parks in my area of Florida. Callie's a pretty energetic girl too and she's going from a house with two other dogs to just me and her. That's part of the reason I'm hoping for a second dog as soon as possible. She's used to having a playmate and they'll each help tire the other out!

Where in central fl are you going to be moving and when? We have a local husky group that goes to dog parks in Deland, Sanford, and Orlando every month. If you're close enough you can attend a meet up and meet locals and their huskies! We're on FB and it's called CFLSnowdogs!

I don't think the shelters around here will care if you have a fenced in yard or not. I'm not sure how old you need to be to adopt though. I volunteer for Seminole County Animal Services and they get in huskies pretty regularly.

I'm moving to Winter Park in January! I would love to come to meet ups. Depending on my class schedule, I might be able to make some Deland ones and I'll definitely make Orlando ones. I'll definitely be looking more serious at shelters and rescues once I'm down there and I know I can handle a second dog. Right now, I'm just trying not to get my hopes up. I don't want to get too attached to dogs that won't be there by the time I'm ready!

Most shelters adopt at 18+ and animal controls usually aren't too picky down here. We have a consistent amount of Sibes in shelters here.

I'll definitely have to look into that. Thanks! I would love the chance to adopt. I really have a huge interest in fostering but I know that'll wait until I have my own home with plenty of space. Though I'll probably fall in love and end up adopting half my fosters...

Before Hannah, I considered at one point getting a puppy from a breeder so I discussed it with a lot of people with dogs. Here are a few things I considered, which ultimately I chose not to get a dog, however when Hannah came along, it changed my life and after adopting her, I haven't regretted it one bit.

There's always plus and cons and I'm sure lots of people will have their opinions on this.

The Pros to fostering is similar (not same) as if it were a kid:
- You're passed the baby stages...
This can include many sleepless nights of crying and tending to you pup. Since you already have a pup then you should be well aware of it already.
- You can generally see what type of dog they are.
Yes, all dogs can be taught, but my dog rarely barks and she's very quite. I didn't necessarily have to teach her that, but my friend's eskimo who was raised since it was a pup, had jealous tendencies and was a barker. You can see if they're very smart or if they're more on the lazy side.
- Fostered dogs seem to "know" they're in a better place they were in.
It's unspoken but dogs seem to realize that they're now in a much happier place. My friend when we first saw Hannah she would always have her tail between her legs, and now she always has it up and running around, well except when she knows she's done something bad! Haha.


Cons
- Behavior wise, you're never entirely sure what they've been through or the psychological trauma they may have experienced that affects their personality.
I know for me, Hannah is very skiddish towards sunlight. I saw this when she absolutely woudn't move into a non-shaded area while walking her during the day. From her previous life she was always outside in the heat and was never given shelter.
- Possible pre-conditions due to past owners
He/she may have been abused and has a condition. Maybe it was left outside and could have been exposed to a lot of things.


These are only a few things, but there are tons to consider.. the one main part is that I already mentioned.. fostered dogs seem to know who they choose as their owners and when matched with the right people, they're very appreciative and show it in a much different way than other dogs. Not to say they show MORE love, just that it just feels different overall and the dog shows it.

Thank you! I definitely have quite a few concerns with adopting. I'm hoping that by meeting the dog and foster parents I'll get a good idea if it's right for me or not. I've seen many adoptions work great but I've heard just as many horror stories. This pros and cons list definitely helps me weigh the options a bit more.

Just a note about rescues and "horror stories". I've met hundreds of rescues at this point, have two of my own and most of the people I know have rescues. Many of these I have no background on and come straight from the shelter. Some were clearly abused. When people are hesitant about choosing rescues because "you don't know what they've been though" and are worried about the dog "snapping" - you can be reassured that I have never seen that happen in my time. What LRomero says is true - the dogs seem to sense that they can trust you.

There are dogs that have extensive trauma and need longer term professional training - I've only seen a very small percentage of those and even then - a keen sense of dog behavior and body languages allows you to work with them safely.

However, the VAST majority of rescue dogs are given up because people are lazy and have no commitment to them. There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with these dogs. I saw a statistic that 70% of dogs in LA shelters were given up due to "moving". Many of these dogs behave well from day one, and even ones that don't just need consistency, affection and structure in their life (like my Frosti)..

Some dogs may be afraid of new things and this shouldn't be interpreted as "oh no, they've been beaten!". Frosti was afraid of the broom, the washing machine, the swiffer, birthday balloons and many other things that she wasn't exposed to her in life before us.

Best of luck and thank you for really thinking over if this is right for you. If more people did that, we wouldn't be facing the shelter dogs crises we are now. This site is a great resource if you do decide to adopt, and everyone is very helpful with dog questions!

This site has already given me so much info and I trust what you all have to say because you really are committed to the breed. I don't think there's any other reason why anyone would regularly log on to a forum like this. I will most likely be adopting my first husky. I can always do the puppy stage later in life when I'm more settled down.

Anyone have any opinions on the site rescueme.org? I just signed up for alerts on huskies added from fl, ga, and sc. And I will be keeping a close eye on shelters once I'm in Florida.

I got Balon in April, my lab turned 1 in June, frankly it's great that they are both young together, they tear up my backyard running and playing, and the tire each other out lol.

Get your butt down here! I have two stray huskies sitting at my parent's house right now! You can take them home today! They are way too common in FL shelters.

Yeah, I definitely want them young together if possible but I'm not too strict on that. Callie and my mom's lab (who's just about a year) play great together and are the best of friends. I'm hoping that I can find a husky that needs a home that is around a year to two years, just so they're still somewhat of a puppy themselves and not so annoyed by Callie's puppy stage. And definitely so they tire each other out. I'm so very grateful that I got Cal while still home with my mom or I would have gotten a lot less sleep!

Sara, if I had the money, I'd be down there tomorrow! I'd gladly pick up the strays from your parents. Let me know if they still need homes in January!

Convincing my grandparents to adopt a husky didn't go over well. Couldn't even convince them to give it a "trial" run and if they decided it wasn't working out, I'd take the pup with me to Florida. I think the latter is mainly because they think two dogs will be too much for me. They fail to realize that when it comes to hyper breeds (a lab/boxer, really??!!), two is better than one! Me and Cal are staying at their house while she recovers from spay so I think by the end of the weekend they'll see what happens when Callie is cooped up with no playmate.