Hi everyone! Just brought an 8 week old husky pup home a few days ago. I've done a lot of research on the breed before deciding to get one. His name is Lucian. He goes to the vet tomorrow morning for his first vaccines. He's currently on purina puppy chow, which I'm not too fond of. This is what he was on from the breeder. I plan to switch him onto Iams puppy food soon. I know it's not THE greatest food out there, but it's better than most that are out there. I figured it was a decent food which I could afford.
We are currently learning to potty outside. I take him out approx. every hour unless he's sleeping then I take him out when he wakes up, and promptly give him a treat right after he's finished.
He's had some loose stools, and I figured most of it was from stress, and I'm going to talk to the vet tomorrow, and take in a stool sample to be tested.
He seems to be adjusting well, and building confidence everyday. He's starting to tackle the few steps I have coming back in the house, he'll go up, but not down yet.
The breeder also told me she does not give her dogs any vaccines other than rabies. She really stressed not to give him a distemper vaccine, saying a puppy had died from the vaccine. I haven't found any info on the web about this though, and it was probably something else that caused it. Parvo is pretty high in my area, and he's getting that vaccine tomorrow. Here's a few pics!

Welcome! cute addition you have there! talk to your vet about the shots, i think as a puppy they really do need all those puppy shots.

If Iams works for you, that's fine but I would seriously consider a better quality food. I'm sure other members can provide better examples, but from what I've learned, huskies are very sensitive to what they eat. With a higher quality food, you're going to see a much healthier pup and you won't have to worry about the complications that come with low quality foods. I completely understand budget restraints. I'm a 19 year old full time student with a 5 month old puppy. But there are better foods available for much the same price as you're paying for Iams. EDIT: While you pay more for some foods, you feed less, so you won't go through it nearly as fast. On purina I think our lab was supposed to get about 5 or 6 cups of food a day while on Wellness, he's only supposed to get about 4.

Loose stools are normal given that you just brought him to a new environment. When you do switch his food, do so gradually and it should cause minimal digestive upset. Your potty routine seems to be good with the every hour and as soon as he wakes up. Also right after playing he should go outside because like little kids, they forget when they're having so much fun! Huskies seem pretty stubborn to housebreak so don't get discouraged if it takes up to a couple months for him to be trained.

Everyone has their own opinions on vaccines so in the end, it's your choice what to go with. I gave Callie all the shots, even the optional ones, because I'm a paranoid first time parent. I'm not sure if researching into it would have changed my mind any but I most likely will before I go through puppy shots again.

Appreciate the inability to use the stairs while it lasts! Keeps them out of trouble for the most part. Good luck stopping him once he learns how those legs work!

Congrats! He's absolutely adorable and I hope we'll be able to see him grow! I really love his mask and it looks pretty well defined so he might be one of the ones that keeps it! Welcome to the forums and keep us updated!

Lucian is absolutely adorable!! Congrats and welcome!

Congrats on the new family member..

Welcome! Lucian is absolutely adorable! I would highly recommend reading through our food threads, and definitely check out www.dogfoodadvisor.com since they have great reviews on food. There are tons of higher quality foods out there that are very decently priced, and as Shae said you don't have to feed as much with higher quality foods.

As far as the vaccinations go, I would recommend getting the full puppy series. Good on you for getting the Parvo shot, there have been big outbreaks of that all over the country this year. It's been really bad here in FL. I would also recommend the Distemper shot, we actually had a member here lose a foster to Distemper a couple months ago because the vet at the shelter wouldn't administer it. That's a long story, and the vet got fired for how he treated that dog.

Good luck, you're in for a wild ride through puppyhood

Thanks everyone! He's doing really well with going potty outside. We've had a few pees in the house, but all poops have been outside. Once he goes he looks right at me like he already knows he's going to get a treat! He's keeping me busy. I'm a hawk, keeping an eye on him. Making sure he's not eating anything he shouldn't, or chewing on something he shouldn't. He loves to chew and nibble on everything.
I'm going to talk to the vet about food, and see what they recommend as well. I'm mostly on a budget right now cause hubby is going to school, and he gets comp, and unemployment. He hurt his back a few years ago. I also have a 3 yr old daughter at home. So I'm the stay at home Mom. Once hubby is done with school, and starts a new job we won't be on such a strict budget.
I fully intended to make sure he gets all his shots. I couldn't believe the breeder only gave her dogs rabies vaccines, and that was it. Parvo is pretty high in my area. I watched my dogs sister die from it years ago. My brother in law did not get her vaccinated. If I hadn't vaccinated Samantha I would have lost her to it. But she lived a happy healthy 13 yrs. Lost her about a month ago to old age.
Excited about taking him to the vet tomorrow, so many questions for them, lol.

Welcome!

BTW, most vets have very little training in nutrition so you'll find better information on dogfoodadvisor.com and here on the forum. There are better foods that don't cost much more than Iams and as Callie said, it'll last you longer. Good luck!

Welcome to the forum! I'm also a new face around here, I get to pick up my girl in two weeks, and my husband is getting a Mal pup this weekend. Looking forward to hearing more about Lucian.

At first, I started feeding my husky the Iams puppy food and it did nothing but give her troubles. It was too much for her stomach. I was giving her the Iams because that's what our vet recommended. Ill be honest, from past experience the vet is probably going to advise whatever food they sell in their office because they make profit off it. I would look at the site above because it really is a great site. I feed Kota Nature Valley's Instinct. Its a little on the expensive end I suppose but it actually equals out to what I was spending in the lower budget food because she eats less of it, since its not full of all the crap products. It is also one of the top 5 Star dog foods, and is one of the only ones I have found to no upset my huskies stomach.

I also recommend getting all the puppy shots! I gave Kota them all plus the optional (IE: Lime Disease Shot). There are always cases of getting sick from shots, just as humans but the preventative shots are much cheaper and probably safer than if you have to go through having your puppy treated for the illness because they didn't get the shots, but that is just my opinion. I am not a vet, nor have I done much research but after owning several puppies, I have found no problems with the puppy shots.

Welcome and congrats on the new addition! I just got my second pup on August 11th so I know what you are going through!! The breeder I got Yukon from also had him on Puppy Chow, and I started switching him over to Wellness a few days after he got used to his new home. He seemed to get the runs from Wellness so I switched him over to Taste of the Wild, and he seems to be doing better on that.

I agree with the others that you should get all of the shots from the vet. I have never heard of a breeder saying not to get any of the other shots. In fact, if you ever plan to go to dog parks, or to get him groomed they will require those shots before they let you in. I gave both my dogs the distemper/parvo booster, boardetella, and the lyme disease shots.

Also, when I asked my vet about diet, she suggested to keep him on Puppy Chow, that it was a perfectly fine food, so I don’t think the vet would be the best resource. Huskies have sensitive stomachs and do not require as much as other breeds. I think by having a high quality food with little or no grains and adjusting the feeding amounts his stools will firm up. You can also ad a bit of canned pumpkin which will help firm them up. My oldest was about 6 months old before he had consistently firm stools.

Good luck on potty training too! It took quite awhile to get Nikko potty trained, but Yukon was much better. Expect to spend anywhere from a few weeks to a few months to get to 100%.

Just got back from the vet with Lucian. Poor little guy has coccidia. I'm so glad I didn't assume the runs he has were from round worm. Something in the back of my head kept telling me take a stool sample in. I did get him all his shots he needed, and a vaccination for kennel cough. Little guy is now tuckered out, lol. So he'll be on medication for the next ten days, and next month I'll take another sample in, and hope it comes out clean. He did very well during his visit. Didn't put up too much a fuss, lol. He didn't get car sick this time around either. He got car sick when we first got him, but that was probably from stress. I'm going to wait until he's done with the medication for his coccidia, then put him on heart worm preventative, and flea stuff. I don't want to stuff the poor little guy with medications all at once. The vet said his heart and lungs sound good, so other than the coccidia he's nice and healthy. He's doing great with house training, probably cause I'm right on top of him, lol. He didn't even pee in the house over night! I don't expect that to last though, lol.

Glad you found out what was wrong. Congrats and welcome!

It's been a little over a week since we brought Lucian home. He's pretty much in a routine now, and finally starting to get some more solid poops! Never thought I would be so excited about poop, lol. I'm still in the process of switching over his food, he's on a 50/50 mix right now. Still has a few more days on his medicine as well.
We had a bit of a rough start with his eating habits. He didn't seem all that interested in his food. He would nibble at it every so often. But I discovered adding a little bit of warm water to his food makes him go crazy for it, lol. He yips at me when I'm stirring it up. I've had him on 1/2 cup meals 3 times a day. I'm wondering if I should increase that to 3/4 cup feedings, or maybe wait until he's 10 weeks old. He acts like he wants more food, I just don't want to over feed him and cause him more problems when he's starting to get better. 3/4 of a cup does seem like a lot for his little belly.

Welcome! Char had coccidia when we first got him as well. Just a heads up after he finished the meds he still had loose stool and it turned out he was also full of round worms. I would recommend getting his stool rechecked, especially if he still has loose stool.

I plan on taking in another stool sample when he goes back to the vet for his second round of vaccines. I want to make sure the coccidia is gone, and everything is good. I worry about the little guy, lol. You can call me a paranoid puppy parent I guess! My pets become like a child to me. I have one daughter, and I remember how paranoid I was when she started sleeping in a little longer. I went nuts the first few times she wasn't up at 5am, thinking something happened. She was perfectly fine though. She's now a very stubborn 3 year old, lol. I have two cats, and I remember worrying about them while I was at work when they were kittens. They are both healthy 5 yr old cats now. It just comes with the territory I guess.