So Bode is only 6 months old and I already have husky fever. I think he would really benefit from having a play buddy, and I know huskies do good when there are multiples. I would like to adopt an older puppy or young adult female as our next one.

The problem is when. Right now we are in a rental house, and our landlord wouldn't mind. We have a great backyard. The house is small though, probably no bigger than 1000 sq ft, so two huskies may be a little tight. Also, I am currently in year 1 of a 2 year grad program. That means we will probably be relocating in a year and a half (hopefully to CO, but that's a whole different story) and I know how hard it can be to find rental housing with one husky, let alone two. We won't be in any position to buy when we move (unless fiance gets a huge raise soon! haha) so it will more than likely be rentals until we get established wherever we go.

I know that only we can make the best decision for us, but what do you guys think? Is it better to just hold off for awhile? It would just be nice to have a buddy for Bode, especially with all of his puppy energy. We go to the dog park as much as we can, and he loves it, but it's too long of a drive to be a daily or every other day thing. Usually it's just the weekends.

I've had no issues with renting a house here in CO, and many other families around me with huskies have had no issues.

I do think they are much happier with a playmate, but my philosophy on getting a 2nd dog has always been not to get a second until the first is where you want it at with training/temperment/whatnot. I suppose this applies more with a puppy, as you want it to learn good manners from your first dog and not the bad habits, and be able to invest most of the training time with the puppy and not be dealing with a lot of bad behaviors from #1.

I'm a fan of waiting for maturity (2 years) before adding a second dog as a puppy. The benefits of having an already mature and trained dog to help "teach" the puppy are immense. Also - Bode is only 6 months old and will be entering adolescence and there is no telling how long that will last. I dunno about you but I certainly would never want to get a puppy during my current puppy's adolescence and then have to deal with it all over again right away after the first one ends (or even while the first one is still in it!)

For me - I never considered adding a second puppy until Bella was at least 2 years old (right now I'm looking at having my second added when she's between 3 and 4 minimum). I wanted her to "grow up" as it were - because dealing with two puppies at the same time is awful. (and lord knows I -love- puppies).

If you're planning a move within such a short period of time I would hold off anyway but that's just me and what I would do .

I wouldn't be getting another puppy. When I say older puppy I meant a year or more. I guess that's not necessarily a puppy anymore.

Then it would just depend on the next one and personality! Finding a dog that's in a foster home would be best and I wouldn't see a problem with that. As long as the older one has more good behaviors than bad.

We added a second when Embry turned 1 and we were satisfied with his training. We got a third when Embry and Zoey were both 2.

We rent a 2 bedroom duplex with a very small yard and they all do fine Landlords are usually pretty reasonable.

We got Kota when she was 8 weeks old, and she is now about 10 months old. (Oh, how time flys) An we just got our second husky about 2 weeks ago. In some ways I wish we would have waited but being as our new girl Skyler is a rescue we kind of had to make a fast decision.

I wouldn't change it for the world. Though, Kota still has some behavior issues but she has really calmed down since we brought Skyler home. She is really taking charge and its almost like she is trying to teach Skyler in a way. Skyler is approx. 8-9 months old so she is about the same age as Kota but she hasn't had the extensive training that Kota has had either but she is already learning just from watching Kota.

At 6 months I would say maybe wait a little, but thats only because at 6 months Kota was a handfull and I don't think I would have been able to handle another husky (Even though I wanted another one the day after bringing Kota home. Lol) into our home. All dogs are different though so its kinda one of those things you need to go with your gut. If you think you can tackle another then I would, only because ive seen a huge change (for the better) in Kota since getting Skyler.

KotaBear wrote:

At 6 months I would say maybe wait a little, but thats only because at 6 months Kota was a handfull and I don't think I would have been able to handle another husky (Even though I wanted another one the day after bringing Kota home. Lol) into our home. All dogs are different though so its kinda one of those things you need to go with your gut. If you think you can tackle another then I would, only because ive seen a huge change (for the better) in Kota since getting Skyler.

Yeah, I should probably make sure we can make it through the "teenage phase" without wanting to strangle him...lol. He had a little bit of it pop up this morning when he was whining to go outside at 5am to potty and wouldn't come back in, from the pouring rain. Fiance had to put clothes (he was in pjs) and shoes on to go outside and get him. He was not a happy camper!

We go through that with our two quite often actually. When we got Skyler a few weeks ago we had to take her outside on a leash everytime we went outside because she refused to come inside and was terrified of us so if we tried to get her collar and lead her in she bolted. An of course this was during the 5 days worth of rain that we got in Ohio, followed but the freezing temps... Lol. I would wait till at least 9 months, and then make that decision. Granted Kota and Skyler are BOTH in their "teenage" phase but lucky for us Skyler is just calm as can be. Good luck though, I completely reccommend getting another, it was the best thing we did. Kota could not be happier.

We added our 2nd husky when Hayden was 7 months old. I wish I would have waited a bit longer, but don't regret adding another to our home. The only reasons I would have waited is let Hayden mature a bit more and to get him more training! I thought he was well trained at 7 months and there is nothing worse than having two out of control huskies! I'm now training one at a time and working at getting them under control.

Just think about it and don't rush into anything like I did.

I got Yukon when Nikko was 9 months old. I started looking like you did, when he was 5-6 months old, but I am glad I waited a bit longer. I would agree with the others, that you definitely want to wait until you are where you want to be with training. Nikko went through all 3 training classes at PetSmart and graduated advanced class in July, and I got Yukon in August.

I don’t regret it at all. I think Nikko is much happier since I have gotten Yukon, however it is very difficult to train a puppy, but since you are going to get an adult you won’t have that problem.

If I had to do it over again, I would have waited for an adult instead of getting another puppy. I looked for months before I decided on Yukon, and went on a few visits with other dogs, but I did not find the right match.