In the summer or fall I should be moving into (renting) a house, will find one with a fenced in yard. I'm considering getting Nikko a brother or sister. I know he would love having a sibling. My concern is I don't know what's going to be in store as far as living conditions for the next few years. My plan is to rent a house with a couple buddies, and maybe eventually buy a few years down the road. After I'm done with school though I'm not sure if I'll still be in a house, or will have to move back home to my moms town home, or even get stuck in an apartment. Do any of you have 2 huskies in small, yardless apartments or homes? I don't want to get a second one and then 2 years from now have no room for it

Honestly my biggest regret was getting a Husky when I was still living with roommates. They were all very irresponsible and Embry got let out of the house all the time. It was horrible. I would wait until you're 100% with your future and that you'll always have enough room for the dogs and a consistent living situation.

The room mates ill be having are good buddies of mine that I've known for quite a few years. So that I'm not worried about. I'm hoping the house thing will be permanent, especially since one of my buddies I'd be rooming with is my eventual business partner. (We're going to open a sports bar).

Mine was the same, they were good friends, still are but they never failed to leave the doors open, or let the dog out without his leash even though they knew he ran away. Just make sure they know what to do and not to do.

It's you're decision in the end, so if you think it's a good idea, then go for it

Oh man. Well I would hope my buds would know better than that...lol
It's a tough decision. I want Nikko to be happy and have a constant play mate, but at the same time I wouldn't want the dogs to suffer due to lack of space (which hopefully would never happen).

We substituted a second dog by going to the dog park every day so he was socialized with dogs and got to play every day. We waited until we were moved into our own place before getting a second. Having 3 roommates didn't leave a lot of room for a second dog.

Makes sense. I guess the best thing to do is wait till I'm moved in, and if the opportunity arises I guess it was meant to be :p

We have considered getting another dog but one we are still in college and going to move around a lot and two one puppy is more than enough right now and I think Anna would be upset with the other dog stealing some of her attention. If it was me I'd wait but that is just what we are going to do. we have thought long and hard about the same thing but we would rather wait.

I personally wouldn't get another puppy if I knew I was gonna have roommates. I don't feel comfortable leaving my pups alone with people, even if I knew them, who could possibly mistreat them or even be a threat to their safety (such as letting them out by accident). I'm paranoid about that kinda stuff xD I live alone during the week and my mom is here on saturdays and sundays, but she loves the dogs to death and I've seen how she acts around them and have no worries ^-^

If you're starting a business (especially one where you can't take your dogs), getting a 2nd pup will probably be too much to handle. It's easier to get people to babysit and help out when you just have one dog. But as you said, wait until you're in that situation and reassess. Good luck!

Also consider the fact that your current pup is still very very young, and you haven't run into most of the behavioral milestones that come with adolescence. I think that making a determination to take on a second puppy before the pup you already have is better than a year old is just begging for a situation that you are probably unprepared for. I am not knocking you as a dog owner or a trainer. I am just trying to share with you the reality of the situation.

I was going to wait till summer/fall when I moved in to get one, if I decided to get one. Nikko would be 10+ months old at that point.

Garebear wrote:

I was going to wait till summer/fall when I moved in to get one, if I decided to get one. Nikko would be 10+ months old at that point.

9 to10 months is when teenage years start and they become alot more work from my understanding. Also alot o Huskies end up in shelters at about 9 months to 2 years old..

I didn't experience teenage years ever. But regardless, my recommendation is always wait til you perfect your first to get your second. Makes for a much easier time with the new pup.

From my point of view, I would for sure wait!

Like others have stated, your pup is still very young, but boy do they change! I work from home and have my dogs with me 24/7 and they drive me half out of my mind at times lol. I thought it was going to be much easier managing two around the same age, but it is some major work!

I thought Hayden was well trained when we got Nicky, but looking back now I realized he wasn't near ready and had lots more training ahead of him.

Hayden is great now that he's been properly trained, but now I have to start on Nicky, which I should have a long time ago, but I was too busy perfecting Hayden (I had more on my plate than I could handle). It's embarrassing to admit, but Nicky is out of control and even though she's on leash everyday, she has zero leash manners! It's my fault too, because the time I should have spent training her, I was too busy finishing Hayden.

Don't get me wrong, I love my girl and I don't regret adding her to my family. I just regret adding her at that particular time. If I had it to do over I would have waited until Hayden was probably two.

What it boils down to is since you have a busy schedule coming up, I would personally wait until you are settled and in a less busy stable environment before bringing a new baby home

You all raise great points. I would definitely wait till Nikko is fully trained before I even thought about bringing another dog around. I would rescue instead of getting another puppy. One puppy is enough for the next few years haha.

I added a second dog when Nikko was just over 8 months old. I made sure that we went through all of the training classes at PetSmart before I got another puppy. In July, Nikko graduated the Advanced class and on August 11th I brought home Yukon, who was about 7 ½ weeks old. In my experience, it was the best thing I did! Nikko is a pretty demanding and hyper dog, and having the puppy around really helped! Nikko was displaying some dominance behavior, such as mouthing and humping (mainly ME!). Now he just does it to Yukon LOL. He seems happier now and they play together all the time.

If I had to do it over again, I think I would have gotten a rescue. I tried that route before I got Yukon, but the meetings did not go all that well, and I decided in the end I would rather have a blank slate to work with, instead of inheriting a dog that might have more issues that I can handle.

My suggestion is that if you are going to get another dog for your Nikko, you should wait until he is where you want him to be with training. It is hard enough training 1 dog, but imagine having to train 2 of them when they are at different stages in training! Although if you are lucky enough to find a dog that it already trained, it might be much easier.

In regards to the living situation, I live in a 1200 square foot townhouse. It has 2 floors and my back “yard” is a 20x20 patio with some mulch. I don’t have a problem at all with space. I make sure and walk them about 3 miles a day, and they are allowed to play inside. They run up and down the stairs too, which is a good workout . I don’t think the space is a big issue in your situation, but I would be concerned if you might have to live in an apartment that does not allow dogs. I had looked for places that allow them, and it is very difficult to find. Most that do allow dogs have a 25lb weight limit, and even some I looked at did not allow huskies.

If I were you, I would not rule it out completely, just plan on waiting a few months, and keep your eyes open. You never know when you would find the perfect dog!

Saphire just hit the ten month mark and while I know I want another husky, I will be waiting until she is about 18 months or so (I am planning on playing it by ear and seeing how she matures). Then I will be adding an older rescue.

I know at three months old I thought that adding another dog would be easy by 10 months. SOOOOOOO not the case. I love Saphire but she is really just starting to hit her stride with the teenage phase and is just as bad if not worse on some days than my teenage daughter. She is really needy right now both with attention and training and has a lot of extra energy. I really thought young puppy energy was bad but its like someone gave Saphire a whole lot of coffee or candy or some such thing. I have even had to add an extra walk to address the extra energy.

I own my home and have a large back yard so I can't speak to the space issue. However, I would second the point that some apartments won't allow even one dog let alone two and that some refuse to allow certain sizes or breeds of dog.

I would wait at least a while longer and see how your situation plays out before making a final decision. I know its hard to wait but we gotta do what is best for a fur-babies.

Personally, the roomates would worry me the most. People really aren't used to huskies and if they haven't done the research they don't realize you can't just put them outside to pee and then expect them to come back inside. My brother is in town for a couple weeks and he did that last night, letting her out into my backyard without her leash. Then he couldn't get her back inside. She eventually came back in (he used treats) but its just one of those things that if they don't know, something bad could happen.

I agree with Jennet. We got Danzig when he lived with his roommate and my mom wouldn't let me keep him (it wasn't a very well thought out plan). His roommate wasn't too horrible with watching him, but Danzig was a VERY bad puppy and would tear up his things. Luckily he was surorsingly cool about it all, but we should have gotten him when we had a more stable living situation. Plus the roommate liked to feed human food and would keep him outside when he shouldn't have been out.