Hi everyone,

I have been lurking this website for quite a while and so this is my first post however. Me and my wife have wanted a husky for quite some time. Yes, initially our drive was because of how beautiful the dog is, we actually started off wanting a Finnish Spitz and then found out that the husky was in the same dog family and moved to it. Plus, Finnish spits are kinda rare around where I live breeder wise, at least that is what I found a while ago . However, there are lots of huskies.

After doing research (lots and lots of research) and reading this forum and all the horror stories, I was okay with all the negatives and still wanted to move forward. I decided early on, that if I were to get a husky, I wanted an adult due to a number of reasons. I found a husky rescue who had an adult female (3 or 4 years old). I reached out to them and we talked, as soon as I mentioned I had two kids (2 and 1 year old) they turned me down. The person however, was nice and went to the their club and mentioned our desire. A person responded back and eventually emailed me. He was champion dog breeder here and told me he had 5 huskies and wanted to go down to 3 due to ordinances. Two of the dogs he needs to find homes for are female, one black, one red - and around 3 or 4 years old. It looks like he was trying to find a home for his singleton, a red girl. She is 3 years old. We talked a lot about the dog, her mother is a champion, as is her siblings, and she has obviously been well taken care of and trained.

He is asking for no money, only that I fix her if I get her and that I send proof. Sounds like a good deal.

So, we finally set up a time to meet his girl. I drove an hour to get to his place and we get there. Now one bit of information that was gathered right away, was the age of my children at the visit. I told him I had little kids, but I guess age never came up through email. He immediately seemed hesitant. Throughout the visit he showed me all 5 dogs, beautiful creatures. He had complete control over them, but they were like a bunch of kids when it came to me and my wife entering the room. I am not going to lie, I fell in love immediately with all of them. However, due to his "I don't know about kids" remarks, I felt like I might of wasted my time here because the rescue did the same thing. So he showed them off, showed how he had setup his garage with a huge fenced pen, with a doggy door leading outside - allowing them easy access outside and inside without having access to the whole house, it was pretty genius.

So, we ended the visit and headed up. The wife and I discussed his concern and at this point, I am wondering if we should just not pursue the husky breed. His obvious concern is not that the huskies would knock over my children per se, although that is a slight concern for hurting them, but that they of course play bite and his fear is that a play bite might break skin and if the kid needed stitches and they found out it was done by a dog - that the dog by law would have to be put down. Obviously, I would never want that to happen. SO, with sadness we thought perhaps this shouldn't happen due to the possibility of that scenario.

The other concern I had, was my kid's toys and the husky swallowing one.

Our intentions have been wanting a husky for years now, and since moving into a home with a nice yard and the ability to have a nice home for a husky. We know a few friends who have huskies and they never seemed to worried about us getting one with two small children. I have had a discussion a while ago with a breeder who got offended when I asked if the husky breed would have a prey drive for small children, being scolded and told that the husky breed had been bred with human interaction for so long that they would never harm a child or adult human without some provocation.

Anyways, anyone have thoughts on this? Do you think I am crazy and shouldn't consider a husky with two young kids (1 and 2 years old) or should I go for it?

Thanks in advance.

Love the site by the way

-Chris

My youngest is turning 2 next month, and to be perfectly honest, sometimes I do kind of wish I had waited until she was older. I'm not worried about my dog's prey drive kicking in or anything like that, but I do worry that SHE will either hurt him or pester him into snapping back (he's a rescue and does have a few triggers). It requires a LOT of vigilance to have a toddler around a dog. It only takes a millisecond before one is grabbing at a paw, ear, tail, or poking at an eye. Pups can get injured; adults can get pissy and snap. A lot of reputable breeders will not sell a dog into a home with very young children unless they know the family well.

It is a challenge having a dog, and young child. I find the challenge is with the child, lol. My daughter is 3, and of course she pushes buttons, and does things she isn't supposed to. Now don't get me wrong, she's nice to the dog, she doesn't smack him or pull on anything she shouldn't. But she does take his toys. I just caught her the other day bringing 3 or 4 of his toys back down from her room. She holds the toys above his head sometimes too. My concern with this is making him toy aggressive. He's only 5 months old right now. He does tend to play a little rough with her, but so far he hasn't hurt her. It was much worse when I first got him, he would jump on her, and bite at her clothes. He was small then, so he didn't even knock her down.
I would of course before bringing any dog into the house(aside from a puppy)have a meet and greet with the kids, and see how the dog acts around them. I would also try talking to your kids, but at that I don't think it's going to do any good, lol. My 3 yr old still doesn't listen to a dang thing I say.

My two have never had an issue with knocking kids over. Every undesirable behavior can be corrected. My oldest even does therapy visits with kids every once in a while. We've had tons of birthday parties at my mom's for my nephew who was around Koda daily til we moved to Colorado.
I raised both mine from pups though. I made sure as they grew I handled them as a kid potentially would.

I'm kind of in the same boat as you. I don't have kids but I do live in an apartment, which many breeders frown upon. I know this because I have been blown off by two reputable show breeders in the Chicago area (Shiver and Lodgepole). The only breeder that has even given me the time of day is Karnovanda in Michigan.
Anyway, I decided to give myself a 6 month waiting period to thoroughly research the breed and to persist and try to build a relationship with breeders and rescues. I currently volunteer at Adopt a Husky events to get as much experience as I can walking and handling the dogs as well as get the opportunity to meet owners and fosters of Siberian's. Volunteering REALLY helps satisfy my urge to jump the gun and buy a puppy from Craigslist or a newspaper ad. It can also help you and your kids get used being around hyper huskies.
My advise is to wait 6 months to a year. The kids will be a little bigger and you will be more prepared.

Welcome to the forum and good for you for doing research!!

Bella doesn't do well around small children. When my almost 2 year old nephew comes over - she has to be leashed or they have to be separated. He likes to run and squeal which triggers her prey drive and she will chase and grab his clothing.

Since we don't have small children or children that are around often and there is no plan in our future for children that will be around for long periods of time while Bella is here - it's not something that is easily fixed for me.

I know of people who have gotten Siberians when they had small children and never had a problem. If you're deadset on a Siberian the most proactive thing you can do is just supervise, supervise, supervise and never leave the dog and children alone together.

Dogs are always a wild card where small children are concerned, that extends to include all breeds, not just siberians.

Bringing an adult who has not had much prior experience with young children is always going to carry a bit more risk when you don't know how they will react. They could be perfectly fine with youngs kids, they also may not...you won't know until you put the 2 together. I think in your situation it might be better to work with an organization that can match you with a dog who is known to be good with small children. If not a rescue then perhaps even something like a Craigslist rehome might work out for you since you are interested in adopting an adult.

It's not an impossibility to adopt an adult husky with 2 small children. I would not give up if I were in your shoes. Heck, one of the reasons I decided that a husky was the breed for me was how well they are known to be with children.

I adopted my sibe as an adult before I had a child so I had time to mold him into a super well behaved dog well in advance. My daughter will be a year old in March and my sibe does absolutely superb with her. He is so gentle with her and all small children, he is rougher with older children, but he seems to just naturally know to be gentle with very young children. My daughter crawls all over my sibe, pulls his fur, ears, tail, feet, collar, pretty much everything and he doesn't budge. He really is amazing with her. He's not pushy with her and approaches her slowly and gently. He does "forget" she's present sometimes when he's playing with a toy or another dog in which case I do have to keep her safe so she doesn't accidentally get knocked over but otherwise I really don't have to worry about my sibe with my daughter. Of course I would never leave them alone together unattended.

I think if a sibe is right for you then be patient and keep trying and don't give up on trying to find a rehome/rescue. You'll find the right one in time and I'm sure it will be worth the wait.

I appreciate the feedback everyone!

We are still torn on the subject. My kids stay at home with my wife all day, and she would have good supervision over the two. It is hard to decipher between "Something bad will probably happen" versus "It probably won't happen, but if it did..." when it comes to siberians and small kids when the dog has no prior experience. So again, torn, I am 75% sure we won't be getting one because of this, but things might change. We might decide to wait a year.

It's really going to be that way with any dog of any breed that you look into. Almost every breed of dog will have reasons as to why they don't do well with smallish children. If you are determined to make it work though - it can be done.

I agree with Val - it's sometimes best to go through an organization that knows the dogs are compatible with children - the risk is not as high.

If you're looking for a dog (not particular on breed) you could look into organizations that raise and train service dogs (these dogs would be younger adults) and look at their prospects that failed for various reasons. They're pretty much already trained and well mannered and very even tempered animals.

Thanks again everyone for the replies. So, still looking for a husky. I have applied to all the husky rescues in my state and never got any responses. I sent emails asking for updates, hopefully I get some sort of response. I really hope no one is ignoring my app because of my kids. Regardless, most dogs listed on most of the rescue sites list that the dog is not to be homed with small children - so I am starting to think that may be it. Either way, I hope for some sort of response so I can at least be on maybe a waiting list for a rescued husky that might have some experience with young children.

I'll keep trying...

When I rescued Alpine he was between 3-4 months old and 5 out of 7 days of the week I watch my 3 yr old niece. From day one I had her interact with him and taught him to be "gentle". Once he began training, I would have her work with him on his training. She would go up to his food bowl, take a handful out & speak commands to him. To this day, he listens to her quite well, but there are times that he tries to get mouthy & I just say "Alpine, baby!" and most of the time he quits.
I believe as long as you get a puppy and raise them with young children, they should be fine. Just have to keep and extra eye on them when they are together.
Here's a short video I took with my phone:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151052801317637&set=vb.551627636&type=3

jberry612 wrote:

When I rescued Alpine he was between 3-4 months old and 5 out of 7 days of the week I watch my 3 yr old niece. From day one I had her interact with him and taught him to be "gentle". Once he began training, I would have her work with him on his training. She would go up to his food bowl, take a handful out & speak commands to him. To this day, he listens to her quite well, but there are times that he tries to get mouthy & I just say "Alpine, baby!" and most of the time he quits.
I believe as long as you get a puppy and raise them with young children, they should be fine. Just have to keep and extra eye on them when they are together.
Here's a short video I took with my phone:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151052801317637&set=vb.551627636&type=3

That is absolutely adorable.

Just wanted to update everyone on some good news. Tomorrow, I will be rescuing a 6 year old husky named Hucksey. Obviously by his name, you could guess a small child named him after trying to pronounce the breed name. Anyways, he is being surrendered and I'll hopefully be taking straight into my home tomorrow. He is good with kids, so we really hope this works out.

Here is his page: http://www.northstarhuskyrescue.org/animals/detail?AnimalID=5358439

Wish us luck! I'll post pictures of him probably in a week or so

That's great news. Congrats on the adoption! Looking forward to seeing pictures of Hucksey

Thanks for rescuing Hucksey!

Val gave some great advice.
All dogs have to be monitored with young children.
That being said, an older dog that's already been part of a family has a better chance of adjusting to a child. The toys are probably going to be OK, because you are not going to have toys with small parts that are digestible around little kids either.

Hey, that's OUR rescue!!!!!! Are you in CO then? Congrats if you need any more help let me know

Congratulations!
I see you are in Colorado!
I am one of the volunteers for the rescue that Hucksey is coming from - so is Jenn!

We do move a little slow, and one of the reasons is that we are short on volunteers that help with processing adoptions. Sorry if we seemed unresponsive. Before I became a volunteer, and when we were in the process of adoption, it took almost 2 months from the time we sent our adoption application to the time we met the husky. I almost gave up and moved on to a different rescue.

Thank you for being patient with us!

Typically with applications that have small kids, we want to make sure we know the husky is good being around them. This could also be a reason for the delay in response.

Anyway - when you meet Hucksey and you like him, you certainly can take him home!

Good luck today!

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I see that you are already getting a dog and that's great! I have always had dogs around my kids. Many different breeds, some mutts too! Supervision is the key to your success. Don't just teach the dog, remember to teach the kids how to act around the dog too, and it should be a wonderful experience for all of you! Make sure to give the dog plenty of exercise so that it can be calm inside around the kids. Good luck, and thank you for adopting!

Chris,
I hope Hucksey worked out!
Did you take him home?

I have a 4 year old son and a 6 month old daughter with 2 huskies,a GSD,and 3 pitbulls. As long as the dogs know their commands there isn't a hazard with kids.

Thanks Tonyloks, I actually did get a husky and he works fine with my two little ones. No problems.

Did that rescue used to be Polaris?

Polaris?

When I was in college at CSU I volunteered for a rescue called Polaris Rescue. When I was looking at the site for North Star I noticed that in the memorials section someone mentioned Polaris, so I was curious if the two were related.