I just pasted an email here that I sent to the breeder asking about our pup's lack of affection. Thanks for your replies. For reference, we've had him for 4.5 days.

Just wondering how typical he is for a Husky.

We always say "you're definitely not a Lab buddy." Our observation is that he is very stubborn and at times very aloof or indifferent to humans. We have had guests come over and he never seems excited to see them, and he hardly has an interest in greeting them.

When he plays with toys, he will play with us for sure and interact, chase a ball, wrestle around, chase my fingers on the floor, nip at my pants....but he never initiates play with us specifically. He's definitely not a jump on your lap and lick your face dog at all.

In general he is not overtly affectionate (like a Lab). When he is in sleepy nap mode, we can do whatever we want with him and he shows no signs of protest or aversion at all: we can cuddle with him, pet him, rub his ears or belly, put him in our lap and he takes it well. It's that when he alert and up and about, he has practically no interest in any type of Lab-like affection.
At times he seems outright annoyed to be touched in a sweet, soft way. Also for reference, he is not aggressive, territorial, or possessive of stuff.

To be fair, I know about the general stubbornness and independence of Huskies and I didn't want to get a Lab. I'm just wondering how on par he is to the Husky standard in your experience.

All in all, he's very obedient, very pack oriented, very receptive to training, mental games like find the treat in several cups, and you can just tell he has a strong work ethic. He's just not very affectionate or.....sweet, for lack of a better word and he is slightly aloof.

Hope this makes sense.

A lot of huskies are aloof and stubborn and couldn't care less about praise (makes them challenging to train) As someone who had labs for many, many years, I definitely agree they are nothing alike.

Link would jump through walls if I wanted him to for 3 pieces of kibble. He's definitely food motivated, so I got that. It just seems odd to me how little interest he has in petting, ear rubs, belly rubs, etc.

my bella was like that to when i got her she didnt wanna eat she was lazy she didnt run or play. i thought she was sick. and days and weeks passed and little by little she became more active and now shes too active she goes crazy hahah so be care what you wish for lol

He definitely eats, and plays, and would run to Canada with me if he could. He's good on that stuff. He's in no way lazy.

I have a husky/shepard/lab mix and then I have Sheba. I actually posted a similar thread not too long ago. I was interested in a Siberian because they aren't velcro dogs like my Kennedy is. Kinda backfired on me though. I was so used to Kennedy's lovey doveiness, that Sheba's aloofness through me for a loop.

He sounds like a normal husky pup lol. Sheba wasn't too found of cuddling or being held at all. As she has gotten older, she has been more responsive to cuddling and being lovey. As a puppy though?..not at all. Huskies normally don't jump up in your lap and give you kisses or get all hyper like that at all. Kennedy will bring me a toy and play bow and growl at me to initiate play. She will jump up on the chair with me, give me kisses, nuzzle under my chin. Sheba? She will come up to the chair, sit down and give me her "okay go ahead and pet me" look. She will slowly give me three or four kisses on my hand, one or two licks on my face, let me kiss her a couple times on her face..and she's done. Play wise, she will only be interested in fetch 6 out of 10 times. Her favorite is chase. I have to initiate it though. She rarely initiates play. She has got to the point where she will initiate play with Kennedy, but she used to never do it.

In my experience, they change as they get older. Your pup is a very much a Husky pup. It is a difficult thing to get used to if you are used to lovey breeds.

Ok Kelsey thanks, that helps.. I'm trying my best to not project human psychology onto him and interpret this as an indicator or his liking us. It's just tough at times.

Bella only wants affection as soon as I get home or occasionally she will demand that I pet her but not too frequently. She constantly wants to play though. It seems to go in spurts and we're on a low right now but sometimes I can't sit for two seconds without her bringing something to me to play.

Lucian doesn't bug for attention either. He is under my feet a lot though. Especially in the kitchen, lol. He's only excited to see me if I am gone for a minimum of 2 to 3 hours. If I'm gone a half hour, he's like "okay your home" He wasn't much of a lover when we first got him either. He was more of a biter, lol. He once in a great while will stick his head in my lap for a quick pet or too. But most of the time it's me going up to him and hugging him, lol. My Samantha would jump for joy with even the slightest bit of attention. I try to call Lucian over to me for a few pets, he just looks at me like "what the hell do you want"

Link is a under foot pup too, and especially in the kitchen. His favorite non-crate nap spot is where his food bowl lives in the kitchen. And he is also quite nippy, but he's never outright bitten anyone. I think in 4 days he's licked me twice while not being fed.

He sounds very typically husky, but he also sounds like a puppy.

Most of the time I've spent around young puppies, they're very unlikely to climb in your lap and let you pet them. They want to play!

He sounds a lot like Pippa. She'll absolutely play if we ask her to, she'll occasionally walk up for butt-scratches, but the second food comes out, she's your best friend.

Thanks everybody for the feedback and the reassurance. I feel like there are little glimpses of progress here and there as far as this goes. My partner and I have to keep in mind that we have only had him for 4 full days, and his life is very different now than it was for the previous 2 months.

One thing we definitely confirmed today: he LOVES women and is way more indifferent and aloof to men. Is this a common thing yall have noticed?

His previous house was headed by a woman and there were two young girls. When we encounter men out and about, or when we have male guests over, he hardly flinches. But wen it's a woman, he gets this goofy happy-go-lucky playfulness about him and he looks so much like a.....well, a little puppy. It's such an interesting thing.

He still eventually gets a little nippy in the playful sense with a woman and will vocalize and get subtle growly, but he just seems to let go a bit more with women. Just something we realized today.

And since my partner and I are both men.....well, just another way in which we have our work cut out for us specifically.

Korra definitely has a preference for ladies. I feel like girls are more willing to get down and make baby voice when we're out. Though she loves all the guys (I have 2 female friends, one's a cat person and one's in Japan), strange men scare her a bit. Strange that she likes girls better since I'm about the only one she really plays with. And that she doesn't like men when she's knows and loves plenty of them. Huh.

Good news update: he's now being very curious about us and where we are going in the house. We just openned his crate door so we can move it into the room for bed in a bit and he came to the sofa and tried to jump up (and failed, ha!) so he could hang out with us while we watch tv. This is the first time he's done this. And when we took him out to pee a bit ago, he met his favorite dog friend and he was acting very normal and playful and he actually looked relaxed. Looks like he's loosening up and getting comfortable.

Phew for now.

Honestly I'm quite positive Vegeta hates being petted. The only time he seems truly ok with my petting him is when he is TIRED, like you could throw me out the window and my butt ain't moving kind of tired, or when he is getting praised. Any other time he shies away from physical contact.

He'll jump up on my leg if I'm at the computer and he wants to play, but if I go to pet him he drops into a sitting position. Husky pups are definitely their stubborn selfs and they love it.

Of course as soon as he sees someone else he's all "PET ME!" "LOVE ME!" "Oh you want to hold me for hours?! OK!"

I swear he hates me...

Saphire was this way when she was very young also. We just gave the affection anyway. Now for the most part she could still care less but she takes all her loves and has moments when she wants her loves and will climb right in your lap. (Note: this is usally when you are working on something you don't want her right in the middle of!)

Man I must have the weirdest husky in the world. Karli LOVES belly rubs. She comes over, presses herself against you as hard as she can and asks for them. She loves to be touching us. If my hubby is on the floor on his laptop, she is usually pressed against his back. If he doesn't pet her after a while, she comes up on the couch with me and asks for head rubs (right behind her ear is her spot) or belly rubs. The day she discovered belly rubs is the day I lost my independent pup.

When Bandit was a baby-baby, he wanted almost no touching or petting. Now that he's almost 1 year, he's more affectionate.

It's as if you are describing my puppy! Qannik (1 year old) is the same way. In fact my husband and I talk about this all the time. We knew when getting a Sibe puppy not to expect a lap dog, but we're a little bummed that he isn't more affectionate or at least excited to see us when we come home. Usually when I come home from work, he's hanging out outside (since that's his favorite place to be this winter). He'll look at me for a second and then dismiss me! But if a visitor comes over, he's all over them with excitement! Go figure!

Maya didn't want anything to do with me until i got Sophie and she had competition...

Rue wasn't affectionate as a puppy but I think he has grown tolerant of our pets, because like it or not I'm gonna pet him He is super excited to see either me or my boyfriend and he loves all our friends/ gets super excited to see any of them or any one for that matter. He usually lets everyone know he's excited to see them by talking it's pretty hilarious to watch

Just an update here. So with our ongoing crate training Link has been spending more and more time alone without us. This has been great because now, when we get home, he is SO EXCITED to see us!

Imagine that, you spend 24/7 next to somebody for 6 days and they don't seem to ever miss you or get excited to see you.

Silly me

He licked my face today for the first time after he was alone without us for 3.5 hours midday, his longest stretch. So......awesome........

It was all the emotional validation I needed. Phew.

Awwwww-some!

Yep, it was. AND, got him to enjoy 2 belly rubs today.

I have a very affectionate male, but his dad is incredibly affectionate too. I really think it depends on the lines, Delilah likes occasional loving but spends time more to herself. I like the fact that they aren't Velcro dogs like my brothers lab...I'd go bonkers. Lol