Well when I was younger my dad used to give our old Labrador Iams. But since then I've read that Iams isn't that great for dogs. So I have a few questions about the diet and nutrition of a husky:

1: What brand of food do you feed them? How about when they're still a puppy?

2: In the case of a puppy, how long do you keep them on puppy food before advancing to adult food?

3: How much do you feed them per day and how frequently are they fed (I read that they don't eat much, but I would still like to know)? How about when they're still a puppy?

4: How quickly will they go through a 30 lbs. bag of food/how much do you spend on food per year?

5: What type of dog treats do you recommend?

I'll be asking the same questions to a breeder when I find one, until then I'd like to take notes and such. Thank you in advance for taking the time to read and respond!

1. Take a look at this thread which contains an evolving list of foods people feed to both puppies and adults: What are you feeding your husky?

2. That depends on the individual, some people switch early, some wait until a year old, some don't feed puppy food at all, some use an all life stages food. All my dogs were adopted as adults so I have never needed to feed anything but adult formulas, but if I ever did have a puppy then I'd probably keep them on a puppy or all life stages food for a year, give or take.

3. My 50 lb adult sibe eats 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups of kibble a day depending on what food he's eating. Bear in mind I typically mix approximately 1/4 cup of freeze dried raw or canned food into his kibble as well when considering how much kibble I feed.

4. A 30 lb bag of kibble typically lasts me about 2 months for just my sibe. How much I spend depends on the food I buy and I am routinely changing things up.

5. Do a search or just browse the this forum and you will find plenty of existing threads on treats that are all loaded with great treat and chew recommendations.

Take a look through the nutrition section, we've had a lot of discussions on different foods and what is considered quality and what isn't. Take a look at www.dogfoodadvisor.com as well, and look at the foods that are rated 4-5 stars.

For puppies, you can feed them an all life stages food from the beginning, or you could start with puppy food and switch them over around a year old. Taste of the Wild is a pretty good all life stages food, and it's very reasonably priced.

You'll actually wind up feeding a growing puppy more, but the exact amount depends on what kind of food you're feeding and how your dog's metabolism is. The cheaper and lower quality the food, the more you'll have to feed to get the same nutrition.

We get 28 lb bags of Earthborn Holistic for Ghost, and it takes her the better part of 2 months to go through it feeding her 2-2.5 cups per day. The bags are ~$55 each, so multiply that by 7 (little overestimate here) and it comes out to $385 per year on food.

For treats, we stick with the all natural stuff, and we only buy treats that are made in the US. DO NOT BUY TREATS MADE IN CHINA. Ghost goes ape for Zuke's bones, but they are a little pricey.

We have a lot of stickies and other threads on breeders, and don't hesitate to bounce specific ones off of us before you commit to one. Also, please consider rescue. There are quite frequently puppies in rescues (the rescue I work for has a litter of 6 right now), and there are a lot of older puppies and young adults as well. Honestly, puppies take up an incredible amount of time, and as a high school student you may be better served with a dog that you don't need to potty train and worry about taking out every 2-3 hours. In your situation I'd really recommend getting an older dog or waiting until your summer break to get a puppy.

I really applaud you for taking the time to really research this. This really is a life changer, and a lot of people really don't get that and just get a dog on a whim. Sounds like you've really got your head screwed on straight for a 15 year old

Looks like you got some good answers, So I will just throw this in. When looking at a breeder make sure they get there dogs CERF and OFA tested. Also, Always watch for red flags.

Thanks for all the replies guys! Since I'm still working out the format of this site (not quite sure how the multi quote button works yet) I'll go through your responses one by one since each one is unique in it's own way:

@Huskyluv: Thanks for responding! I was working out some numbers and I thought that they'd go through a lot more food than that so I'm glad I asked! I'll do some searching and check out the link, thanks again!

@blueeyedghost: Once again thanks for responding, I've heard that Taste of the wild was good, glad to hear that the rumors are true! I've never heard of Earthborn though, I'll have to check that out. I also don't go to a public school, I'm home schooled. So I think I'll be home often enough to devote enough time to a puppy, although I'll keep my options open and consider a full grown dog too since puppies are probably just as hard if not harder to take care of than a human baby... I know to stay away from anything with the China label and I'll definitely run the breeder's info by you guys first if I decide to go that route. I've got one shot at this so I can't waste it!

@LokiTheHusky: Got it thanks!

Wow I'm getting so much useful information on this site that I never could have imagined getting elsewhere, I need to write it down somewhere so I can hammer it all into my head. Once again thanks so much for responding guys! xD