Hi,

I'm new to these forums, I've had a husky for almost two years now and I've hit a snare; he's being left alone for too long, and I don't want to give up on him.

Is it possible to continue to keep him happy like this if I interact and exercise with him more before I leave him alone everyday?

Because my college schedule for the fall is going to have me out longer and I hope there are ways I can change my daily schedule around to accommodate his well-being and happiness.

My dogs used to be crated for 8-9 hours 5 days a week. They did perfectly fine with that schedule as long as they were outside for at least 1-2 hours prior.

I think you will find many husky owners who have full time jobs and their dogs are still able to be happy. You just have to make up for it when you are home and expect a lot more pent-up energy.

If you are afraid of him raising hell while you are gone, leave him with things to do in his crate. Examples include frozen Kongs, antlers, chew toys..things of those nature. I'm sure he will do just fine as long as you give him sufficient exercise before you leave and make sure he has done his bathroom business before leaving .

Jennet&Embry wrote:

My dogs used to be crated for 8-9 hours 5 days a week. They did perfectly fine with that schedule as long as they were outside for at least 1-2 hours prior.

Wow that's pretty long..but he's crate trained well so I'll definitely start doing this. Thanks!

trihyu wrote:

Jennet&Embry wrote:

My dogs used to be crated for 8-9 hours 5 days a week. They did perfectly fine with that schedule as long as they were outside for at least 1-2 hours prior.

Wow that's pretty long..but he's crate trained well so I'll definitely start doing this. Thanks!

Yeah it was only temporary so I didn't mind, now they're only crated for maybe a total of 8 hours for an entire week.

Sheba&Kennedy wrote:

If you are afraid of him raising hell while you are gone, leave him with things to do in his crate. Examples include frozen Kongs, antlers, chew toys..things of those nature. I'm sure he will do just fine as long as you give him sufficient exercise before you leave and make sure he has done his bathroom business before leaving .

Good to know thanks!

My husky is crated for 8-9 hours in the winter. He's never seemed to mind and always seems like he likes getting in there. During the winter it's hard to give him a lot of exercise, but I make sure he gets a lot of yard time. During the summer, he stays out in the yard and not in his crate. He's a rare husky that doesn't escape.

Mine have all stayed crated for 8-9hrs while we're at work (Mon-Fri). Now Mya and Kody have free roam of the house and only Asia is crated. They don't mind. They know our schedule and Asia even goes right in her crate and waits for her baby carrot when she sees me doing last minute things before we leave. They do have pent up energy when we get home, but they get 2mile walk (or run), some play time, and tons of love the minute I get home. By 9pm they're all sleeping again

I have a kennel that i use for koda when im gone for long periods of time.. Right now its attached to a garage and part of the garage is sectioned off for him that is insulated and has his food and water and then he can go outside in a fenced in yard when he wants.. We are almost done with our breezeway which is basically the same setup for him just a lot nicer

MelissaI wrote:

Mine have all stayed crated for 8-9hrs while we're at work (Mon-Fri). Now Mya and Kody have free roam of the house and only Asia is crated. They don't mind. They know our schedule and Asia even goes right in her crate and waits for her baby carrot when she sees me doing last minute things before we leave. They do have pent up energy when we get home, but they get 2mile walk (or run), some play time, and tons of love the minute I get home. By 9pm they're all sleeping again

As much as I would love to let him have free roam, I'm always afraid to come home and see everything destroyed!

My dogs are in crates 10 hours a day, 5 days a week. I wake up at 5am every morning and let them out for 2.5 ours. I leave at 7:30am and I get home at 5:30pm. Then my muttlies spend the next 2. 5 hours following me around while I work with my horses and go riding. If it's bad weather they just hang out in the front yard. None of my dogs are really hyper and we have such a set system that I suppose that is why it works out so well. Even when they were babies they handled the 10 hours well. I will say, it took a bit longer to potty train. We never had any problems once we got home but starting out, there would be accidents in the crate for the first couple weeks, on and off. I expected that though. When out of the crates, I think only one dog has had 2 accidents. We also take our dogs down to the river a lot on the weekends. That is a blast. Even the ones that don't like water have a lot of fun.

I don't let my dogs free roam now that I have new furniture. Before the new furniture I did though.

Anushka ATE her crate liner and broke free of the steel crate in less than 2 hours. After that I just let her have the run of the house with her toys readily available to her to play with and never had an issue with her destroying things since. This may be because she has a 13 year old grandma dog to yell at her if she starts acting up while I'm gone.