So I have taken the plunge and with Kevin on board we will be fostering a husky for the next three months. Since I have never done this before I do not know what to expect. We met Glory yesterday in a neutral area before she came to the house and they played in the backyard together. Loki seemed ok and Glory was just a cuddle bug. Loki was a little apprehensive when Glory climbed in Kevin's lap and growled at her a little. We gave him a verbal correction and he stopped but then sat down behind me (hiding behind me as i was sitting on the floor) the rest of the visit.I think he was pouting. Since so many people on here foster I sure could use some helpful tips and what can I expect from my little boy while Glory is with us.

Patience will be the biggest help. Loki will need to adjust and so will Glory. Be patient with her, and her clingyness (and Loki's jealousy). It takes a few months for them to really come out of their shell, it took Ripley at least 2 months. Try and encourage her to socialise with Loki (supervised at first of course) and just reinforce good behaviour. Not sure what background she comes from, but any issues will show themselves quickly.
Good luck fostering, we failed at our one and only foster, but now, never ever would I give her up.

Be careful, fosters usually end up being... failures!!

Haha Cloud was the same way. Very jealous of Link getting attention. I gave Cloud a verbal warning when he growled and made sure that Cloud got just as much attention as Link, if not more. Now Cloud and Link play like best buds and its only been 3 weeks.

I have my second foster in the house, and I don't think this one will be leaving; but here's my advice.

Be prepared for spats and don't force Glory to come out of her shell faster then she wants to. Let her do things at her own pace and always set her up for success. If you trust her, take her places. My first foster, I brought everywhere. I even took him to a doggy swim day and he LOVED it. The more new, positive experiences you can give this girl, the better. Don't overwelme her with affection if she isn't ready for it. If she wants to just lay in a corner and chill, leave her be. She will investigate things in her own time. Always give loads of praise for the littlest things. Just take things slow. Introductions to anyone new always closely supervised and positive (like kids).

Fostering is one of the most amazing things a person can do IMO. Yes, it sucks when they leave. I cried for about 2 weeks straight and I still miss him and think about him almost everyday. But when your foster finds her forever home and you see the look on her and her people's face...it makes it all worth it.

Be patient, but still be firm. Don't coddle either of them, and definitely don't tolerate bad behavior. Our foster pit mix that just got adopted had some potty training issues, and then about 2 weeks after she got to our house she felt comfortable enough to start doing things like chewing on non toy items (laptop cables were a favorite), and jumping. She also guarded me from Ghost, which I let be known was not acceptable behavior. Be especially careful not to let frustration get the best of you if Glory does start misbehaving, especially if she shows signs of past abuse. Letting your frustration show through will only make her regress, and that was something that I really needed to work on with Diamond. She did have a history of abuse, and would just shut down at the hint of a raised voice or harsher tone. These guys need patience and kindness, but a strong leader to make sure they understand the rules. Best of luck, and I think it's great you're stepping up to foster. It's so worthwhile!

What I know about Glory:
She is 3 years old and was originally born in Florida.
She has been debarked.
Her current family is moving. Animal Control has been call on them for noise and the neighbors think they leave the animals in the kennels too long. She has a few huskies. Her champion pup will go to her handler and I don't know about her male.
She crawled into my lap, tried to bury herself and the rolled over.
She is very gentle but I have to move my chinchilla into the other room.
She is on Pedigree.
She is crate-trained.
She loves children. She comes from a home with a 6 years old.
She has no obedience training so I can only imagine what walking her is going to be like.

After all this I have a feeling I'm going to end up keeping her.

They debarked her?!?! That's horrible!! What awful, awful humans. Ares has no training or manners either, and he has picked up loose leash walking fairly fast. He wears a Kong harness and I walk him right next to Sheba. All my hard work with her has paid off double what I thought it would!!

Sounds like you'll be starting off with a decently well rounded pup. Thank you for fostering her!!

Sounds a lot like Link, actually! Was usually in his crate, was on Pedigree when I got him, loves kids but not really small kids, and has NO manners when it comes to basic obedience, but crate trained and potty trained. But he is such a sweet boy and I just fell in love. I'm sure you will too, I wish you the best of luck with her!

Sheba&Kennedy wrote:

They debarked her?!?! That's horrible!! What awful, awful humans.

Yeah when I was told she was debarked my blood boiled a little. I don't care how much noise Loki makes I would never do anything like that to him. It also helps that I have understanding neighbors who own a hound dog that howls at all times of the day and night. Fostering is something I have wanted to do for a long time. Almost did it with Shiba-Inus but then never heard back from the rescue.

Oh my! Debarked?! Poor pup. I am on my second foster. 3 years old should be pretty tame compared to a puppy, but what would I know! lol Mine are only 1 yr old.

Key rule: PATIENCE!

*In the first 24-48 hours, she may pee on the floor - even if she is house trained. There are a ton of emotions flying around for her because she is in a new environment. I would still punish her because she has to learn that it is not okay to pee in the house.

*Your two pups may get into a few scuffles. This is normal. You HAVE to let them know that it is NOT acceptable. Loki may try to show her that he is the alpha and this is okay, but it cannot escalate to fights.

*She may be food aggressive, so feed her in her crate for a while until you can get them situated. One way of showing that Loki is alpha - feed your foster in the crate with the door closed and let Loki have free range while he eats. Just a thought.

*She may get into the toilet seat, treat bags, and chew on stuff that Loki has never done before! (I am so lucky that Juneau doesn't do any of those things, but my foster likes to counter surf, drink toilet water and sniffs out the damn treat bag even when it's sealed!!)

*Put up ALL toys and bones until they get used to each other (which may take a few days, weeks, or a month). If you don't want to put up toys, fine, but BONES are a must until they learn to share. They are 'high quality' treats and they will fight over them (unless one is really submissive). My foster and Juneau got into it with a toy, so I have put them up for a few days. No problems since.

*Since she is good with children, this will be a key point in adoption - make sure you address that to potential adopters. Many of them have children and will want to know if your foster is good with kids.

*If you can, try to cat test her (not sure if you have cats?). I get a lot of questions to see if my foster is good with cats. My rescue group knows a cat that is fearless of dogs, so we test our fosters there. lol

*As far as walking goes, get a pinch collar, head lead (Gentle Leader) or martingale. I haven't walked my two together yet (only had her for a week, ordered two pinch collars and they're on their way) so I can't offer much advice. Huskies are breed for pulling so this is normal lol. If you get a pinch, PLEASE get a Herm Sprenger from Amazon or wherever else you can get it. The generic pinch collars are prone to snapping apart and we don't want to lose your pups!

*Loki WILL get jealous, so be prepared for that. Give them equal attention! Juneau gets jealous even if I hug my boyfriend lol.

*Try to get her at local events. I take mine to a car show where my other foster friends take theirs. They get a lot of attention and our rescue hands out a lot of business cards for the interested parties! My foster is shy of males for some reason so I have been socializing her at my work.


Good luck and feel free to PM me! I can network you to several people that can help with fostering tips.

P.S. - You will cry. The first ones suck! But I look at it this way - you save TWO lives. ONE for the one you're fostering, and ONE for the one that is able to go into a shelter to get adopted/fostered. I just like to save more and more!

P.S.S. - Thanks for fostering! It is a joy.

*In the first 24-48 hours, she may pee on the floor - even if she is house trained. There are a ton of emotions flying around for her because she is in a new environment. I would still punish her because she has to learn that it is not okay to pee in the house.
-LOL She already did that last night. Just gave her a stern no as I caught her and took her outside. She finished her business and got lots of praise and a treat.

*She may be food aggressive, so feed her in her crate for a while until you can get them situated. One way of showing that Loki is alpha - feed your foster in the crate with the door closed and let Loki have free range while he eats. Just a Thought.
-She was actually fed in her crate so that makes it a easy transition. But apparently she acts like she is starving and so Loki's bowl will have to go up if instead of having free-feed.

*She may get into the toilet seat, treat bags, and chew on stuff that Loki has never done before! (I am so lucky that Juneau doesn't do any of those things, but my foster likes to counter surf, drink toilet water and sniffs out the damn treat bag even when it's sealed!!)
-LOL Loki had to drink from the Toilet twice before we learned to closed the lid. Seven years of yelling at Kevin to put the seat down and it takes a dog drinking out of the toilet to get him to actually do it.

*If you can, try to cat test her (not sure if you have cats?). I get a lot of questions to see if my foster is good with cats. My rescue group knows a cat that is fearless of dogs, so we test our fosters there. lol
-Allergies. Horrible puffy weepy eyes. Just can't do cats.

*Put up ALL toys and bones until they get used to each other (which may take a few days, weeks, or a month). If you don't want to put up toys, fine, but BONES are a must until they learn to share. They are 'high quality' treats and they will fight over them (unless one is really submissive). My foster and Juneau got into it with a toy, so I have put them up for a few days. No problems since.
-Yeah Heaven forbid I touch his blue stuff alligator I can only imagine what it would be like if she did.


Thank you everyone with all the advice. I just want to make this a positive experience for her and Loki.

I know I'm going to take some heat for this, but I don't see debarking as the torture people think it is. Many people debark dogs as a last resort and I personally find it more humane than shock collars. I just wanted to point out that not every person who debarked their dog is horrible and debarking a dog, correctly, does not mean it can't make noises or talk, it simply softens the bark


I used it be very anti-bark softening. Now I am neutral. I understand there can be a need, but I'm not sure i would ever do it myself.

I may sound a bit ignorant, and freely admit i am on this, but what is debarking? I have never heard the term used before.

Congrats on fostering! I wouldnt be able to let a foster dog go.

Bella_Jasper wrote:

I may sound a bit ignorant, and freely admit i am on this, but what is debarking? I have never heard the term used before.

Debarking is where they go in and surgically cut the dog's vocal chords to either reduce or eliminate the volume of the bark.

Oh. Ok. Thank you for explaining meredith. Not sure what to say on that.

I learned something new with Ares yesterday. Make sure you have STURDY equipment (crate especially). He busted the door off and he popped the top off his crate and ate a whole lemon-lime chicken salad. Threw up like 6 times last night. It was gross.

I also want to add pack walks are a MUST! Him and Sheba have been having a lot of spats (dominance based fights) and walking the two of them together has improved the bond between them two-fold. I have also been spending extra alone time with Sheba so she feels secure with our relationship. She is already an insecure dog, so I know Ares being in the home and him latching on so strongly to me is upsetting her. By spending extra bonding time with her it has lessened her anxiety around him.

She is doing well. We have been on two walks today as a pack. Ate her dinner like she hadn't eaten before. She even let Kevin brush her with no hassle. She had a little accident in the living room while we were cooking but she is just a love bug. Has just been eating up the attention we give her when she comes to us. Here is a picture I will be starting a scrapbook.

congrats on fostering.. she is beautiful..

She is GORGEOUS!! Good luck on letting her go.. I know that's not helpful, but my lord. She looks so kissable!!

And so the issues have emerged. She is very food aggressive towards dogs, so much that if Loki walks in front of the crate or even 3 feet from the crate just laying down on the ground where she is eating she barks (well what passes for a bark) and snarls. She is ok with people taking her food and being near her when she eats but not dogs. This morning at breakfast I had to cover her crate so Loki could eat his breakfast and not get snarled at from the crate where Glory was eating. That worked but it is band-aid method and need to work fixing the issue. Also she may be crate -trained but last night she screamed and howled like a banshee all night so I'm running on very little sleep. When I let her out this morning I had to wait for her to calm down before I did. As soon as I did she zoomed around the house and jumped on me. So I think she has some separation anxiety. As I was drinking my coffee this morning she crawled into my lap and rolled over for some belly rubs.

Question: Is it normal for a three year old husky to have their lower right canine wore down? I was checking her over last night and she needs some work. Her butt and tail are stained with dirt (anyone know of a good whiting shampoo) She still smells horrible and that is after a bath (anyone one of a good shampoo that will zap that doggy odor). And her teeth, I don't want to even go even further into that. I was almost in tears last night.

I use pro line blue minx for whitening. It's super concentrated and its very effective.

I think your best betas to just begin feeding everyone in crates. When we get our third Ina couple of months we will be doing that. I havea female with a resource guarding past and I don't want to chance it with a new puppy in the house.

Is there a reason she can't sleep with you at night? My male will scream bloody murder if I put him in a crate at night but he sleeps like a baby when he gets to hop in bed with me.

Thanks for the shampoo info.

The thing with the crates is the crate she came with is just......disgusting and smells horrible. Kevin will be scrubbing the crap out of it to see if we can save it or not if not then a new one will have to be bought. So right now she is just Loki's kennel. Loki eats in the kitchen but once I get the her kennel clean (or new one bought) I will try that.

We were told she normally sleeps in her crate so we thought ok it shouldn't be a big deal, We were wrong. And because she smells so funky Kevin says until we can get that smell out of her she isn't allowed in the bedroom. I don't mean just a little doggie odor, I can smell it as soon as I walk down the stairs and near the living room. I plan on scrubbing the heck out of her tonight so she can join us in the bed.

I was told Ares was crate trained as well; he is, he just didn't like the crate he was put in. I had him in an airliner crate and he screamed bloody murder for three hours the first night he was here as well. Maybe it's the crate she is in?? I put him in a wire crate, and he's perfect now.

It could be that she is in HIS crate. It smells like him, and she could be trying to claim it as her own now. That happened with Sheba and Kennedy when Sheba was a baby. She would go and take naps in Kennedy's crate and I didn't think anything of it. Then one time they got into a pretty big brawl because Sheba was guarding Kennedy's crate from her and Kennedy couldn't understand what was going on..so she fought back because hey, it's her crate! Just a thought.

It'll be rough the first couple days, just stick to what you know! It'll all be okay!

Yeah, my foster Maddie smells too. I'm taking her to a groomer tomorrow lol.

Scrub that crate! Bleach it too, but make sure you get all the bleach out. Dogs are sensitive to it.


As far as food resource guarding goes... She may get better with time. Who knows, maybe she was in the wild and she had to fight for her food. Give her a few more weeks or a month. I think once she gets in the habit of watching Loki eat his own food and she eats her own, she may realize that he won't eat her food. I know it's not very helpful, but it is a thought.

Good luck! You are doing a wonderful deed!