Stardancer85

Hang in there! You're getting a lot of great suggestions. Mine would be to suck up to your neighbors, and carry him around to introduce him. No one can resist a cute little cuddly husky pup. And if you bake, bake them some cookies too I had a puppy with severe separation anxiety in an apartment complex. I can't tell you how much it helped that my neighbors thought he was the cutest thing to grace God's green earth. I never had a complaint - though I made sure to only leave him alone during regular working hours to limit those who were home to hear him. Crying at night is very common and it will get better! If he's crying during the day when you're out of sight, I would definitely try some desensitization with him while you're home. Give him a frozen peanut butter puppy sized Kong or something, and go do something in another room for 5 or so mins and see how he does. This will help him adapt from always being with his littermates and will show him that good things happen when he has alone time - yummy peanut butter, and you came back too!

Thanks again everyone for your input. Keep it coming! I love it. Adam, I appreciate your insight as a landlord. To clarify: I don't have a dog OR a rented house yet, but would clear a husky with my landlord before moving in (because as Rachel notes, they are on that ridiculous aggressive breed list thanks to a misunderstood survey by the CDC back in the 90s - ugh). I also wouldn't modify without the explicit permission of the landlord. Thanks for pointing out the fence height restrictions in your area - I'll look into that!

Interesting. I have seen the trolley cables you're talking about. I'll look into that option when the time comes as well. Thanks guys!

Any of you Sibe owners also home renters? I'm hoping to get a Siberian when my BF and I rent a house in the spring. But unless the previous owners we rented from had a Sibe, I'm guessing the chances that a fenced backyard will be "Siberian secure" are slim to none. It will be a while before we can afford our own house and our own garden/Alcatraz. Curious if others have come up against this issue and how it was handled? My thoughts now are 1) offer to pay for needed fencing improvements on the rental property, or 2) putting an invisible fence INSIDE the existing fence. I know invisible fences alone don't keep your dog safe from other dogs/kids, and that they also may not work on Sibes because of their thick fur and how fast they are. But if it kept them away from the inside perimeter of the fence, it might be effective against climbing/digging along the fence line. Thoughts from the experts?

Hang in there! I had a similar issue when I brought home my first puppy and 3 things helped me. First, I slept on the couch too. I would do this for another night if you can - helps the puppy adjust. Second, don't let him nap in the evening. I would play, carry him around, take him on a walk around the house, whatever you have to do to keep him awake until bedtime. Third, don't give in. It WILL get better, and quickly. Earplugs are your friend here. Some may disagree, but I think it's better to risk an accident in the crate than it is to give in to the howling just in case he needs to potty. If you restrict water before bedtime and he goes out before bed, he should be okay for the first few hours. If he starts howling in the middle of the night after being quiet for a few hours, see if you can get him to calm down and take him outside - no playing. Otherwise, try your best to ignore it and know that this is totally normal with all puppies. Good luck!

Great information - thanks everyone. Right now I'm looking into volunteering with a local husky rescue. It seems like the best way (besides stalking this forum) to learn about these amazing and unique animals. And I'm hoping it will calm my husky fever a bit too - I can't get enough. Thanks to all who responded and shared - I definitely hear that they are a handful but worth it for the right owner. I look forward to working with some huskies before making the ultimate decision to bring one home (but let's face it, that's a matter of "when" not "if" - I'm hooked).

Hi all - I'm in the midst of doing research on huskies with the goal of getting one in the spring when I move into a house (BF and I are currently in a one-bedroom apartment). I introduced myself in a previous, very long thread that several of you were kind enough to read and reply to. Honestly, this forum has been my obsession for about the past week - WAY more helpful than all but a few of the rescue sites. So my biggest question for yall is - what do the books get wrong/don't tell you about Huskies? Besides the actual volume of hair that comes off them - I saw some videos but still can't imagine the sheer fluff. I bet you could re-stuff your couch with their shedding fur if they ripped it to pieces!

Stormy - we both work full time but I'm very lucky in my job situation. I'm a part owner and my boss gives me a lot of leeway. So I generally work from 10am to about 4:45pm and then do some work from home at night. I don't work from home during the day all that often, but probably about 3-4x a month. The bf is looking for a new job so we really can't plan around his schedule right now, but if he's close to home, we could split lunchtime play sessions. With a dog, I could arrange my schedule so he/she would be alone around 5/6 hours a day max - with breaks of course! I could go home for lunch almost every day for about an hour and I have an excellent dog walker who would come in the afternoon. So it would really be about 9:45am to 12 and then 1 to 3, and then 3:30 to 5 or so. On days where I can't make it home for lunch, I would double up appts with the dog walker. And Jase - great idea about 2 weeks off - thanks! I do understand it from the breeders side too - I know she just loved her litte fur baby so much and hated to see him hurt. It just was a bad situation all around. Shelters/rescues/breeders in the US all ask about previous pet ownership and vet references so I think it's one of those things where it is best to be totally up front about it, before they hear about it second-hand from the vet. Thanks again to everyone who replied - I greatly appreciate your insight.

A local rescue posted a great video on what to expect from a husky. It shows things that you can read about but may not believe until you see it with your own eyes if you've never owned one. Examples: digging a hole to China in the backyard, multiple huskies climbing over fences or opening doors (including round handle doors), and destroying couches. It also shows just how MUCH fur there is on one of these dogs.

Solitary - thanks for the input. That is a great point about separation anxiety - though research I have done is mixed. Some say that separation anxiety can hit any dog at any time, others say that Sibes are one breed that is prone to it. This is something that I hope to discuss with the rescue organization - and I would be open to getting two (though probably not all at once). It's interesting to hear that this experience is pretty common in your area. As for research I have done, I've read up on their exercise requirements, escape abilities, tendency to pull on the leash, and how crate training is suggested to keep them from destruction. I just picked up a couple books on Sibes to read through - but so far, rescue organizations and forums like this have been a great source of info. Both my boyfriend and I are runners (me a lot more than him) - so between running every day and training, I THINK we could meet our dog's exercise needs. My AKK was similar in escape artist tendencies and never really being able to trust them off leash. I know they are headstrong and can be difficult to train, but love you like crazy. Any books/websites beyond this one I should check out are most welcome.

Hi everyone, I'm interested in getting some advice on whether I have a shot at getting a rescue dog or a puppy from a breeder after I had to give my beloved puppy back to the breeder. I apologize that this is a bit long - but I want to clarify the steps I took before I did this, and why I had to. The decision still haunts me. Two years ago, I decided to get my very first dog. I was single and living in an apartment complex, working about 2 miles away from home. I wanted a Siberian Husky but all the reading I did on them told me that I would be in way over my head. I instead settled on an Alaskan Klee Kai, which I also did a lot of research on and which I thought would handle an apartment better. AKKs look like small huskies and have some personality similarities from the Spitz dog heritage, but there are also differences, which I was well informed about. The two that concerned me were socialization (AKKs are not gregarious like Sibes are) and a high prevalence of separation anxiety. I discussed them with my chosen breeder and came up with plans to handle both of those issues, should they crop up. Socialization went beautifully, and so did our crate training and obedience training. But he had SEVERE separation anxiety from Day 1. Full out screaming while he was alone - nonstop, every day. He was never left alone for more than 2 or 2.5 hours at a time, for a total of maybe 6 hours per day. I had trainers come to my home, engaged the behaviorist at our obedience school, talked to my breeder nonstop, and had my vet fully work him up for any health issues. We were working through all the various suggestions (tape recording of my voice playing, a t-shirt that smelled like me, thundershirts, DAP pheremones, bringing in other dogs to keep him company - if you can think of it and it didn't involve negative stimuli, we did it). We had pretty much ruled out everything except for Prozac and puppy proofing a small area of the apartment to see if he tolerated that better than the crate. I was hoping that with some time, we could get there without my having to stay home all the time until he could tolerate small absences. Which, truthfully, I'm not sure I could commit to as a single woman with a full time job - but the backup plan was doggy day care. But 3 months in, he had an accident while playing with a puppy friend of his outside - they were tangled up in a ball, rolled off the grass onto the curb, and he broke his hip. I'm still not sure how it happened but it was heartbreaking. I paid for the full cost of the surgery of course, and I had to return him to the breeder when he was out of surgery. I couldn't leave him alone while he was recovering from his surgery, and in my heart of hearts, I knew that the breeder (who worked part time as a photographer) would be able to handle his issues and his recovery much better than me, and find him a good home where he had someone who could be home more than I could. I still don't know that I made the right decision, and I wish I had more time to work with him. My neighbors were understanding of the noise (as long as they were at work) and I had assembled a team of experts to help me work through his anxiety as a new dog owner. But his accident really forced me to make this decision that I didn't want to make, and the breeder was HORRIBLE about it. She made me sign a contract that I would never contact her again to ask about him when I brought him back. I still try to look him up to see how he is doing, but I think they sold him again and I'll never see him again so I pray that he is doing well and is happy. I'm in a different situation now - I'm in a serious, long-term relationship and we are planning to rent a house in the spring. We have discussed a dog and would love to have a Siberian Husky when we move into a house. I'm in the process of doing research and looking into both rescues and breeders - we have plenty of time to make this decision and find the right dog for our living situation. But I know the facts look terrible - on paper, I'm just some irresponsible girl that got a puppy who had an anxiety issue and gave him away after 3 months. I know that I could make a good dog owner and provide a happy home to one or two Siberians. But do you husky owners have opinions on whether I would ever be given the opportunity? Any advice? Thanks so much - I've found this website to be a great resource. I appreciate your time in reading this.