Meet Mikey - our newly adopted Sibe

[wolfpup]

Would like to introduce you all to Mikey   (was Micco - but Mikey suits him better)  who we adopted yesterday as a buddy for Marley.    

 

         

He is 3 years old  and we adopted him from SHWA.   Bearing in mind he has only been here 24 hours he is doing remarkably well,  walks nicely on lead (unlike Marley), is interested but not reactive to dogs in the street,   whined for about half an hour when I went to bed but then settled down for the rest of the night.    He is pure white with a light sandy/cream back - and blue eyes.   He is also moulting like crazy!    We did a meet and greet at his foster's house - about 25 miles away on Monday  -  they have 5 huskies of their own  -   and he was very bolshie/over confident  -  but we had him brought to our house yesterday to see if he would be any better here.  He wasn't for the first hour and we had really made up our minds to say no to him  .........  however the fosterers offered to leave him with us for an hour to see how he would be on his own.      When they returned an hour later I told them that they had lost their foster dog as we had decided to adopt him.      He used to live with a cat in his original home  -  but he is WAAAYYY too interested in our cat for me to risk any sort of contact without a 4ft gate AND me inbetween them.    Hopefully he will get used to seeing Socks around.

He and Marley are getting on ok  currently both laid down alseep about a foot apart.   He loves his raw food, is house trained,  the back door is open permanently so I don't know whether he will actually ask to go out  - but his fosterers told me that he could open most of their doors  -  so he may well be like Marley and if he needs to go out will just open the back door by himself.

He reminds us so much of Lunar when he was a young boy.

Welcome to your new home Mikey  - hope you will be happy here.

[robke]

Welcome Mikey...handsome lad...

[2Huskyfun]

That is awesome! Welcome Mikey!

love the name

[wolfpup]

Mikey has been here 3 days short of 4 weeks now  -   the two dogs get on reasonably well, quite a few fights - but I have been able to separate them each time, and no major injuries  - Marley had a bleeding face one time, but it was minor.    Neither dog is allowed any toys now and all old toys have been thrown away and after about another 2 months of training we will try and re-introduce new toys.   Mikey is still resource-guarding me  - but it is lessening,   he is starting to understand that resource guarding me is only going to get him separated from me   - he is either pushed aside  or put outside the lounge for a couple of minutes.    He is starting to tolerate the fact that if I fuss him I also fuss Marley at the same time,  and if I am fussing Marley and he comes up respectfully he also gets his fair share of fuss  - but if he herds Marley out of the way - it only gets him shunned temporarily.    He is a very intelligent boy and was so amazingly quick to learn Marley's way of telling me he wants a lamb's rib,  that I now get mugged by both dogs at the same time   -  very often they can be out in the garden, and then both dogs run in at the same time and mug me in a joint effort to get a rib treat  -   it really appears as if they plan it outside  and decide to make a united front  

He is VERY head shy  -  something his foster mum also noticed,  but only with me, not hubby   -  another thing his foster mum noticed - that he wasn't head shy with her husband.     Also he is very 'touchy' about his rear end being touched, stroked - or groomed   -  nipping me (gently) to let me know he did not like that area being touched.    This suggests he might have been hit in the past   - so we are being very careful.     We had hoped that Marley would pick up Mikey's good walking on lead habits  -  but unfortunately he is picking up Marley's excitability instead.      However hubby has noticed that on occasions when walking them that Marley will go over to Mikey and sort of lean on him whilst they are walking  -  and vice-versa.    I've only managed to go out with them a few times  -  to the esturary - on their 30ft leads,  as I am still awaiting my operation, - however I am back on the waiting list now that my heart is behaving itself a little more thanks to the medication.

I dont think the boys will ever be busom buddies  - but they are tolerating each other reasonably well 99% of the time  - no food resource guarding  -  when Mikey gets a rib he takes it outside to eat,  I only had to point to the back door once and he 'got it' immediately,  Marley always brings his into the lounge.   Also Mikey waits until Marley has finished his dinner before he goes over to hover up any missed bits.    Mikey is not a bit fussy about food, has never turned his nose up at anything, and had no tummy issues from being changed over from kibble to raw immediately so unlike Marley does not have a delicate stomach.

It is taking me a little time to come around to Mikey (hubby fell in love that first day here) -  I think mainly because of his ice blue - almost colourless eyes   -   I much prefer brown eyes  as I cannot 'read' a blue eyed dog for some reason - but I am getting used to his ways   - he has trust issues, which from some of the things I have learned is understandable, and as I am working on those, we are forming more of a bond.     One thing however is getting more and more abundantly clear   - if he ever gets to my cat he will kill him   -   this is strange as he does not react to cats he sees outside, he is interested but makes no attempt to get to them   -  whereas he only has to hear Socks upstairs and then he stays by the hallway gate for the rest of the day and night - refusing to leave it, and keeps testing it trying to get through.     I had hoped that as he lived with a cat previously he might be a little more tolerant of our cat - unfortunately this is not the case.     However we have enough gates in his way that the cat should be able to find his way under our bed before the dog can get through them all.

All in all he is settling in very well,  he could have been very much worse than he has been, and I am sure that as the two dogs get to know each other, and read each other more accurately then they will settle down more, with less scraps   -   they are down to one or two a week now,  rather than daily  so things are improving.

[Andy]

Well done sounds like Mikey is settling in. The first few months are always a challenge integrating a new dog into the house. sounds like it's going well, you've identified the triggers and removed them as best you can.

Keep up the good work.. . . . oh yeah, where are the pics of Mikey and Marley together !!!!

 

[wolfpup]

You asked for it   -   enjoy!

 

As you can see he is making himself quite at home.

[Shepsky5]

The "clone" sleeping positions are cute!
Such peaceful pics, it's hard to believe they actually fight. 😀

That is scary about the cat.
Mine goes crazy over cats too, but we don't have one (due to allergic husband).
We sometimes will see cats on our walks, and he goes nuts and forgets all his leash training.
I wonder what he would do if he actually ever caught one, but I really don't want to find out!!

 

 

[wolfpup]

Marley gets on fine with Socks,  will play with him, and they will rub faces and even groom each other.    However if he sees another cat in the garden or outside he goes ballistic.    Outdoors Mikey takes almost no notice  just stands and looks at them  - but Socks is a different matter altogether.     Our trainer is bringing a muzzle with him tomorrow and we are going to try getting them in the same room.    Mikey will be muzzled and on his lead  -  just to make sure.    We will let him see how Marley & Socks interact,  then if the cat wants to he will be able to get up closer to Mikey  (although I doubt he will   -   Mikey is the only dog we have had that Socks is afraid of - and he has lived with 5 dogs in his time).   The muzzle is just in case he lunges and gets away from us  - at least the cat will survive the experience.     

The photos are mainly taken after they have had a walk   -   or have eaten!     They are quite similiar in that respect   - if they are not actually playing  (short bursts then Marley stops), out for a walk  or eating  -  they are both sleeping.    

[Luna-tic]

Lovely looking dog. I know what you mean about the blue eyes, daughter has a Merle border collie with blue eyes and I don’t trust him because I can’t tell what he’s thinking.

I hope Mikey continues to settle, he hopefully will realise how lucky he’s been this time. It must be awful for dogs who are moved around and if they’ve been mistreated how on earth do they ever get over that? Luna was very head shy and is still, better with us but dodges just about everyone else. Loud noises upset her too and if I shout at the cat (which I do a lot cos he’s always vocalising lol) Luna often gets up and leaves. I hate to think what she endured in her home before us but I’m fairly certain it wasn’t always kind.


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[wolfpup]

Marley has been ill for the last week - recouperating after an operation.    I am genuinely surprised at how Mikey has reacted   - he has certainly been more respectful of Marley's space and not been anywhere near as rough as he usually is.   Today for the first time Marley is instigating playtime - but Mikey has not jumped on his back (which he usually does) nor has he bowled Marley over  (a favourite trick of Mikeys).

He seems to know he must still be careful around him.     I know what you mean about shouting   -  if I do shout (usually 'leave'  or  'oi')  then Mikey makes himself scarce - fast.