Need help with my 17 week old puppy!!

[kroush7]

We recently added a new member to our family. Thinking she would be a family dog but so far that’s not the case. She is 17 weeks old. We have had her for 2 weeks. She wants nothing to do with my fiancé and I. She won’t come to us, if we approach her she walks or runs away. We can barely touch her and she acts afraid of us so we try to give her her space but she is attached to my 10 year old daughter. She constantly wants to be with her and is always wanting to be in her room with her and sleeps with her. We have allowed this to go on for over a week. She actually slept in her bed the first few nights. I think because she was too scared to go down the hallway where my daughters bedroom is. Then she got braver and followed her in there one day and hasn’t wanted to be anywhere else since. We want her to get used to us too and feel comfortable in the house plus we don’t know if we are making the problem worse by letting it go on. Tonight we have a gate up in front of the hallway and she is in a room with my fiancé and I. Right now she gave up and is laying down but she has been whining at the gate and trying to climb it and break through it but the gates held up so far. I feel really bad and want to just let her go be with my daughter but I my fiancé says we have do this and it’s the right thing to do. He thinks it’s bad letting it go on and that she will never like us or settle in to the family if we keep just letting her be with my daughter 24/7. I read that they have a critical socialization stage between 5 or 8 weeks until 16 weeks. I feel like she was never really around people during that time besides the breeder and her son so now I feel like she hates all humans besides my daughter. I have two other kids as well and she likes them but doesn’t follow them around. She is scared of my step daughter though who is 11 and comes over a couple times a week. I don’t know what to do to make her like us and not just want to be with my daughter. We have thought about even maybe having to return her to the breeder but I don’t want to break my daughters heart. Is what I’m doing with the gate the right thing to do?  Please help! 

[chelseafan]

Hi, it’s a hard one, building a bond with a pet takes time as it comes from trust, 2 weeks is no time at all in terms of her settling in. Was she in a safe and secure environment before you brought her home? I would let her be for now, give her time to settle in and it’s a good thing she’s happy to be with your daughter. As she’s still young it’s important to establish a routine and training is essential, I would advise to do lots of research about husky’s, they’re not like regular dogs. In my opinion I can’t see a reason not to let her sleep in your daughters room, she obviously feels secure and happy in there. There are ways to strengthen your relationship with your pup, walking her, setting time aside to play with her, and in time you’ll see a difference but start with baby steps for now.


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[Vlad76]

You cannot possibly expect anything in just two weeks. That's just ridiculous. That being said, you could quickly force many things, but that has long-term consequences. If you care - at all - about dog's happiness, you will follow his own pace of things.

 

Consider all 4 of you sleeping together in same room for two weeks, so she gets used to your voices, smells, sounds and gestures. Use couch or temporarily bring other bed, if your bed isn't big enough for 3 of you (Husky will find a spot there, no doubt about that).

 

Highly likely, initially, your Husky will sleep on the floor, further away, but will eventually decide to sleep in bed with you.

 

It took my Husky over a year, to start voluntarily come to sleep in my bed. Now, it's part of her ritual - she must touch me when falling asleep and greatly enjoys falling asleep in same bed, but it took some time...