Elyse

Hi guys. So, not a husky, I know. But I know you guys have lots of experience with counter surfing huskies. Well, Daisy (9 month old black lab) does the same thing...except when we're not looking. She's sneaky about it, and we haven't been able to catch her in the act, we've only seen her jump off the counter when we come in the room...and we can't scold her for that right? I was wondering if there is anything we can do that'll curb this behaviour? Will bitter apple spray help at all, maybe spray it on the edges of the counter?

Good boy, Solo!

Daisy likes to follow us around, mainly me cause I'm her main caregiver right now. She knows she is supposed to go on her mat, but sometimes she'll lie at our feet. She also likes to cuddle - if you are sitting on the ground for whatever reason, prepare to have a 60 pound dog curl up in your lap (or try to!). Other than that, she likes to chew on stuff (thankfully only on her toys!). She also has little naps throughout the day (we call them 'puppy naps'). About once a day on one of her potty breaks outside, though, she has the zoomies for a bit. Probably need to exercise her more, but its such a PAIN walking her when she pulls. We recently got a prong collar, and that seems to be helping a little, but walking isn't enjoyable right now.

Daisy, doing Daisy things. She's such a cuddly goofball.

Daisy had her spay today, we can pick her up tomorrow they said. So I'm excited for that. During her spay, they discovered she had pyometra. They said they caught it early, and they are giving us antibiotics (along with the standard pain meds after a spay) to ensure its gone. We don't even have to pay for the medication or for any other extra procedure they had to do for the pyometra, which is a bonus.

Here's another picture of her. 4 more days until her spay. Not sure if we take her home the same day or what but...my dad's gone a little dog crazy. I had to convince him to NOT adopt a red husky today. When we have Daisy's training where we want her, then we can get another dog. But until then, bad idea.

They said she was a mix, yeah. But they also said Suka was a mix, and I've been told by husky breeders (IRL) that he was a purebred, just from different lines. I think they just put 'mix' on everything just so people don't go there and 'window shop' for the exact breed they want. They had a lot of dogs there from Mexico that honestly just looked like mutts/street dogs. They called them 'Retriever Mixes'. That's what I was thinking, but I'm having trouble on figuring out how to train her there before she comes home. Any ideas? She knows the basics (sit, come here, lie down, shake a paw, and stay) already, and they won't let me take her for a walk to figure out how well (or not) she walks on the leash.

Stylish as always!

Technically not our dog yet, but we spent some time with Daisy at the shelter's outdoor run today. Picture is from yesterday, though.

Thanks Emma. I was reading up on how difficult they can be, and I guess I just scared myself. I also asked the same to some labrador boards, they were pretty discouraging and weren't very helpful, so I guess I'll be spending most of my time here on H-O still! The earliest they can book her in for her spay (+ vaccinations and chip) is on the 19th, but if there's a cancellation they'll let us know and book her in sooner. It just sucks, because its a lot of time wasted that could have been spent on training her at home. Good news is we learned she knows most of the basic stuff (sit, lie down, has some recall, and seems to be housetrained for the most part), and by the time we got out of the viewing room with her I already got her to jump up on people/things a little less. She also seems to have dandruff (little white flakes in her fur), could that be due to a food allergy? They feed her Royal Canin, which I think is a relatively poor quality food. (I hope she likes Taste of the Wild)

Thank you everyone, I'm excited too. But also nervous. Here's another picture of her. I'm starting to get cold feet, we've never had a dog this young before, and I think there's a lot of training to be done before I go back to school in 3.5 months (My Dad works full time and has a heart disorder as well as diabetes and other problems that haven't been fully diagnosed yet, and my Mom has a mental disorder so she can't train Daisy). I've joined a few Labrador specific boards (I felt a little bad for the 'treason', but I want to do what's best for Daisy and for my family) to ask some questions, but I figured I might as well see what you guys think too. Copy and pasted message is below: "I'll just cut to the chase. I'm headed off to my last year of university in September, so my Dad would like for me to do the following with her before then. He has heart problems and he doesn't have confidence in his ability to train, while my Mom has a mental disorder so she won't be able to train the big stuff. On-going training of 'minor stuff' she can do (heeling training, probably fetch training), just nothing major. This list is 'ideal', the prioritized ones are starred.- Clicker train her (if necessary)- * Housetrain her (if necessary) : how does one go about housetraining a young adult dog?- * Crate train her- If she is excitable enough that she runs in the house (she ran around like crazy in the outdoor dog pen), how stop that behaviour so she only runs around outside (trotting is okay, as long as she doesn't knock things over)- Train her to play fetch- * Train her to accept/tolerate car rides (either driving for long distances, or waiting in the car for longer periods of time...obviously making sure it is safe for her to do so. (if necessary)- Train her to walk well on a leash (heeling, no pulling)- *The family likes to sit down and relax in the evenings, usually watching TV. How can I encourage her to relax in the evenings as well? Is it possible to have all (or most) of the above trained within 3.5 months before I go back to school? My school is 6 hours away, so its not like I can pop in every now and then. Also, I need more general information on what we can expect from her. How much exercise would she need in a day? What breed do you think she is mixed with? Would an hour walk(at least) per day (+ 15-30 minutes of fetch) be enough? She would have a pretty big fenced yard to run around in (I don't have the exact dimensions, but the backyard is atleast 80ft by 60ft), would she run around by herself to burn her energy or does she need a person?I've heard a lot about clicker training, and I'm interested. The only problem is that I know my Mom and Dad will probably not even touch the clicker when I leave for school, so if I use a clicker to train her (which I heard is the easiest method to catch good behaviours) and if that clicker training stops...what happens? Will she regress in her training? Is it possible to have a hybridized system, where I use the clicker and they say: "Good girl!", or would that confuse the dog?I also heard that since she's a year old (maybe less, they can be inaccurate there at the shelter), she's in a fear period and she'll need to be socialized. Tips? Tricks? Things to do and avoid? Also, if her age is 1 year old (or maybe a little less by a few months), would she have gone through her first heat? I know if you spay your female before their first heat, they develop problems later in life. And, also, are we in way over our heads? Honest answers are appreciated.Thank you. " Footnote: We've also decided to not have insurance on her for awhile, atleast until we get out of debt from Suka.

We were approved, no fence needed. The tether we still have up is fine! She'll be spayed and given her shots (+ microchip), then we can pick her up in about a week or so. Maybe less.So excited!

We went to visit her today and saw her outside interacting with all the other dogs there. We also did some talking. An inspector is coming over (maybe today) to look at our backyard, and to tell us what he wants. Let's hope things go well, fingers crossed!

Hello everyone, Its been 5 months (maybe 6?) since Suka passed away. It still hurts sometimes. We had a discussion as a family, and besides some money issues (we're still a few grand in debt from Suka's chemotherapy expenses, and they were covered 80%), everybody feels they are emotionally and mentally (and physically) ready for another dog. And what do you know, I stopped by the shelter today, just to take a peek, and I saw a (approx) 1 year old black lab (mix), female. She's a bit nervous around new strangers and new dogs, but she warms up to them quickly. She knows a few commands (responds to her name, 'Daisy'), and knows how to sit and shake a paw. So clearly she was owned by somebody else, but she was found as a stray, so not sure on the situation going on there. She's mostly black, but she has a white mark on her chest that I think is pretty common in labs. She responded to her name and she sat for me in the busy and loud kennel area, and she smelled each of our hands and licked a few. She seems a little nervous/cautious, but they also said she was excitable, outgoing, and very friendly. She hasn't been spayed yet, but she'll be spayed before she leaves with us (if we're approved to adopt her), its their standard procedure. I wanted to wait a little bit, as I know if you wait longer there's less problems, but at 1 year she should have had atleast 1 heat, right? If not 2? So she should be fine? She may or may not be housetrained, hopefully she is, but if not...maybe you guys here can give me some help? On the housetraining thing (if it does start to be an issue), crate training (since she is young, we're considering it), food/nutrition since she's still growing, and any other problems that may come up. I know she isn't a husky, but I still consider everyone here as my family, and I don't want to leave for a Labrador retriever board. She's only a year old, so she's probably in a fear period, right? What do I do? We've never had a dog this young before, so we don't know what we should do, what things we shouldn't do. That would certainly explain why she was labelled as 'scared and nervous' at the shelter, I hope any bad experiences she's had at the shelter (if any), won't affect her for life. But anyways, we completed the application process today. There was a bit of a fiasco, they want a fully fenced in yard...but ours is 3/4 fenced in by other neighbours, and we use a 50 ft tether. But they didn't want the tether, so we're going to have to think up of hopefully inexpensive fence solutions or we might not be approved. I swear, that adoption process was like an interview, it wasn't that intensive when we got Suka from them! All in all, I'm very excited. A little guilty that we're getting another dog, but Suka has been gone for 5ish months. You have to move on at some point, right? We're never going to forget him, he was such a great dog.

Thank you, everyone. I don't know who sent the flowers to us, but we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We weren't expecting it! They're beautiful. We also got an engraved stone from one of my cousins with his name on it. So we'll be burying his ashes instead, and put the stone on top as a grave marker. Dad said he would like that better. Dad's taking it really hard (more so than me I think) - he says it hurts worse than when his parents passed away. And I just wanted to say that, if we ever get another dog (Dad says he couldn't handle going through this again), it might not be a husky. If that's the case, I hope I'm still welcome here. (I do plan to get a husky in the future, though, when I get my own place)