This past week has been quite eventful in our household.
Shedding Fur and the Ice Scraper
We are now experiencing first hand the start of a Husky shedding it’s coat for the first time, what joy! Both Kai and Shadow appear to be shedding at the same time, Kai moreso, whilst Mya’s coat remains intact.
Whilst we now seem to have fur everywhere around the house and in every orifice, picking fur from Kai and Shadow is proving to be quite therapeutic and fun. Kai was initially a little concerned with us picking/raking at his fur but is now enjoying it, Shadow on the other hand is happy to sit and let you get on with it. I must remember to post some photos/videos of this experience!
Hoovering up fur from the carpet pile in the lounge is a challenge at the best of times, but now the dogs are shedding their coats the carpet fast becomes a husky rug if left unattended for more than a day or so ! Our Dyson struggles and only picks up so much leaving a lot behind, prompting us to come up with alternatives. An unlikely tool which has proved to be very successful in removing fur from the thick pile is a trusty friend from the car, the ice scraper (pictured above), yes… the ice scraper. With some vigorous scraping, the carpet is restored back to is original state… well almost. It also proves to be a good workout, so if you need to lose a few pounds, get scraping! Mentioning this to our Husky owner friends, one of them (Ian) suggested another alternative, “put your clean trainers on and drag you feet across the carpet this also works a treat ( i use the michael jackson moonwalk technique)“, which sounds like more fun, so with the iPod blasting out ‘Billie Jean’ we shall try this next.
Yes to a new Husky puppy, now what shall we call it?
I mentioned in my last post that we were looking at adding yet another Siberian Husky to our pack, well this has moved on a bit. After browsing/researching breeders in the south of England, we contacted a breeder in Weymouth. As it happens they had just had a successful mating between two of their own Huskies and the puppies are due in mid-Feb thus available for homing in April. This is a little earlier than we anticipated but what the hell! Hopefully there will be some beautiful grey/white, silver/white coated pups to choose from. We had also been deliberating over whether to get a male or female and after asking other, more experienced husky owners, the general consensus was that because our boys had been neutered and Mya is due to be spayed, then it shouldn’t really matter what gender our next puppy is, so for the time being we have decided to get another female.
With the gender of our next puppy decided, it was on to choosing a name… always a difficult one, but a fun time as you run through every name imaginable with the help of a ‘Husky names’ search in Google. We did, after many hours, come up with a name that we all liked, ‘Lyla’, which later expanded to Delilah (why why why…).
So gender and name decided, now to save up the £650 needed to buy Delilah!
The Cat
Until recently our cat (Rayne) had chosen to live in solitary confinement, that is the upstairs beyond the boundaries of where the dogs are allowed to go during the day, however, now that they are sleeping upstairs in our bedroom, Rayne has taken it upon herself, slowly but surely, to venture downstairs once again and depending how excitable the dogs are, she is able to do this with relative freedom.
I am pleased to say the dogs are inquisitive around Rayne rather than preying on her although we do keep a keen on eye on the situation out of pure common sense. Rayne does plenty of hissing and swiping when they invade her space, which keeps them in their place, but as each day goes by, this seems to be happening less and less. Kai gets closest to Rayne, ignoring her hissing and is now able to sleep very near to her on the pile of cushions next to my desk, with Mya and Shadow (who howls/talks to her, which she doesn’t care much for) still uncertain.
I have owned a sibe for going on 6 years and have learned tons of ticks along the way. I have a suggestion for the shedding as coat blowing season can be insane. Buy a furminator it is the best $50 you’ll ever spend. You think you get large chunks when you pick wait until you use this thing! The rake has nothing on it!
Also, take a look at what you are feeding your dogs. I am happy to give you tons of valuable information about dog nutrition and help reduce the amount of shedding in your home. Please feel free to email me anytime.
I’d also like to stress that you should create a “job” for your sibe. They are VERY smart, too smart for their own good sometimes. They were bred to work and think on their own so that is something you have to continue in order for them to truly be happy dogs. My Siberian is a therapy dog, he loves the attention and putting his vest on to go work. The training was difficult at times but paid of in the end because I have a well behaved, respectful Siberian Husky.
Good luck. It’s not easy, and you may want to kill them at times, but it is worth every torn up couch, remote, or toy that they love you.
Hi Suzanne,
Nice to hear from you. We picked up a furminator subsitute – a Mikki Moult Master – just couldn’t quite bring ourselves to fork out for the Furminator…although it’s had a lot of great reviews!
We’ve been round the houses somewhat with the food, we’ve finally settled with Fish4Dogs. They love it, it’s got very natural ingredients in it (60% fish and 30% potato I think). We had a behaviourist come round to help out with Kai and he pointed out that the treats we were giving them had a lot of unnatural additives in them – so they went and we mostly bake Sardine cake (I really didn’t like the smell of liver cake lol) and give them dried fish skins.
On our quest to find a good food I was very shocked at what most of the well-known brands had in it – a lot of stuff which I couldn’t even pronounce!
I was very interested to read that your Sibe is a therapy dog, I think that’s fantastic! Is that Onyx?
We intend to start hooking them up to a scooter this year and would hope to have them out frequently recreationally. It would be nice to get them in to some competitions running with a rig at some point in the future – but that’s a long way ahead yet lol! We’ve also been looking at Cani-X.
Even though they can be a pain in the ar*e they only need to give some husky-hugs and all is forgotten – really don’t think I could be without them now
That is great that you are feeding them such a high quality food. It is just amazing all the crap that is in commercial dog foods these days. Not to mention the commercials they play on TV make it seem like your giving your dog the best they can eat. Beneful commercials make me cringe. I try an do as much of a raw diet as I can with a good dog food in the mix. They get a lot of meaty bones and raw pork, beef, and chicken. Depending what is on sale at my local grocery store. I follow the Prey Model diet. Great reading information on the web.
Yes Onyx is a CGC therapy dog working on his TDI certification. He loves his “job” when I put his vest on and we go to a assisted living center and just walk around and say hi. It makes him happy to see all the people who want to give him love and it makes me happy to see people just light up when they see his beautiful blue eyes and smiling face.
I started training with him as soon as I got him and really have never stopped. We took training classes and then I just continue to test and reinforce the behaviors. I did have to use a shock collar to train him to listen off leash. Worked like a charm! He is so smart that I only had to shock him a couple times, then just having the collar on and the remote in my hand was deterrent enough for him to instantly come when called. I eventually just omitted the collar and carried the remote around. Now I don’t need to use either. I do however put it on him when I know we will be going into abnormal situations such as hiking off leash. The shock collar isn’t for everyone but if used correctly then it is a very effective tool when dealing with the stubborn Siberian Husky runner.
Bikjorring is great! I love doing it around the neighborhood and also with a husky group we are a part of here in the greater Boston area. We meet up and go hiking and even sledding during the snowy months. Check out Boston Snow Dogs on Meetup.com and maybe you can find a meetup in your area or create one.
Us husky lovers gotta stick together.
My life wouldn’t be the same without my Onyx and I know that I will always own a Siberian Husky. There is just something about them that I just love.
thank god for your blog… looking at your photos i realized i’m not the only one with holes in the back yard and a covered in mud dog… it’s so hard to get some advice because nobody will tell you about that
” nightmare side ” of the breed. at the moment we’re quite desperate… we have a 7 months old husky, she’s great…. sometimes….she refuses to eat what the vet recommended but she’s mad for digestive biscuits, which are not always good for her tummy. anyway… my biggest question at the moment … is she ever gonna stay for a cuddle or show… just a bit of affection…?!! she’s only responding at treats at the moment… she will be all over you, the moment you have something eatable in you hand, but will run away, the moment you want to touch her, in a playful way, but still running away…i know she’s young, and probably things are gonna change, in a while. it’s not my first dog… but sure feels like that, and… at the moment she’s training us, not the other way around. but… if i should get a puppy again, i’d still pick her….
Hello Olga,
Sounds like you have a typical Husky on your hands! I wouldn’t call it a nightmare
From our experience…..
Regarding the eating – don’t worry, this is normal. We find ours won’t always eat what’s been put down for them and this can sometimes be for a few days, so don’t worry. If she is lively enough and her ‘usual’ self don’t worry too much, just make sure she is having a wee and a poop ok as well. Huskies have a knack of conserving energy and resources and don’t tend to over feed themselves, well a lot of time! One of ours will probably eat anything it’s given whilst the others will often walk away from their bowls would food left in them.
If she is not eating her normal food, then don’t give her any treats until she starts eating her food again. We only feed ours kibble (dog biscuits) we don’t give them ‘humanised’ food. The brand we get is ‘Fish4 Complete for Working Dogs’ and they love it and their coats are definitely better for it . We went through numerous different brands and did a lot of research on the content of the food. We often found that the ‘cheaper’ foods her less ‘real’ food in them which had potential to make them hyper! Fish4 Complete is 70% fish plus potato and we food our youngest the puppy version of that. We also sprinkle some Fish4 Salmon Oil on their kibble as well which is a nice treat for them
We don’t generally give them to many treats, only at puppy phase do we use treats a lot to get them trained in some basic commands, then we stop. Nowadays, it’s only when we take them to the dog park do they get treats (small cubes of mild cheddar cheese, which they seem to love more than chicken/beef treats!) which they only get when to come to our calls.
Personally I would cut out the digestive biscuits etc and only feed them proper good dog biscuits or raw/wet food for dogs.
Regarding affection etc – Until recently we found our females to be quite aloof and will happily go off into a corner on their own and will come back to the room to check we are still there and go back to their corner haha! Apparently this is a trait of female huskies?! The boys always up on the sofa with us and all cosy. However, in recent weeks both of the females are not getting more affectionate!
How much do you exercise your puppy? The cause of over-excitement particularly in puppies is down to lack of exercise or stimulation which is the bit that owners can find challenging. A tired husky is a happy husky. You may find that if you tire her out she will be more likely to be cosy and affectionate with you.
Our youngest Delilah who is 7 months old is a real livewire and she pushes all our buttons! We might as well call her ‘No!’ as that is what we are saying to her a lot of the time. That said, if you call her she does come to you, better than the others! They all have their individual characteristics which you need to embrace whilst maintaining control over them ensuring that they give you respect.
Regarding her running away, I would suggest not moving towards her or chasing her (if that;s what you do), let her come to you, in her own time. I can’t say ours have ever done that. We used treats to teach them to sit, lie down, wait, shake hands, hi-five’s and sometimes (but not always successful) a rollover. However, if they get a ball then they won’t give it back until we entice them with something else haha.. gotta love ‘em.
Patience is a virtue and huskies will test it to the limit, sometimes it’s easy to just let them get away with things but then you are making a rod for your own back.
Try this website for some simple tips and advice (we subscribe to the ‘inner circle’) which has given us some useful pointers. http://www.amazingdogtrainingman.com/
You will get many people say many different things. Huskies are definitely a little different to other, more ‘obedient’ breeds of dog and get a bad wrap, however we have found them to be wonderfully good natured animals and good fun whilst been amazingly frustrating as well… mind you that is part of the attraction!
Cheers
Neil