Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello, my fiance and I recently bought a 1yr 2mth old husky from a family that had their house burn down and we just had a few questions about some of her actions. She did have a litter of 10 pups about 10 weeks ago, the owners didn't intend for it but their male got lose while they weren't home... Could she be feeling down about that?

She is a very smart dog and from beginning new that outside was where to go potty, the previous owners had done no training. But the first 2 nights she had an accident in our living room. We've noticed she is scared or something about our bedroom and we can't get her to come in there unless we bring her by the collar or leash. We have 3 cats also, which initially hissed like hell at her but are now mostly ok unless they get cornered by accident. Last night we put her on her leash and tied her to the bed post when we went to bed (partly to confine her so she will learn bladder control) and she didn't have any problems. Is there a good way to teach her that she is safe to come into the bedroom on her own?

Secondly, every once in a while she just goes to the front door and lays there. We can only assume it's because our front door has a nice breeze b/c the seal sucks, but we keep the house at about 65. Is she just to warm or is it something else?

Last, she doesn't really know how to play or what playing is it seems. We bought her a rope, tennis ball, and some sqeaky toy but she doesn't know how to play with them and when we pick the rope up near her one of her eyes flinchs. Our first thought is she was abused somewhat, or the dominant female that bite her the morning before we got her was extra mean. I'm not sure if the owners played with her much either as they were heavy breaders. Any help here too?

Long post so long reply..

My dog, Ollie, is a rescue. First of all, get her spayed, please! 10 more puppies is 10 more euthanized dogs. I know it was not you who allowed it to happen, but just stating for teh record.

How long have you had her? 10 weeks post-litter is very recent and she has just lost all her puppies. And to push matters worse, she's now moved to a new house that she has no idea what is going on. She's very confused right now.

Accidents happen, especially in the beginning of a new change. However make sure she is never out of your eye while she is in the house, for the time being until she gets used to the house.

Why are you leashing her to the bed? Can you not just close the door to your room? That said, being tethered to the post may be giving her a negative association with the bed (Bed = confined). However if not, just a personal story to relate.

When Ollie first came here, he could not stay far away enough from me. He found the corner the furthest away from me and laid there.

He did this for about 4 weeks. After inviting him up on the bed every day, he refused each time until one day he decided to jump on the bed. He stayed for 5 minutes and jumped off. He started to sleep closer and closer to the bed, and eventually right against it.

After 4 more weeks of constantly inviting him up on the bed.. the duration he would stay on it was longer and longer (started at 5 minutes, eventually about 3 hours) Then one day at about 2 1/2 months after I got him, he would sleep the nights on my bed.

Now, I'm not saying to let her sleep on your bed, but I'm just giving a timeframe of how long it might take for your dog to get comfortable sleeping around you guys in the bedroom.

As for her going to the front door, is she getting enough exercise? Ollie only goes to the door when he wants a walk. He runs about 8 miles a day with me on a bike in addition to about a hour or two of rough horseplay.

Ollie will follow the coldest spot in the house as long as he is within earshot or sight of me.

As for playing.. Ollie doesn't play. It's VERY normal for the breed. They love to play chase, however. Some huskies may enjoy toys, but it's not too common. Teaser poles can do well. Ollie will chase tennis balls but he won't pick it up. He only chases it if I throw it on the ground, letting it roll very fast, which I guess incites his prey instinct.

One last thing... you bought your dog from a Backyard breeder. She was probably poorly taken care of and kenneled her entire life. The reason she is not trained is because they likely never let her outside her small kennel, barely feeding her enough to live, selling her puppies for hundreds of dollars irresponsibly without caring for the health of the dog. Another female is now taking her place to live in fear never knowing love or companionship for her entire life.

So give her lots of love and assume she's been abused in some way, and take her to training classes.

We've had her since sunday, and i realize stress is playing a big part with her right now and we give her love all the time. She never wants to leave our sides and if we get up she gets up to follow us around, and if we are just sitting around she's almost always got some part of her touching our feet.

I fully expected messes for a while until she understands that she needs to come get us to go out instead of just walk around in circles in the living room, which we quickly figured out and haven't had a mess while we were awake. We didn't scold her for any messes she made when we weren't around, just cleaned it up and moved on.

The leash to the bed is so she's has a limit to her space while we sleep. We could just close the door, but she would just walk to the other side of the bed and do her business. We let her up on the bed and she stayed there for a while until she got to hot.

As for walking, I've been doing 2 30min walks a day plus 15min every time i take her out to potty which is 2-3 times. Running around atm is hard but i do it during the 15mins, cold air kills me along with being out of shape b/c of crohns disease.

Soaked her toys in some peanut butter water and she at least played fetch in the house for a little bit.

She was underfed, she is about 15lb underweight just from looking at her. we've been feeding her a mix of wet and dry food to try and get her weight back up, but she doesn't seem to want to eat enough in a day. Eating a full portion in the morning and nipping at it in the afternoon.

I was also wondering if giving her a flee bath and using flee drops was a bad idea. We did it the night we got her and I didn't think anything of it after reading the bottles that had no warnings. Then I saw Hartz wasn't that good of a product to use.

Should I take her to the vet and have her checked out soon?

Thanks for the help btw

OK, reply # 1 went into cyber space never to be seen again. Try #2-

I don't like tethering independent thinkers to objects- they really hate it and it creates stress for them. Inseatd get a crate and keep it by your bed for her to sleep in at night. She's probably used to it and will be safer.

Toys- balls and throwing balls isn't really going to cut it with this breed. Even if you get some interest using the food scenting, it won't last in general. A retrieve of that ball is even less likely. Not impossible, but won't work for exercise. These guys tend to think, "If that idiot threw the ball away and it's not good enough for him, why should I care about it?"

Exercise- a husly needs to run. A few walks a day just isn't going to cut it. Is there a teenager in the area you can pay to run her for an hour at least twice a week? Can you use a bike and run her next to the bike? Then, when she's not running, you can walk her, but use a weighted backpack (slowly build up the weight). You've got to wear this dog out physically a bit more and that will help the stress.

AS for vet- YES go to th vet immediately. She needs vet perscribed flea meds (and she may be anemic due to the fleas) and she needs a plan to put weight on her slowly and healthy.
-----
Chelle and the rest of the crew including, but not limited to Kita and Taiko (the shiba inu wrestle maniacs), Adi (reserved and dignified tabby cat), and all 28 reptiles