New Dog Owners

Weeee, after the fiasco with the first dog we wanted and his crazy foster mom we found a dog we loooove named Vlad, we brought him home yesterday!!!

Here are his pics on petfinder. He's all dirty so I haven't taken any new ones yet. Guess who gets a bath.

Unfortunately I cannot get him to stop whining whenever we crate him or put him in a room. He's in the other room now with his breakfast and a peanut butter kong and you would think we were torturing him with the noises he is making, and I don't even want to look at the back of that door. I don't know what we will do when we go to work tomorrow!!! (Any Advice would be appreciated!!)

He ate a little bit, but he's sooo skinny, I'm surprised the food isn't a bigger distraction.

try putting a blanket over the kennel and keeping the room quiet. If you can, dont watch tv or make noise in the room you want him quiet in. Also, if you jsut got him yesterday, he is prob scared, being in a new home, new ppl, and such. you want to give him LOTS of love and attention, so he gets used to you. He is BEAUTIFUL!!!

First off, thank you for choosing rescue. I can not say enough about peeps who adopt. Luv you.

The crate training will be tough at first. They will adjust though. When ever I foster kittens. ( not a good comparison. ) however I think that the people who adopted them must thank me because I don't cave. When the kittens cried in their crate at night ( they were 6 weeks ) they would meow and meow. I would not give in. Eventually they knew when nappy time was.

It will work out, I promise. It just takes time and love.

However I do want to mention what a beautiful dog you got! My goodness aren't we a looker!

Good luck. I hope the transition goes well.

So, his foster mom said he was OK with crating, "just give him some cream cheese in a kong." I swear to you he whined when I left him in other room with his breakfast, I was taking a shower, he cried the whole time and banged on the door. I thought there was no way he was going to quite down long enough for me to get out the door without feeling like an evil maniac.

So I'm getting my breakfast, and I make him a cream cheesy kong with some liver treats, and I put it up on a high shelf. I turn my back, and BAM, he's pulling it down off the shelf (along with other stuff). Learned that lesson the hard way.

So I put him in the crate with his kong, he curls up, and doesn't even notice when I lock him in and head out the door. I'm going to have to look up the health effects of cream cheese on dogs.

My, what an amazing husky you have there...love his name too, Vlad! What a beautiful boy!!!

As far as the whining in the crate, and the fussing, and carrying on, it's completely normal. You kind of want to make the crate seem like his idea, however. Initially, work on having him go into it with the door open...perhaps say, "Crate, Vlad!" in a happy upbeat tone, and toss some enticing treats in there. Don't shut the door. Praise him to the heavens when he finally enters. Keep doing this over and over. Eventually, work on shutting the door for about a minute. Then, come back, and treat him. Let him out, and do it again, but for 5 minutes. Come back, treat him, praise him, cuddle him. Gradually try to increase his time in there...and give him something stimulating or rewarding to do while he's in there, like the Kong, a nice chewy toy, you can even give him meals in there...always keep it positive.

A big boy like this is going to have to take strong leadership on your part, as it would with any breed. He needs to know you're the boss. Always focus on POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT for appropriate good behavior, and be consistent and strong in deterring negative behaviors. Patience, patience, patience, as it will all take time. Also, give him plenty of exercise and mental stimulation. Take him on walks or jogs, take him to the park, etc. As far as his appetite, don't worry if he's not eating well the first few days...he's just settling in, and there's probably too much going on for him to want to eat at his normal rate. What kind of food is Vlad on at the moment? I highly recommend Canidae, as the price is right, and it's a FABULOUS food!

He didn't stay in his crate for long by the looks of things when I got home. He popped the top right off of it, and every peice of trash that could be found was strewn about, glasses were broken, the stove was on, the carpet by the back door was dug up and there are paw prints all over the back door. We clearly had a long and separation anxiety filled romp through the house. The neighbors said he'd been howling all day.

I'm glad the cats haven't decided to really hold it against him and are willing to be in the same room with him still as long as he is calm. (I was so worried when they didn't come out when I first got home, but, I woudln't have come out either.)

I feel so bad that he was so upset, we were really lucky though, that could have gone horribly horribly bad so easily. I reinforced his crate so he can't escape it anymore. I guess we're gonna have to slowly desensitize him to us leaving, I found a couple articles online about leaving for just a few minutes and the coming back and slowly increasing the time you are gone, we'll see how it goes. Until he can deal with it my sister will be staying with him or he'll go to doggy day care. I hope as he gets more settled in our routine and stuff he'll feel more secure with us and become more independant.

I suspect alot of his behavior is because he is in a new place and doea not know the routine. I don't know much about the specifics of Huskies and their temperament, but the crate is going to be an invaluable tool for you. It made housebreaking my Tal ( I got him as a puppy at 7 weeks) so much easier.

I think you're wise to wean him to be by himself for several hours. You don't know what he had at his former home.

This is all new to him and he is probably a little scared and confused. He is also happy to be in a place where he is loved too!

He sounds like a really kind natured fellow and is definitely a handsome guy!

Yes bless you for rescuing this boy.

I second what wookie said-crate training is not as easy as some people and web sites make it sound. And it usually takes several days for them to settle in and get over the newness of everything. I think one important thing is to maintain a routine. Dogs love routine and hate change.

I think you are right on the money about Vlad having a separation anxiety problem. It sounds like you have been reading up on it so I will not go into detail. Rescues are different in many ways from puppies, they alwasy come with some kind of baggage. But it is very very rewarding to see them develop trust and come out of their shell.