Huskies are very beautiful animals and often owners get a Husky because of their good looks. However, to their horror owners often find out that owning a Husky is not as easy as it seemed. They have specific needs and if it does not fit in with your lifestyle, your life will be hell to the point that you just want to get rid of the animal. I know exactly what I am talking about as I am an owner of 5 such animals. My story is based on my own experience; I am not an expert or a breeder. Perhaps it can help you to relate to the breed and help you understand them better.
My story started September 2005. I was looking for a dog to replace my Boarder Collie that died of old age. I saw an advert in the newspaper that was advertising Husky pups for sale. I read up on the breed on the internet and thought I was ready to take the big step. Little did I know that the info on the internet is mainly from breeders, and although they mention that it is a difficult breed, they did not quite explain the real horror these dogs can put you through if you are uninformed. I must say they featured beautiful photos of their top breeding stock and show dogs.
Now back to the real world. We don’t all have the time and the money to get dogs trained for show day and to feed them the most expensive food on the market. I incidentally found out that many of the breeders are sponsored by companies that manufacture or import these expensive dog foods and in return for free food the breeder will advise the buyers to feed their dogs this specific brand.
Anyway, enough said about that. I bought my puppy when he was 3 weeks old and collected him from the breeder when he was 6 weeks old. He was quite a handful right from the start and got into everything and chewed everything he could find. As he grew older, he was trying to establish dominance over myself and my daughter. He would jump up on us and bite our arms and hands non stop. He was hyperactive and had no end to him. The vet showed us how to tip him over onto his back and hold him down by his chest. Apparently this is what his mother or lead dog would do to discipline him. He would yelp his head of as if he is being murdered. However it worked, but only for a short time. As he grew older and bigger it was an impossible task to tip him over on his back.
Now what? I read that these dogs are pack dogs and needed other dogs around them. Now the search for a companion started. Anything but another Husky. I dreaded the though of another monster like my Nicolai. The lady of the Husky foundation in South Africa, Cathy visited me and also advised me to get a mate for him. At one stage I was contemplating getting a Sharpei. Cathy almost feinted. How could I do that she said. These Huskies are very rough animals and they play very rough. Do I want Nicolai to pull the poor Sharpei’s skin / wrinkles right off his body?
Ok, I was convinced that my lot in life was to be tormented and I once again set out to find another Husky. It had to be a female as I didn’t see chance for fighting dogs. I did not want to pay a fortune again like I did for Nicolai and when I saw an advert in the newspaper for a female at a fraction of the cost I went for it to my own detriment. The female (I named her Nikita) was in a terrible state of health. She was never vaccinated, and had a weird smell to her. Huskies do not have an odor (dog smell) to them. I felt sorry for the dog and went through with the purchase.
I took Nikita to the vet the next day and he found her to be badly infested with worms and she was growth stunted because of poor nutrition. My Nicolai that was a month older than her was already weighing 18kg and Nikita only weighed 7kg. Enough said, I nursed her back to health. Nicolai did not make matters any better as he continuously pounced on her and carried on with his hyperactive tricks.
As she was too frail for his onslaught, I had to keep her with me at all times. It took about 6 weeks before Nicolai started getting used to her and gave her a bit of a breather. I was thrilled as now things would improve. It didn’t. Nikita was covered with Mange. This is what gave of the funny smell on her. It was the type that spreads. Nicolai also got it. He had bold patches that came out on his body and whatever the vet tried did not help. Then the vet decided to inject him weekly with some substance that is actually meant for human beings. After weeks of treatment we got it under control.
Nikita was very small for her age and the person I bought her from lied about her age because she did not care for her properly and she didn’t want us to know. Now based on her date of birth, Nikita was supposed to be 5 months old (but it was actually more like 6 or 7 months old) and yes you guessed it right – she fell pregnant. You probably wonder why I did not notice the heat. Well, my Huskies are not allowed inside as they are too destructive and being outside we did not notice until it was too late. I did not want the vet to take it away as I felt too bad to do something like that. Worse of all the mange was back and this time we controlled it by dipping them weekly in an anti mange solution.
The pups were born and there were four of them. Nikita tried her best to be a good mommy but relied strongly on me for assistance. She slept in the kitchen with the babies and I would help her to get them to latch onto the nipples and to help them get back in the basket when they fell out. I also made sure that she does not accidently lay on them. All that said, after 2 weeks I had to go out one day and when I returned one baby was laying on top of her dead. I do not know what happened, it seemed that he crawled on top of her and did not get to feed …
The pups had problems right from the start. The worm problem was a difficult one to sort out and it took many trips to the vet. Every time they would get deworming just to find that a few days later they would vomit up worms or it was noticed in their stool. The mange was back once again and the pups were looking so tatty and unattractive. The dipping had to start all over again and it is not easy to dip 5 dogs, especially the adults. Nikita and some of the pups also had chronic diarrhea and although the stools was like water they were healthy.
I had people asking to buy the pups, but being honest and upfront, I just could not sell a puppy that has problems as mine has had up to then. It cost me thousands of Rands to sort out my dogs problems. The mange problem in the pups had to be outgrown and this only happened when they were around 8 months old.
Once everything was sorted out, I have grown fond of my Husky children and there was no way I would get rid of any of them. They are very loveable and I am greeted by the window wherever they can find me. My once beautiful garden is totally destroyed. I have now fenced off a small section for myself and they have the large section. It is a total waist land with the only grassy spot being in front of my window and this is their toilet. It is amazing how they will not run across the toilet area when you call them but around it. My small area of garden I am replanting and it was necessary to have this as they used to jump up on visitors as they came through the gate.
My male puppy Zorro has grown up now to be a beautiful big boy. Although he is still a bit weary of Nicolai, he is trying to establish dominance over the pack. He is very greedy and has to eat on my side of the garden. He is very obedient when he wants to eat and will sit down and wait for his food. Then I have trained him not to take the food unless I say “NOW” and click my fingers. But boy oh boy, just let him back in with the other dogs and he eats their food as fast as he possibly can. Zorro weighs 29kg.
Nicolai is my main male and he is very attractive. He is the leader of the pack and weighs 28kg. He sits and give you paw when he wants his food.
Athena is a big female and weighs 25kg. She used to be very low in the pecking order but is working her way up now that she is a big girl. She even challenges Zorro! Athena sits down in order to get her food and hates to wait for it. She will pull the door open to see where the food is, and then she runs out and goes sit down quickly to get it.
Jasmine has one blue and one brown eye. She is smaller than Athena and like to do a Jackal pose. It so sweet the way she holds her head and look at you (just like a jackal). She weighs 22kg.
Nikita is the smallest of the dogs. Although the vet feels that she is overweight, she only weighs 20kg. She is a good doggy and I think it stems from where she originated from. She also likes bread for some reason or another and will always steal any bread that she can find.
All 3 my girls have been sterilized and are in good health. My 2 boys has not been nuted and I will only consider it if they start fighting.
I hope my story will help ordinary people to understand the problems that can materialize when owning a Husky and help you to make wise decisions in your choice of pet.
Important points:
• Huskies are pack dogs and must be around others of its own kind.
• Huskies have very sensitive stomachs and a change in food normally upsets their stomachs.
• Huskies has now immunity against the effect of ticks and fleas and need to be treated regularly
• They malt excessively before summer and needs to be brushed regularly to control the loose hairs.
• Use reliable breeders to purchase your Husky as some unscrupulous breeders are in the game just for the money and this is when you get bad bloodlines and dogs that are born with major problems. Avoid back street breeders.
• A Husky can pull three times its own body weight. When you want to train or walk them use a semi choke chain collar and a strong lead. A harness is a bad idea unless you want to go flying down the road.
• Huskies don’t like small animals like cats, birds, rats, etc and will kill them if they find them.
• Don’t expect to have much of a garden when you own Huskies as they dig up everything and like to make hollows in the ground where they sleep in.
• Because they come from cold Siberia, Huskies do not like warm days and if they are in a country like South Africa they do sleep all day long while it is hot and then come out to play at night when its cooler. This can be very frustrating as they are very vocal.
• Huskies normally howl and do not bark much. This howling can at times sound like wolfs and unless you control this, it can cause major problems with the neighbors.
• A Husky is NOT a good watchdog. They will lick an intruder to death!!
• Never leave your Husky inside your home unattended as you will have nothing left when you get back. They chew on everything!
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Contributor's Note
For the Love of Huskies
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