I just got another Siberian Husky puppy (Lara) about 10 days ago and am going through a puppy training refresher course. Indeed, it is easy to forget how much work a new puppy truly is.
Therefore, I have decided to write this article of the first 10 puppy days while it is still fresh in my mind. The next time I even think of getting a puppy, I can re-read this article and hopefully remember what a big pain in the ass a new puppy is! 😀
Days 1 & 2 – Nights from Hell
The first few days were not too bad. We mainly focused on introducing puppy to our other two dogs and making sure that our existing dogs saw puppy as a positive thing.
We also started on puppy potty training but puppy seemed to have that under good control. We did not have any mistakes – it was amazing!
However, puppy did cry at night. This is not surprising since it is the first time she is sleeping in a new location and without her litter mates. Puppy was feeling lonely, sad, and scared. The first couple of nights I had to wake up about 4 times. 2 times to take puppy out for potty, and another 2 times just to cuddle with puppy.
As a result I did not get much, if any sleep. Be prepared to get very little sleep in the first few weeks with a new puppy.
Days 3 & 4 – Puppy Potty Training Hell
The first few good potty training days lulled me into a false sense of security. On day 3 puppy made lots of mistakes all over the place.
I was around to supervise puppy the whole time, but I thought it would be ok to take short bathroom breaks while puppy was sleeping – WRONG!
I found out the hard way that constant supervision is absolutely necessary for potty training in order to prevent potty mistakes.
When I need to go to the bathroom or perform some other task, I now always put puppy in her play-pen or enclosure. There is a blanket, some toys, and puppy pads in the enclosure. This makes things a lot better because puppy either does her potty outside or on her puppy pads. I reward her for going outside, but I don’t reward her for going on her puppy pads.
I take puppy outside –
- As soon as puppy wakes up.
- After puppy feeding time.
- After play or any other heavy activity.
- Whenever it looks like she is about to potty, e.g. circling, pulling to go to corners, etc. Each puppy will have their own potty signs, so observe carefully to identify our puppy’s pre-potty behaviors.
If puppy tries to go inside the house, I am right there next to her so that I can non-mark her (Ack-Ack), interrupt her, and leave her in her enclosure to finish up. This allows me to quickly go back and clean up the mess while she is in her enclosure.
Constant vigilance and a fixed eating and drinking schedule are crucial in puppy potty training.
Day 5 – Puppy and Furniture Hell
On day 5 I nearly had a heart attack.
Puppy was sleeping nicely with me on the couch, when I started getting really hungry. The kitchen is in the next room, so I quickly stepped away to get a loaf of bread from the refrigerator – WRONG!
As soon as I got the bread, I hear this loud cry. I threw the bread on the kitchen counter and ran back to a crying puppy on the floor. She was holding one of her front legs up in pain.
Bad, bad ShibaShake!
Luckily, puppy was ok and was moving around without any sign of a limp within the next few minutes. Whew.
From then on, I am always with puppy. If I cannot be with puppy even for 1 second, she goes into her puppy enclosure.
Days 6 to 9 – Energizer Puppy Hell
At this point, puppy is a lot more comfortable with her new surroundings and is always up to something. It is tiring as hell to try and keep up with a hyper puppy.
In the beginning, I figured that my other two dogs can take up some of the slack. I was hoping that they would all play, have a lot of chasing and running goodness, and at the end of the day I would end up with 2 tired dogs and 1 tired puppy.
Indeed it worked out well at first. I supervised all play sessions and both my dogs played well with puppy. I stepped in as soon as things got too excited, and the dogs started getting too rough with puppy.
Things were looking up because puppy not only tired out Shiba Sephy, but she also conked out Husky Shania who is a big time Energizer Bunny herself. All I needed to do was stand around and step in at the appropriate times.
WRONG!
On day 9, Shiba Sephy ran over puppy before I could get to them and stop play. Puppy started crying, and was limping for the rest of the day.
Day 10 – Puppy in Vet Hell
On day 10, puppy was still limping so we took her to the vet.
It was fun, fun, fun – with temperature taking and various poking and prodding of body parts. Then, the vet had to put puppy’s leg through a series of pretty heavy handling.
Puppy was not happy.
$343 later, we had a conked out and unhappy puppy, with a sprained rear leg.
Thank goodness it wasn’t anything more serious, but no more off-leash play until puppy gets bigger.
To close, I feel it is only fair to say that there are also many reasons to get a puppy. But … they require a lot of time, supervision, and energy to care for especially in the first few months.
Update
Day 12 – Puppy slept through the whole night without waking up. Hopefully there will be more such nights in the future.
Day 14 – Puppy’s limp is all gone. She now has free and good use of her rear leg. YAY!
I just got a 7week old BEAUTIFUL siberian husky puppy sunday. I am having a few problems that i need help with. Hes great about using the bathroom outside but when i get off work everday hes pooed EVERYWHERE! Im worried him being alone all day is going to force us to have to get rid of him. I want what is in his best interest but ive been told huskys are fine being in a kennel for the day. I just moved to a rural new area 2 months ago and have noone to take him out during the day. I also work an hour away. He also whines allllllllll night..literally, he does not sleep and whines so much that he lost his voice for an entire day. Im absolutly in love with this puppy but i really need some advice on what to do. For anyone who has answers i would appreciate it so very much. Thank you!!!
Where is the puppy during work hours? Puppies do not know where to do their business initially, so some potty training will be necessary. Potty training will require a fair amount of time and supervision.
Dogs are pack animals and need/want to be with their family. This is especially true for a younger dog, and even more true of a Siberian Husky. Sibes are an affectionate breed and like interacting with people. Both my Sibes are happiest when they get to enjoy the company of people, preferably together with exploring the great outdoors, combined with special stops for hunting and digging.
A puppy needs to be potty trained, obedience trained, and needs structured positive activities with human supervision. The Siberian Husky is a very high energy, independent breed and will need more structured exercise, more training, and more supervision than most other breeds. A Husky puppy needs supervised time to get used to his new environment, to learn house rules, and bond with his new family.
How much exercise does he get daily? Where does he spend the night – inside or outside? Near to his people or by himself? The continuous whining and pooping everywhere could also be signs of separation anxiety. Dogs may also get stressed from uncertainty and large changes in their environment.
My Huskies needed a fair amount of supervision and training when they were young. Now that they are older, and know house rules, they require less management. However, I make sure to walk them for about 1.5 hours every day, we continue to do obedience training, we play in the backyard, and they also have vigorous wrestling sessions (supervised) with each other in the mornings and evenings.
A Siberian Husky requires more people time because of their high energy and their people loving nature.
Hi I have a 14 week old female husky mya she is brilliant I also have a 2 yr old husky. .. ive noticed that when the pup aits she doesn’t fully straighten he front right paw and bends it slightly she isnta limping and walks/ runs fine with no limping at all and she hasnt hurt it either just wondering what this could be it doesn’t bother but its worrying me and my partner has any one gor any ideas? ? Thanks
It is probably best to have a vet look at it. I wouldn’t take any chances with leg joints and movement.
Could be impa (immune mediated poly arthritis). My puppy got this plus a host of other immune diseases from 8mos to 1.5 yo. In her case it proved to be fatal. I don’t want to scare you, but if it persists, you may want to ask your vet. I sought out a neurologist and it developed into meningitis. I believe the root cause tho was from her puppy vaccines cuz she was healthy when i got her. My neurologist is so busy seeing patients with these problems that he books out months. I feel its reached epidemic proportions. I hope your doggy can surpass this, or its just something else more simpler. Im still reeling over this and our powerful pharmaceutical industry which is waay bigger than i’ve ever imagined.
Good luck…….
I just found a 6 to 7 week old puppy and I have a 8 month old corgi mix how can I get my older dog to start warming up to him and playing with him or even being around him without trying to bite him and they both are boys and this is new to me my first dog was a girl he (the corgi)liked her soon as the meet but we shower them both love I just don’t know what to do
Here are some things that helped when introducing my new Sibe puppy, Lara, to my other two dogs-
1. I established clear dog-to-dog interaction rules. Then I slowly teach those rules to Lara. In this way, she knows what to expect from my other dogs and vice versa.
2. I establish a fixed routine and consistent house rules. In this way, Lara knows when play time is and more importantly, when it is time to rest.
3. I make sure that Lara does not disturb my other dogs when they want to rest. A puppy is usually very energetic and will want to play all of the time. This is not the case with my older dogs.
4. I make sure to create positive experiences between Lara and my other dogs. In this way, they will see her as an enhancement to their lifestyle. Similarly, I supervise and carefully manage them so there are no negative experiences.
5. I supervise play sessions and throw in many breaks. This allows me to manage their excitement level, so that “play” doesn’t become too intense and turn into something else.
Here is more on what I did while introducing a new puppy to my existing dogs.
Thank you they have warmed up to each other more everyday so as of the 21 this will be day five and of us having him and Riley (my corgie) act like that’s his son sometimes he is still a little uneasy on the new puppy being on the bed with him because that’s where he sleep but its getting better everyday less fights and more playing so thanks a lot
That is great to hear! I am so glad that the two dogs are getting along so well.
Big hugs to your furry gang and lots of Kudos to you for turning things around so quickly. Lucky dogs!
TIRED! I’m too old to be a 10 week old Aussie mom. What am I doing? Lost my Britt, 6 on Nov. 23…so it was now or never since I have a 9 yr. old Brittany and 2 yr old Siamese. We are all acclimated…sleep through the night (together) but puppy keeps me alert! So sleepy. Me. He is asleep right now. There is a dog God. Spent the afternoon building a fortress(es) around a room so he doesn’t shred anymore cords. He has a dozen of toys other puppies would love but he’s a bundle of energy! — Tired and Infatuated
Yeah the first couple of weeks are the worst. Still, puppy cuddles are very awesome. 😀
How is the little-one doing? Have you chosen a name?
Hope you have managed to catch up on some Zzzz’s and big hugs to the little one!
I got a puppy today, and i’m so exited! Hazel has had a couple accidents. She hates walking to the backyard! She’s a german shepard/lab mix, and very laid back, though it might just be because shes tired. Hazel is currently conked out on the rug – it was a long day for her, as nothing came with her, and we spent nearly an hour and a half in petsmart.
Congratulations on your new puppy!
Big hugs to Hazel!
Hello.
I have a puppy I had her for about a week now she 8 weeks old, she loves me and my boyfriend but the landlord wont let us keep her anymore, not because she loud and barks or is staining the rugs, we actually have no clue why, but I need advice she is gunna have to stay at my parents house for now until we find a new place will she love us the same since she wont be sleeping with us yet another person for months? I mean we will have her all day when we arent working just at night we wont have her at night anymore breaks my heart but it will hurt more if she dont love us the same way. Im so worried.
Hello Stephanie,
Sorry to hear about the landlord’s decision. I think dogs bond with all the people who spend time positively interacting with them.
It sounds like you will still get to spend a lot of time with puppy, and it is great that the puppy gets to spend time with your parents as well. This just means there are more people for puppy to play with, more people for puppy to love, and more fun things for puppy to do.
This is a bit more on what I learned from my dogs about bonding.
http://shibashake.com/dog/build-a-strong-bond-with-your-dog
Big hugs to puppy!
Thank you so much for that article made me feel so good, cause I already do half of it! 🙂
makes me feel like im a good pet owner, and my puppy gets to see her mom and dad almost every week and they play, The only thing that worries me is if she wont obey me. cause she don’t see me as the pack leader.
I am glad you enjoyed the article. 😀
In terms of pack leadership, what works well with my dogs is resource management training. Essentially, I teach them that the best way to get what they want, is to do something simple for me first. This is also known as Nothing in Life is Free or NILIF.
Thank you so much 🙂 help me alot she doing very well, with listen to me and my boyfriend and we took her for her first walk at the doggy park she did awesome 🙂 thank you.
YAY! Glad it is working out so well. Big hugs to puppy!
So I just got a siberian husky pup who’s ten weeks, because my girlfriend’s mother used to breed them. So I have been trying to do as much research as I could on the breed because I have never owned one. After having my pup for the last week I thought he was extremely stubborn, but after reading the other comments below I realize that he is actually a very good puppy. the only problems I have noticed is that he has a slight problem paying attention to his name, he is stubborn at times, pulls on his leash, but does good when I do a fast paced walk, but the biggest is that he has many accidents in the house. I take him out many times after he eats, plays, or wakes up, but he seems to wait until he comes back inside before he goes which is anoying. Still compared to all the other stories I have read he is very good and learning very well.
my lab pit mix does the same thing however i have found that if you get a little piece of poo and leave it in the area where you want him to go this will help. I take my puppy out about every 1.5 to 2 hours whether she is awake, asleep, eating, whatever. I make sure and take her out once before bed for about 20-30 minutes just to make sure. you can always out wait your puppy because their bladders are small and they lack the ability to hold it for very long.
Hi Shibashake,
I just wanted to thank you for all the articles you’ve written thus far, you’ve helped me a lot in avoiding the myths my friends tried to teach me, such as taking dog and shove his nose in his poop, etc…
What I wanted to ask was, I went with your advice on the schedule, and everything worked out brilliantly yesterday. The fact that Enzo is a Shiba Inu helps a lot, as he doesn’t like to poop or pee where he sleeps or plays.
Today things are good so far, but I did the silly mistake of walking up in a bit of a panic, and took him to pee straight away, forgot to give him his breakfast, now he took it AFTER coming back home.
He doesn’t seem to be in the need to poop, so I’ll wait 2 or 3 hours before taking him outside again, but if I do this mistake again, would it be costly? Or should I always feed him before taking him outside? How quickly to puppies and dogs digest anyways?
Thanks for your time Shibashake! Will be waiting for more articles like these.
Eldin
I usually feed Sephy before taking him out in the mornings.
I don’t think missing now and then should be a problem. Occasional small and slight changes to his routine, does not really bother Sephy.
What I have read is that it can take up to 24 hours or more to go through the entire digestive system. There will be variability depending on type of food, intestinal pH, etc. According to Wikipedia, food stays about 4-6 hours in the dog’s stomach.
Shiba Shake! I’m getting desperate. We just got a new Siberian Husky puppy who is 10 weeks old. It happened quickly (for me, my husband had been thinking about it) and I continually question the wisdom of such a move (although he seems firm on it being a good idea.) For a short while, maybe about a day or so, I found the Dog Whisperer and thought all my problems would be answered and I could have… well, maybe not a perfect dog, but a dog who would hopefully not chew on the stuff she wasn’t supposed to chew and not dig where she wasn’t supposed to dig. I’m still reconciling myself to the shedding and the pulling and the rest of it. And that’s when she finally grows up.
And then I discovered that Cesar’s training might not be right for my puppy (in just the two days, I think I’ve discovered that the discipline bit made her more likely to bite and the simple redirect… while she wasn’t fooled… seems to send a better message to her) and that his training way is supposed to be done by professionals and isn’t always advisable… leaving me at my wit’s end again.
And it’s not that she’s bad. We’re still in the first 10 days of hell and this is my first dog and my first puppy and my first husky (I know I know, bad idea). Her name is Luna, like I said 10 weeks, I believe she’s medium level energy, and she’s 18 pounds.
So now that I’ve totally confused myself on how to train a dog because there are so many conflicting resources, I really want to know, what should I do?
On walks, she pulls forward or pulls back. We currently have a harness that we leave on her during the day and the leash attaches at the back. I knew she was going to be active and wanted to run with her eventually, so I thought that would be a good position for running. Bad idea? I noticed you said you take the harness off when at home and use a collar. We are obviously still trying to house train her, so would the harness only be used for walks? I’ll need something easy to access to take her out to the backyard as it is currently not completely fenced in. The harness is also a little big for her. She can slip out if we pull the wrong way and she can get to it to chew on it… we were hoping she’d grow in pretty fast as she was already so big at 10 weeks.
Also, she has her “demon dog” phases. After a nap or even after a walk, she’ll sometimes have so much energy that in taking her back from her potty break, she’ll be jumping and grabbing the leash and nipping my clothes and sometimes growling. When I get her back inside, she’ll tear through the house, chewing on the carpet, her harness, my clothes, my hand, whatever is the closest. I keep trying to redirect her to one of her chew toys, but that never lasts for long and I mostly end up freaking out about this terror puppy until she finally calms down and sleeps. What the heck do I do? I don’t really like the uncontrollable energy as it often seems to lead to inappropriate behavior (chewing on the wrong things, nipping) and I really really don’t like the nipping. I want her to grow up to be a very well behaved dog that won’t bite anyone. Scolding makes her want to bite back more. People say the energy bursts is a puppy thing, and I’ll deal with it then, but I want to be able to eliminate the more destructive and dangerous aspects. Also, what really works for this? I’ve heard to ignore them when they’re jumping and nipping, but that only focuses on the behavior directed toward me… and doesn’t always save my clothes. I tried to redirect just now back to a chew toy and she just came out of nowhere (after I had turned away) and bit my hand. Call for attention? What should I do? I really don’t like getting bitten and really want to discourage it.
We have a crate which will be plenty big enough for her as an adult (I’m afraid it’s actually too big) and no dividers, although she’s had only one accident (and that was kind of our fault, we had to leave for a period longer than she probably could take too soon after we got her). She’s actually doing decent with it. We still have to use treats to get her to walk in on her own and she’ll whine for a short bit, and we still try to wake up and take her out when we hear her up at night… just cause everything says to take puppies out when they wake up. Then we’ll bring her back in and put her back into the crate. We can sleep decently like this.
As far as house training, she keeps having accidents. Some I think are excited ones because we’ll have just recently taken her out and she’ll be hyper hyper and then squatting before we even see it. I thought it was “after” play I was supposed to take her out, but this happens in the middle. She only pees on the carpet, usually the one in the study. She actually just pooped in front of the back door which I find really weird and annoying. She hasn’t pooped all day even though I keep taking her out and I just took her out about fifteen minutes ago and now she decides to poop.
As far as play time… how do I play with her? It’s winter and the back yard isn’t fenced. She has no interest in fetching the ball we throw and I’m not sure if she is actually enjoying tug-of-war and seems to move from that to nipping pretty easy. Am I allowed to let her win it? Hide the treats in the toy thing? If we aren’t walking outside, she seems perfectly content to sit down and chew on whatever she’s found, but I don’t think that’s really playing. I don’t like playing with her at home because she’s usually only interested when she’s hyper and moves to biting. It seems obvious she doesn’t respect me at all, and pays better attention to my husband without biting him as much.
You say to sometimes reward with toys and discipline by taking them away… but a certain amount of toys always needs to be out, right? Like a chew toy to redirect her toward?
And one question I keep asking… this method sounds like a lot of work… and having a puppy is already a lot of work… will I ever be able to do anything else with my life? Or am I stuck puppysitting until I’m stuck dogsitting until whatever her lifespan is? Can they finally be taught not to chew on stuff they aren’t supposed to chew on if unsupervised? I’m not expecting it in the early months or until at least after teething, and I’d probably still use the kennel if I left, but at this point I’d just like to be able to turn my back or use my computer for a little bit without having to worry.
I don’t think I’m prepared for all this, but I already have the puppy, so I need to get prepared.
I currently suck at the calm-assertive thing. I just get so frustrated.
Yeah, I also had a difficult time with Sephy in the beginning. It was the worst in the beginning, because I didn’t really know what was the best way to respond to Sephy when he started acting crazy – which seemed like almost all of the time. I didn’t have time to eat, didn’t sleep well, and was under a lot of stress. My neighbors, people at the vet, vet techs, Sephy’s breeder, and various friends gave me all kinds of conflicting advice. It was not good.
Several things helped –
1. I started doing a lot of reading on dog behavior and dog training.
Most dog training and behavior modification techniques are based on conditioning. There is classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Here is my understanding of how dogs learn. Here is a brief description of operant conditioning.
Within operant conditioning, there are reward based techniques and aversive based techniques (this is where most disagreements arise). In addition, timing, energy, execution, and surrounding context are also very important in dog training. These things can be difficult to get exactly right without someone to show us in real-time.
Where I got my information-
a) I read books by behavioral psychologists, especially studies related to dog and animal behavior.
b) There is also useful information on the various SPCA and Humane Society sites.
c) I got a lot of useful information from other Shiba Inu owners who have faced similar issues with their dogs.
Here is a bit more on how I trained my Husky puppies.
2. Start with small steps.
If I considered everything at once, it was easy to get overwhelmed. Therefore, I just focused on two or three of the most important issues. I researched all of them, and came up with a detailed plan on how to respond to each.
If Sephy does A, I would do A1; if Sephy then responds with B, I would do B1, etc.
Once I had a good multi-step plan, I was able to focus on it when Sephy starts with his craziness. This helps to keep me more calm and more in control.
3. I set up a fixed schedule and followed the NILIF program.
NILIF stands for Nothing in Life is Free. Is is a nice framework for motivating my dogs to follow house rules and to teach them that they get what they want most, by doing work for me. Here is more on how I practice NILIF with my dogs.
Re Walking & pulling –
http://shibashake.com/dog/leash-training-your-dog
Re Biting –
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-biting-how-to-stop-puppy-biting#timeout
I have a bunch of lower priority toys out that my dogs play with whenever they want. However, I have rules about toy play, and one of them is that they don’t steal from each other. I only leave them very safe chew toys. Soft toys I only use under supervision.
Also, when I give or reward my dog with food or a toy, it is his to do with as he chooses, for as long as he wants. It general, it is not a good idea to take food or items that are given as rewards back – especially by force. This will teach our dogs to protect his stuff because when we come near, we may take it away. This leads to food and resource aggression.
When my dog misbehaves, I may take away a privilege that he enjoys, e.g. affection from people, access to the backyard. I may also withhold rewards that he has failed to earn. When he is done playing with a toy, I may store it away. However, I do not take back previously given items by force.
Heh, yeah, it kindda felt like that with Sephy in the beginning, but it got better. I started learning a lot more about dog behavior and dog body language, I started to see where Sephy was coming from, and I began to understand why he does what he does.
Having a plan helped me stay calm, and being calm helped Sephy to calm down as well.
Small steps – learn a bit more every day – come up with new plans as necessary – stay calm – and it got better for the both of us.
Hey, I really want a dog, and I KNOW my mom isn’t kidding when she says how much work they are. I even offered to pay for the dog, but not the supplies! The frustrating thing is that she wants a dog, and our conditions at the moment are JUST RIGHT for a new puppy.
(sorry for the rant)
@shvana6: Your mom is a hundred percent, absolutely right! A puppy is a lot of work. Never mind the cost of the puppy, think about the expenses you’ll incur for the vet (at least a 100 bucks per visit, and you’ll have to visit MANY MANY times), the licensing, spaying/neutering the puppy, puppy food (which is a lot more expensive than adult food), insurance fees, toys, treats, and obedience classes. Not to mention the time and sleep you will have to give up in order to care for your puppy. I am a new owner of a 4 month old puppy and now that I think about it, owning a puppy is like having a baby, except a baby doesn’t bite. I got my puppy at 9 weeks old and now, after more than a month of sleepless nights, I am now only reconciling the fact that I am 3 grand poorer since my puppy came. I need to walk my puppy at least two times a day (an hour each), even if it’s negative degrees outside. I also wake up at 12am and then 4am just to take it to go potty. Mind you, I’m not regretting anything and I’m not discouraging you from getting a puppy either, but don’t think owning a puppy stops at just the cost of buying one. If you really must get a puppy, the only advice I can give is to consider buying one in the spring or the summer when it’s not too cold to walk it and potty train it.