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!
Just got a new Siberian Husky puppy about 2 weeks ago and we are FINALLY seeing some progress on the potty training and some of the new puppy hell 🙂 Thanks for your articles!
Congratulations on your new puppy!
Yeah, once Lara was potty trained, things got a lot better. Big hugs to puppy. Husky puppies are just too adorable. 😀
And it’s a husky sorry i forgot to mention what breed she is
I got my first puppy on the 2nd of may and its a girl we named her Maya and today she is rough to me but calm to my dad and brother?
Do u think u know why?
Congratulations on your new Husky puppy.
With my Husky puppy, two things matter most in terms of her behavior towards me-
1. My own energy
If I am angry, frustrated, fearful, excited, or otherwise not-calm, my puppy will pick up on my energy and get more crazy herself. To help my puppy stay calm, I needed to stay calm myself and control my own inner energy.
2. My response
When a puppy jumps or play-bites with us, our instinct is to shout at her, move away, or push her away with our arms and legs. This creates a lot of noise and motion, which usually gets my puppy even more excited, and she will jump and bite even more. From her point of view –
Jumping + biting = Get a lot of attention and get to play a fun wrestling game.
What helped me with my Husky puppy is to-
a) Learn all that I can about dog behavior and dog training,
b) Observe my puppy closely to see what motivates her and learn to properly communicate with her,
c) Come up with a plan to redirect or retrain undesirable behaviors. At the same time I make sure to encourage good behaviors.
Here is a bit more on how I trained my Husky puppy. In the beginning, my puppy did not know that people have soft skins and that she needs to control the force of her bites, and be less rough with people. I had to teach her what my people-rules are, and motivate her to follow those rules. Get your dad or mom’s help on this, and make sure that training is both fun and safe.
Big hugs to Maya!
Hi, my name’s Maria and I just bought a female husky like a month ago and everything is good except for the biting part 🙂 I think she knows I’m her alpha but she still bites me a lot. When she looks at me she puts her head down even if shes not on her kennel. We’ve had our starring contest and I win but when I pet her all she does is biting play. Sheknows my two youngest boys are a little scared of her. And she bites harder on them. I have been trying to search for answers or comments I’ve tried a few but it’s not really working. What should I do with her. 🙂 I’m not giving up on her just want to know from someone experienced. Thanks
All puppies bite when the play. They will grow out of it eventually but untill then I just just firmly tell her no then stop playing for a little while. As she gets older I will actually put my hand over her mouth and tell her no. Not around her mouth, just over her muzzle so she can get away but she knows I am talking about her biting. I praise her when she stops biting. Another aproach is to not play with her where she can get at your hands. always have a toy that is an acceptable bite toy. Of course accidents happen and you can gently reprimand her, stop playing for a little then go right back to playing. It will take a while, their little baby brains will learn through repitition. I like to compare them to human babies, I don’t expect them to learn certain things till they reach a certain age, same with puppies.
Get her a tuggy rope so the kids can play tug with her while you supervise. Good luck and grats on the new puppy.
Congratulations on your Husky puppy!
In terms of biting, this is what I do –
http://shibashake.com/dog/how-i-trained-my-husky-puppy#bite-training
Here are a few more things that I do to discourage biting.
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-biting-tips-solutions
Here is an article on dominance and bad dog behavior.
I also do bite inhibition training with my dogs to teach them to control the force of their bites.
Big hugs to puppy!
Your puppy and doggies are adorable! I just got a 12-week old Bichon Frise puppy. Her name is Sassy. Thank goodness, she’s already crate broken… The challenge is getting her house broken. I just got her two days ago. I’ve taken her out several times in the mornings when she wakes up and about a half hour after she eats… Though, she’s been successful a couple of times outside, she has made some boobies inside… I’ve got puppy pads near her crate … but, she always skip them and use the carpet… Not sure when she’ll get it… I’m not too confident that I’m training her correctly…
Congratulations on your new puppy!
Yeah, it will take some time to fully potty train a puppy. Here are some things that I do to potty train my dog.
Big hugs to puppy!
You shouldnt have the pads near the crate as the dog naturally doesn’t want to soil near the sleeping area. That’s probably why it skips the pads
I need advice! I have a boxer mix and a lab mix, both 4 years old. They get along great together. On Friday my husband and I got a puppy and they have been so mean towards her. My boxer mix who usually loves to play with every dog at the dog park is acting extremely scared of her and is growling. Same for my lab mix. I have had other dogs over at our house And theyve never acted that way. I’ve tried having them sniff the puppy while she’s on her back and they’re not interested. The puppy wants to play but they growl at her. I’m afraid they’re gonna bite her,and not accept her. I really thought my boxer mix would love her and play with her.we have been giving the other dogs more attention and have been trying to praise them when they are waging their tail and petting them together with the puppy. What can I do? Help please, I’m desperate! Thank you
Here are some things that I do with my dogs to help them get along –
http://shibashake.com/dog/second-dog-introducing-a-second-dog
Some things that helped when I introduced puppy Lara to my other two dogs-
1. I ensure that all interactions are positive or at worst neutral.
2. I don’t force my existing dogs to interact with or be in the same area as my new puppy. I let them decide on their own when they want to approach and when not. I keep puppy Lara away from my other dogs and do not let her disturb them – until they are relaxed and ready.
3. I make it *very very rewarding* for my dogs when they come near the new puppy on their own, are calm and relaxed.
4. I go group obedience training and create other positive supervised activities. This helps my dogs to view the new puppy as a positive addition into their lifestyle.
5. I supervise puppy Lara very closely. When I cannot supervise, I put her briefly in her puppy enclosure.
Husky Shania accepted Lara right away, but I think it took about 5-7 days before Sephy was really relaxed around her.
It’s normal for the older dogs to not want anything to do with the new puppy. She’s not part of their pack…. yet. As shibashake says, don’t try to force the interaction, they will slowly adjust to the puppy and things will get better. My two older dogs wanted nothing to do with poor Luna either for the first 2 weeks. We just let them do as they pleased as long as they didn’t get so aggressive with her as to hurt her. She would run over to play with them and both would skitter away as if a bear had jumped out at them. It’s actually funny to watch two grown dogs running from a puppy. I kept the puppies food away from the adults food. This did double duty of my being able to keep the older dogs out of it and keep an eye on how much Luna ate every day. I free feed so Luna had access to the older dogs dish once she found out where it was. My dogs are not food aggressive so fights at the dish were not a problem.
Like you, I thought my border collie cross would love the puppy and take her under her care but she was the one who skittered fastest. The chihuahua would stay up out of reach on the couch and growl at her if she got too close to her but now they all play together and I have no worries about them being mean to her.
I expect the normal discipline from the older dogs. They are helping her to learn pack manners like not walking all over us, clawing at us or nipping us. The chi sounds like she’s ripping her throat out but it’s just the way she plays. Have patience, things will work out if you let it go at it’s own pace.
Grats on the puppy btw.
Wow.. thank you for all the insight. We got a 6 week old husky/aussie a few weeks ago and love her to death. She is now playing vigorously with our other two dogs, border collie cross and chihuahua. She has yet to learn their boundries though, she lunges up at them when they are sleeping on the couch and scares them awake. It’s funny but one day they are going to say “enough of this nonsense” and nail her good instead of snarling and snapping at the air in front of her nose. BcX is 2 and chi is 1 so they are not too old for fun with puppy. Outside it’s a free for all of fun with Luna (puppy) in the middle. Inside Luna is great but for the whining. I have never had such a vocal dog. She walks around most of the time whining and when we get down to play with her, she wanders off and leaves you just sitting there with the toys around you. Hubby says she’s telling us stories. lol
She has very few accidents in the house, my son and I keep a close eye on her. After she has woke up, finished eating or playing we take her outside for potty then she gets to play for a while with her older doggy family. We can stay out for hours with her running around with them and she still whines when it’s time to come in. lol We stay out as long as it takes for her to go and praise her vocally for the good job she has done. She just looks at us like we are nuts for praising what she has to do anyway. 🙂
As with all our dogs we call them to us and fuss over them then let them go so they don’t associate coming to us as time to go inside. We find it’s much easier to get them to come if we have some dried liver treats to reward them with at the start then work it up to just praise and release. She really hates coming inside so this really works well for her. Sometimes though she turns and looks at us like she’s saying “Are you nuts? Not time to go in yet!”
She really hates it when she can’t see us. She can climb the stairs to the second floor but won’t go all the way up yet and the bathroom is up there soooo when we come downstairs again it’s like we have been gone for hours instead of a few minutes. If she is sleeping and wakes up to one of us gone, she will trot around the house whining till she finds that person then climbs all over them with joy.
This is my first husky of any kind. Only ever knew one person with one and that was over 30 yrs ago and I remember him telling me that Sarge was smart but he was a handful even as an adult. I don’t understand the constant whining, vet says everything is good. I am thinking this could just be a husky thing and she will outgrow the need to tell stories all the time.
OMG she’s whining again!! lol
I had a puppy – that I brought home 2 weeks ago. I’ve had similar feelings and I’m dead tired. Fortunately, he started sleeping through the night the first night and loves his crate – falling asleep right away. I do have some puppy blues and wonder if I’m cut out for motherhood! I’m like when will this end, haha. People keep telling me he’s amazing and does so much for his age, but when you’re the one dealing with the day to day it can seem like it will never end. I did a ton of research and what not beforehand – oh well!
Hahaha, that is great and also very adorable.
That sounds like a great mom to me.
I think the first few weeks were the most difficult with Lara, because of the potty training, and also making sure she got along with Shiba Sephy. After Lara was potty trained, she needed less supervision, and things got a lot more fun and less stressful. 😀
Big hugs to your puppy!
Hello! We just got a Shiba inu puppy 2 days ago. He is about 9 weeks old but I’m a lil worried because I think he is not eating or drinking a lot. We are trying to potty train him so we just feed him 2 times a day but leave his water in his crate. The thing is that he doesn’t seem very hungry and he never finishs his food he eats and I guess when he is full he stops. Today he drank water just once and went to pee only once. Still he hasn’t had any accidents in the house. My husband took him out last night before bed time and again around five because he started crying but he did potty when out. I took him out this morning and he did pee. Again we took him out at lunch time but he didn’t pee this time. Should I be worried? Is that normal for a dog his age? He doesn’t seem to be in any kind of pain when trying to pee but I find it strange that he doesn’t pee that much. Thank you 🙂
What food is he currently eating? Unlike my Huskies, Shiba Sephy is pretty picky about his food. He is also allergic to wheat, so we go grain-free with all of our dogs. If Sephy is not really hungry, he won’t eat lower priority food such as kibble. Sometimes, he will also hold-out, in the hope that he will get something better. 😀 Sephy does not drink as much, or pee as often as my Huskies.
Has puppy gone for his initial vet checkup? How is his energy level? Does his stool and urine look normal? Is there anything else that seems unusual?
When in doubt, I usually give my vet office a call and talk with the vet tech. They can be very helpful.
Thank you so much for your response!! 🙂
I got some of the dry food he was eating from the breeder, (I think it was Solid Gold) but he didn’t seem very interested so I checked here for some advice and saw about the allergies so I got him Blue Wilderness (dry food-no grain) for puppies, now I’m starting to mix it so he doesn’t get an upset stomach from the change. He is eating a liltle more now. He eats in the morning and around 6 again. His stool and pee seem normal. The only thing I noticed is that is he scrathing a lot, like he is itchy. I checked his skin and he has some white flakes 🙁 . I was researching and found that it could be the heat in my apartment.
He got his first shots from the breeder and I’m planning on taking him to the vet next week for his checkup.
My dogs have some white flakes too, from time to time. It is little bits of dry skin that come off from scratching and playing. I think some white flakes is pretty normal.
In terms of scratching, there could be many reasons for it. Is he scratching at only particular areas or all over? Is it all through the day or only at particular times of the day? Is there any hair loss?
Sephy itched a lot when he was young because of a food allergy. He would pretty much itch all over. Shania had itching and slight hair-loss when she was young due to skin parasites. The itching in this case was only around her face and feet, where she first got the parasites. Here is a bit more on dog itching and scratching.
Big hugs to puppy! Let us know how things go with his vet checkup. He is a lucky Shiba to have found such a good mom. 😀
Hi Shibashake! Thank you for taking the time to reply 🙂
He usually itches in his back at the base of his tail (that’s where is saw the white flakes), on the top part of his paws and on his sides. ( I guess that’s pretty much all over lol) Yesterday I saw him scrathing his face with the carpet.
I’ll let you know what the vet said. Thank you for thinking of me as a good mom <3 trying to be the best for my boy hehehe :p
I have a pup still on her mom if i bring her in the housr for one hour will my dog still feed her
Her pups are 2 week old pit bull puppies.there mom 3 yrs old this is her first litter she is a great mom to them and she is like my daughter and she lovrs my kids but i wanted to bring one in for a hour but i didnt know if thats healthy or not help please?moylo
I am not a breeder so I do not have experience in this area. It is probably best to contact an experienced club breeder about this and get his/her advice. Most breeders that I have met are very into their breed and are happy to help.
There is a breeder search page here –
http://www.sbtca.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5&Itemid=10