Shylo came to live with us on the 7th. She is my husband's dog but was living at my mother in law's house. She wasn't able to care for her so we brought her to live at our house. She hadn't been groomed so we wanted to bring her to the groomer but she needed her rabies updated. We brought her to the vet Friday and found out she wasn't being tested yearly for Heartworms!!! Well since she was an outside only dog and wasn't on any preventative meds we weren't surprised to hear that she tested positive. Since we didn't know how long she had them we decided to go with the Immiticide treatment and she is on Prednisone. We were told to keep her activity down to a minimum for 8 weeks. Before all of this she was staying outside and had free roam of our fenced in back yard, she has her kennel with her igloo for when it rains but we leave that door open (we tried to lock her in there but she barked all day long and we are worried she may do that now). Should we buy her a crate for inside so we can more closely monitor her activity level?

I would buy the crate - keeping a husky inactive for 8 weeks will be tough. She will want to play. And a husky with pent up energy will be into...everything.

Glad you had her tested and are treating her.

Good luck!

Amymeme what kinds of toys do you suggest we give her to keep her busy?

shylohoney wrote:

Amymeme what kinds of toys do you suggest we give her to keep her busy?

Huge bones. And anything she can chew. A frozen treat filled kong will keep her busy if she's into that. I would not give her toys that promote jumping and pouncing. You have your work cut out for you - my sympathies.

Crate + frozen kongs

Should we get a metal or plastic crate?

I would go with the metal wire crates...you may have to use carabiners on the joints and the door. Huskies can be creative about getting out. And since you want to keep her quiet, I would drape a sheet around most of it (just not the front) so she has less stimulation.

Thank you for all of your advice! I'll let you know how this goes, hopefully well **fingers crossed**

Hopefully, the treatment will make her somewhat mopey. But...when I take prednisone, I am full of energy

She was mopey yesterday but a little more lively this morning. I don't see her wanting to run and jump for a couple of days though.

1st day in crate....NOT GOOD
We put a blanket and chew toys in the crate. Filled a kong with treats. None of it was touched.
We placed a blanket over the crate thinking the darkness would calm her more. We think she pulled the blanket through the crate, tore it to shreds, and got out of the crate. When my husband got home she had trapped herself in the bathroom so she chewed up the molding around the door.

UGH so much for keeping her inactive. We are seriously starting to wonder if we did the right thing by bringing her here.....

Now THAT'S a husky

Seriously, though, I am glad you brought her home - you found her heartworm and you are treating it. Ami pulled a sheet through his crate once, too...actually, I think it was an old sleeping bag.

You might try carabiners on all the joints.

We are thinking it may be the closed cage that she doesn't like. She pants so hard not very calming.

Has she had an acclimation to the crate, or was today her very first day using one? That could be part of the problem, if so.

Start by crating her for small amounts of time while you're home with her so she doesn't always associate being in the crate with being alone. Get a super high-value treat or toy that she only gets when she's in the crate. There are tons of little things like that you can try if you haven't already. Rescue Remedy is awesome for things like this too, or you could leave a diffuser on with essential oils to help calm her (Stress Away from Young Living is one of my favorites). You can even buy wall plugins that have a dog-appeasing pheromone that release over time, just like a Glade plugin - although when I tried one out, it left a residue on my wall for a few weeks.

I hope you can figure out something for her. I don't know if "crate rest" really counts if she's going to be that anxious

We had to get the crate on short notice and we both work. We will have the weekend to get her used to it but I think she is scared of it now. I'm wondering if we should just leave her out again today. She didn't tear anything up anywhere else. Only the blanket that was covering her crate and the bathroom she was trapped in.

Well, today we left her to have free roam of the living room and kitchen. Everything was fine! I guess she likes her open space! WOW.

shylohoney wrote:

Well, today we left her to have free roam of the living room and kitchen. Everything was fine! I guess she likes her open space! WOW.

Terrific. I am so happy for you

By the way - your pup is a beautiful lady!

OK. I need y'alls help on one more thing.
Today we left her in the house alone again. Both today and yesterday she pooped in the house. We left earlier this morning, she pooped. We got home just now after being gone for maybe 30 min and she pooped again. Before we left, we took her outside. We think the reason may be because she used to live in her kennel and poop there so maybe she thinks it's ok to go in our house. What is the best way to teach her that this is not the best thing to do?
We only feed her once a day, at night.

shylohoney wrote:

OK. I need y'alls help on one more thing.
Today we left her in the house alone again. Both today and yesterday she pooped in the house. We left earlier this morning, she pooped. We got home just now after being gone for maybe 30 min and she pooped again.  Before we left, we took her outside. We think the reason may be because she used to live in her kennel and poop there so maybe she thinks it's ok to go in our house. What is the best way to teach her that this is not the best thing to do?
We only feed her once a day, at night.

Crate if you are not home.