Hi All,

I just wanted to introduce myself and Thor.

I am currently a second year grad student, and live in our brand new house with my boyfriend and our furrbaby, Thor, near Philadelphia, PA. Thor is a 3 year old rescue. We got him about a month ago and we are his FOURTH owners. Overall, he is a fantastic dog, but like most huskies, he has a few issues (mostly separation anxiety), and is a bit of a brat. But as i suggested before, both myself and my boyfriend are stubborn brats as well, so he fits right in. Though i wasn't planning on getting a husky (alot of pits that are up for adoption in this area), i just couldn't pass him up when we saw him.

Lots more to say, but i will leave it there for now.


(tried to upload an image, but don't think it worked - oops.
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Welcome! I'm from bucks county but in colorado now! Have you looked into a trainer for some of thors issues? Make sure you find one that works with huskies, as you now know they don't work like other dogs if you do go that route.

Hi, its a pleasure to meet you, and thanks for responding. Denver is actually on my list of places (one of two in the country) that i would like to move after graduate school - but, one thing at a time .

Thors issues aren't that bad to necessitate a trainer (i think). He is actually an angel when we are around, but he doesn't like being in the house by himself, but that is normal of the breed (and especially for rescues) The past month has been a fairly tumultuous time (boyfriend moving in, i left for a conference, etc.), so i think once he settles in and gets used to the routine, and especially when we get him a friend (we are planning on getting another dog, but do want to get into the routine with him first and get a handle on the finances so we don't overwhelm ourselves) he'll be fine. For the most part he just defecates (or urinates) in the basement while we are away (unless we leave alot of stuff on the kitchen counters). I have considered crating him (and according to the shelter he is crate trained, but he doesn't seem to like confined spaces), but he isn't a chewer or a digger, and we don't really leave much out for him to get to, so i am still on the fence about that.

My old dog growing up had a FANTASTIC trainer (alot of his dogs actually went up to ground zero right after 9-11 to work), and if i did decide to get him a trainer i would likely do something like that. It is an 8 week sleepaway boot camp type of thing, but he really is fantastic. A regular petco type trainer wouldn't do - he knows his commands well, and follows them - when he wants to listen .

Welcome!

Welcome! I'm from Bucks County too. Now in florida but my sister is up in NE. She works for an emergency/specialty vet clinic (VSEC) that is in Langhorne but just opened one Philly if you ever need it. Thor is gorgeous. Welcome to the wonderful and unique world of huskies.

Welcome! Thor is handsome! It may just be the photo but he looks like a big boy! What us your grad program in?

Welcome

That is one handsome dog, welcome to the forums.

Thanks All!! This seems like a great community - i truly feel it will be a great resource!

MGoBlue wrote:

Welcome! Thor is handsome! It may just be the photo but he looks like a big boy! What us your grad program in?

I am a doctoral student (well, not officially until i pass my prelim exams in may) studying biochemistry and biophysics at UPenn. And i think it might be the photo - he is a big boy, but about an average sized male. When we got him he was 50 lbs, but he has put on a little bit of weight since then. You could originally see his ribs, but he is better now. (he is extremely spoiled food wise too)

Dee&Frankie wrote:

Welcome! I'm from Bucks County too. Now in florida but my sister is up in NE. She works for an emergency/specialty vet clinic (VSEC) that is in Langhorne but just opened one Philly if you ever need it. Thor is gorgeous. Welcome to the wonderful and unique world of huskies.

That is fantastic! Actually, one of my pipe dreams is to go to medical or veterinary school. although that isn't something to think about now, i would still like to talk to as many people as i can who are vets and learn as much as i can about that path. and maybe even shadow a few people. I have volunteered at animal shelters for a while now (in college it was my way of being around animals even though i knew it wasn't a good time to get one myself), but being in a veterinary type environment would provide an incredible opportunity.

Hi Christine.
Welcome.
Thor is a handsome fellow.

Lots of us here have rescues or rehomes.
Everybody's dog has issues at first, but if you stick with it, you will get an incredibly loyal dog.
My theory is that once a rescue realizes this human is forever, he will give you all his love.

I would explore using the crate if he is already trained. Give him a kong in there with the door open.
Make it a happy place before you start shutting the door.

(Go Quakers! My son graduated from Penn undergrad in '09 and Penn Law last May.)

Good luck with your prelims! I'm looking at doctoral programs at Hopkins and Maryland for Aerospace Engineering. Not quite ready to pull the trigger yet, but something that I'm getting pretty serious about. I was thinking medical school for a while, but I started teaching recently and I really like it.

Anyway, Thor is gorgeous, and yes that picture makes him look *huge*. As far as the separation anxiety and messes in the basement, I second what Michael said about the crate. It gives them a bit more security, and Huskies are not apt to mess where they sleep. We have some good threads on crate training as well, so read up when you need to get away from the biochem

Welcome Christine. I lived in bucks county for about 2 1/2 years before your time. I have a son in grad school on Long Island at stony Brook he is in a PhD program for Physics. You pup is cute We have a 2 year old rescue we got about 8 months ago she is doing very well now..

Oh I am so glad that you rescued him. Sounds to me like he had quite the rough life. He looks adorable!

You can also put a blanket you frequently use in there or a shirt you don't care about with your smell on it. Might help calm him, thankfully I haven't had to go through that with Bella.
I'll also second crate training, it is a fantastic help for when you need to do something and you can't have the dog checking it out.