Hi everyone!

I haven't posted in a while, so I wanted to give a little update. What a whirlwind the last few weeks have been. I think I am officially a zombie at this point. My work schedule combined with his boundless puppy energy is a real killer. Generally I work from 6PM until 1AM a few days during the week, and somebody will come and check on Hux during that time and hang out for an hour or two depending. I take the little furball for a walk when I get home, we hang out until 2 or 3 in the morning, and then sleep until 8 or 9 and repeat the cycle. I have had to leave him for a full 8 hours in his crate a couple times, and am happy to report no accidents. Although I felt like a horrible, horrible person.

Raw feeding is going well. Hux is gigantic. The vet is very impressed with his teeth, his coat, everything (I maintain that I am feeding him only the finest kibble as she is mostly against Raw Feeding).

He is still a bitey and mouthy little bastard. But less so with me as I have been working on it with him every minute of every day we spend together. A few of his 'moms' have figured out ways of keeping him from tearing them to shreds. He pretty much always has something to chew in his mouth.

I'm certain that I am walking him for too long everyday, multiple times, and I am trying to scale back the length of each walk but he really wants to go go go all the time. Walking is an absolute pleasure at this point. (what a difference from my last post!) He responds to the clicks from his clicker very well, and I have managed to duplicate the sound with my mouth enough that he gets the idea. I had a woman approach me about working with her to get her puppy to walk like Hux - yesterday in fact. I get compliments about how well behaved Hux is on his lead constantly. I think when people see a puppy walking with a loose leash and listening so well they instantly assume I know much more than I do! I usually just tell them he is a complete menace at all other times and his good walking is just a fluke!

He responds to 'focus' when he starts to pull and will stop, or when he wants to wander and sniff that generally puts him back on track. He keeps pace with me, either right beside or a little ahead depending on our situation. He pulls less and less every time we go (and we go 3-5 times a day right now!). At any street corner we approach he sits and waits. If people approach he tends to sit, and or return to me and sit at my feet so I can kneel around him and control the interaction better. The little guy makes me look like a champion. I'm so very proud of him. I think he feels extra confident about it as well.

Anyhow, thats my update. Best decision I ever made. Everyone still has loads of advice and opinions on how exactly I should be raising my boy, how to 'fix' his behavior, what I'm doing wrong, why raw feeding is bad, why keeping him on a leash in our yard is bad, I've even heard that crate training a husky is cruel because they need to feel free from a leash or cage. Haha...

No regrets!!

Ryan

Glad to hear everything is settling down! When we first brought Logan home at 6 months old, I was so stressed out and regretting the decision. Now that we are settled in, I agree it was the best decision ever. Bode would have been fine living his life as an only dog, but he and Logan have bonded so well and they play all the time. Just watching them play together fills my heart so much, all the stress is worth it.

Congrats on your training progress! Can't wait to hear more as he grows.