Any and all advice, and what you wish people had told you before you got a Husky.

TLDR If you had one thing you would want to tell a new Husky owner, what would it be?

Run him/her. Not an eight-week puppy, you have to moderate exercise for the first six months, but seriously....run them. Run them until they are exhausted. Run them until they can't run anymore (not a realistic standard, they can always run more). A tired Husky is a good household citizen. That doesn't mean they won't be a jerk, ignore you, refuse pets, demand pets, or otherwise bother you. But the number one piece of advice I have is take your exercise expectations and double them. ESPECIALLY if they are under two.

On a 20 mile hike at 10,000 feet my Husky will do fifty miles without blinking. And he'd do that every day, any day, under any weather conditions (you know, unless it is hot) if we let him. He'd do more than fifty. He will not be exhausted. The ONE time he got tired, he was cutting trail for my SO while he was in snow shoes. They lost their way, my Husky found it, and cut trail (meaning going first, defining the path, and being the first one in the deep snow) and he got a good five miles before he hung back, exhausted. He basically swam five miles of snow, by himself, before he decided he needed a break. And even then, he kept up.

After that? My first rule with any Husky is that it is only a rule if it is always a rule. Otherwise, it is a suggestion. I never let anything slide. If you're not allowed on the couch, I can't let you be on the couch even once. If you're not allowed dinner without laying down for it, then you don't get fed if you won't comply. Rules HAVE to be rules. Otherwise, they won't take you even a little seriously.

They talk with their ears. They won't turn their head or use eye contact, but they will turn their ears towards you if they are listening. People can misinterpret that as being ignored, when in fact they are paying attention. They also use their ears to convey a lot of their emotions. Mine has "angry ears" sometimes.

Find a good groomer that will do it well and cheap as soon as you can. What you pay in grooming costs will save you in vacuum cleaners.

They are talking to you all the time. They communicate constantly. They aren't loud (well, the yodel, but they reserve that for when they are really pissed) but they are always talking. How they sit, where they sit, when they sit there...it's a conversation. Learn to speak it and you'll go a long way.

If you are in control, you can get them to stop peeing on things you don't want them to pee on by peeing on them first. They won't over-mark you. This will save some plants and some paint.

That's what I've got off the top of my head.

/r/siberianhusky Thread