General advice needed

[Mandyjones]

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We have been thinking of having a puppy in the family for sometime now, I am a stay at home mum with 4 children.

My husband and I would like a Huskador puppy.

Does anyone have any experience of such puppy/ dog.

Please could you advise on what we should be looking out for with regards to breeders, price etc.

Many thanks

 

[goldenbear2013]

Hi there,

First of all I have never heard of a huskador, I am assuming it is a husky crossed with a Labrador?

If it is then I hope you're an active family as the dog will need ALOT of exercise and a lot of time spent training it, as huskies are very independent thinkers and if they don't want to do something doesn't matter what you're offering they wont do it. If it ends up with a temperament of a lab where they will do anything for food then the training will be a lot easier.

In terms of picking a breed, you need to go with a breed that will fit your families lifestyle not picking a breed because it's cute.

How often do you go out?

How much time will you have to walk the dog?

How much time will you have to train the dog?

How much time will you have to play with the dog?

How much will pet insurance cost me. This varies considerably depending on the breed.

They are the first 4 questions you need to think about.

Once you have chosen your breed wisely then you can start contacting breeders. Any breeder worth their salt will happily invite you to their home even before they have the puppies to chose from so you can see the mom and dad in their natural habitat and whether the puppies will be looked after properly in their first few weeks of life. The breeder should always be on hand to answer any questions you may have, and once you have a chosen a puppy from them allow you to visit the puppy as much as you like before it is ready to come home with you. This will be anywhere from 7 weeks onwards.

I also recommend getting a puppy book to guide you through the basics when you first bring it home. This will be basic training, to toilet training and learning general manners around the house. My First Puppy is a good one.

The cost of a puppy will again vary depending on its breed. You also need to read up on the breed that you want as you need to know what it needs from you in order to keep the puppy happy and its body and mind active. Knowing what the breed is like in terms of its health and life span will also need considering. Some breeds are prone to cancer, some hip dysplasia, eye problems etc. If you pick a pedigree dog then you will have more health issues as they are renowned for this.

I could go on but I feel I have rambled on enough.

The above is probably the most important but if you do get a puppy book the rest will all be in there for you.

I wish you luck in welcoming your new bundle of joy into the family!

Sophie x

All of the above will need to be considered as pet insurance is a must. Pet Plan is always a good insurer to go with. They are more expensive than most but I have claimed from them and they are fantastic.

 

[eingana]

Hi Mandyjones, and welcome to DogForum

OK, where to start.

Why a husky/lab cross? Is it on looks? Or do you know a lovely one?

Issues I can foresee with getting any puppy with a family are pretty much the same as Sophie has posted, but there are also particular issues with the breeds that you've chosen.

Are you aware that labs are one of the worst breeds for chewing? Or that they are inveterate food thieves who are completely ruled by their stomachs and who are likely to try to leave the park with whoever has the best smelling treats in their pocket? (Seriously, I collect labs because the only treats my GSD is interested in are dried black pudding). They shed very badly, they slobber and anybody who has a very well behaved lab has worked hard to get that happening, and if you get a puppy you have all of that work to do.

Now, huskies. Are you aware that however trainable a lab may be, your puppy may be far more husky in behaviour terms, which means that s/he is very likely to be unable to be let off a lead in public in their whole life because huskies are renowned for having poor recall, and when they go (being sled dogs) they can run for up to 100 miles before you can catch them? If you're lucky enough to catch them, that is. If they go on the run they're also likely leave a trail of destruction behind them because they have a very high prey drive, so anything in a hutch in a garden they are running past is at risk, as are cats and small wild animals. On top of that they are escapologists, so your garden will need to be dug up and have proper footings put in for a wall, since they can dig under fences really easily. You'll also need to have at least 6 feet high walls or fences all around it because they can clear 5 feet without a problem.

I am friends with a Siberian Husky breeder who starts every conversation with prospective owners with the statement, 'No, you don't want a husky.' The vast majority of people who love how a husky looks are completely unprepared for 10 miles of lead walking EVERY day, because they can't come off a lead so every inch they walk you have to walk too.

As far as picking a breeder, this is not a pedigree breed, so you're very likely to have to go and visit a back yard breeder for this puppy (as a 'designer breed') unless you find someone who is having a litter by accident. The same applies here as in any other choosing of a puppy. Please don't buy unless you can visit a home in which you can see the mother and the rest of the litter in good conditions before purchase. Then ask to look at the health certificates for both parents, since labs come with so many hip issues and the like.

Please don't be guilted into buying by seeing a puppy in dreadful surroundings and feeling that you need to buy him/her in order to remove them from these horrible conditions. A well bred puppy is bred from healthy parents who have lots of health checks to show that they don't have inherited conditions that cause pain, early death, immobility, deafness and HUGE vet bills. If you don't have those certificates then you may as well accept from the start that you are likely to end up with those bills and a dog that is in pain for life. It's worth paying more and taking more time and care at the start to reduce the chances of all of these inherited issues later on.

My advice to anybody wanting a first dog is to adopt an adult for their first dog. As an adult you know what temperament they already have (and you can never know that with a tiny puppy), you know how big they are, they're already toilet trained and they've already gone through the worst of the chewing, attitude and madness stage. It allows you to get used to 'having a dog' with a dog that's already likely to have a routine and who will fit well back into that routine in a home, whereas with a puppy you need to be available pretty much all day every day for their first few months. Once you're sure that you and dogs are right for each other, you know that you have the time and space to fit a dog into your family and you know what you're doing with training and the like, then you can take the extra step to caring for a puppy. If you've got children then you already know how much they can absorb your time- puppies can do the same.

I'm sorry to sound so negative, but it's way too easy to get carried away with how beautiful they are as puppies. If you speak to anybody who works in rescue they will tell you that a ridiculous proportion of puppies end up in rescue by the age of 1 purely because their owners didn't do the learning and choose the right puppy for their circumstances and didn't put in the training so when the pup hits puberty the owners can't cope with the madness stage and the moodiness. Anything that we can do to reduce the number of pups that end up in rescue through no fault of their own has to be a positive.

I hope you make the right choices for your family and the pup that you bring in to your home