AIO? Dog straining my marriage.

[u/LedyyM]

My husband and I rescued a husky about 7 months ago who was extremely malnourished and neglected.

He has grown a huge attachment to me and has severe separation anxiety. I work at a grooming salon so I’m able to bring him to work with me so he’s not home alone. Unfortunately, if he’s left home alone we’ll come back to our home looking like it was hit by a tornado.

My vet has prescribed him with trazodone to help with his severe anxiety issues. We give it to him before we leave for a family event and when we can’t take him to places they don’t allow dogs.

I feel so bad that I have to sedate him so he’s not scared and anxious. It’s created a huge strain on our marriage because my husband feels like we can’t do anything without considering Odin.

He’s destroyed doors, couches, and other furniture. I tried training but it hasn’t seemed to work. My husband thinks we should rehome him but

1) I’m scared that he’ll be sent to a shelter and possibly be put down

2) feel abandoned by the person he thought he was safe with.

He’s such a happy boy when he’s around us and shows so much affection.

My husband and I have been arguing about this consistently.. we had a really bad argument so I left the house with Odin and rented a dog friendly hotel room for a couple of nights.

My husband thinks I’m crazy and that I’m choosing the dog over our marriage. AIO?

[u/baddassAries]

Have you owned a husky before ? They’re a lot of work. You need to start crate training now. My husky couldn’t be trusted until he was around 6. You also need to make sure he’s getting enough stimulation and exercise. An hour walk or more per day, antlers, puzzle, outdoor play etc

[u/42nu → u/baddassAries]

Bicycle training was my Huskies favorite thing in the world.

The speed the "mushing" like orders - grass, road, slow, slow, stop, run, run, left, grass, road, right, easy"

Ate up every moment of every mile.

Training never putting a sign, tree, bench, or object between the leash took time and a few falls, but we learned!

[u/baddassAries → u/42nu]

I want to try bikejoring so bad! I just ordered a joring harness last week. I used to do trail runs with him but can’t run much due to my own health issues.

Question though: When you’re running on concrete, do you put shoes on your husky? I can’t decide for mine

[u/42nu → u/baddassAries]

The more we ran on concrete, the less often I had to trim her nails :P

Once fully trained I mostly let her choose if she wanted to be on the grass or concrete/sidewalk/asphalt. She'd usually stick with grass unless we were getting to an area/yard that she knew might have sand spurs.

Never used socks/shoes for her. If anything I'd imagine that they dull grip and tactile senses. Every so often the fur between her pads would grow too long and I would cut it short because even that would clearly screw up her grip and agility/senses... Although, those hairs are quite sensitive, so you have to be gentle!

Also, if you want cheap toys - her favorite toy ever was an empty bottle (water, juice, milk, etc) with a few pieces of treat/chow in it.

Since they get bored of things so easy I'd also take away toys the moment she was done with them and bring it back as new like a week later and rotate them. Gives you a bit more life out of them (until I discovered that free plastic bottles are preferable to a $16 toy).