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What to do with Husky puppy at the barn?

Ii don’t even think you can do chores and tack up with a baby puppy.

However it’s a husky. They like the cold. I think he’d be fine in a crate in car or tack room with a cuddly bed. You can also put some kind of heating pad in the crate.

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Doggy daycare is awesome! She should be clear for puppy contact soon, if not already. The best part is that when you pick her up, she’ll be all tired out from playing with her friends.

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Full vaccination is 16-20 weeks, at minimum. I would allow my partially vaccinated puppy to do some things, but definitely not doggy daycare. And it is unlikely they will take any puppy that isn’t fully vaccinated for “daycare” (as opposed to puppy obedience on leash, for example).

If available at the necessary times, that is definitely a good option. Until then, I’m not sure. A puppy sitter and/or friend with vaccinated dogs might be the way to go.

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My experience with husky-type puppies is that they are chewy little critters and I wouldn’t risk the doggy stroller without direct supervision until your pup is quite a bit older. For the same reason I would hold off on fancy crate covers and just go with an old blanket until the puppy destructo phase is over.

For the vehicle and the tack room, a sturdy, foldable metal crate would work well and be portable. Here’s an example:

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Much will depend on the setup of the barn, but it does sound a bit unfair that people at the barn will have to put up with the puppy’s whining during their riding and horse time (if the puppy being vocal is the issue) so your husband can have silence.

The best option, TBH, sounds like putting the puppy in a crate with a Kong in a spare room, and having your husband check every two hours or so to see if the dog needs to be let out, but is still spared the noise. It might also be less disruptive for the dog, because even in a tack room, people are constantly coming and going, which probably will make the dog whine and want to play.

A lot depends on the layout, the temperature, the number of people in the barn, and how many hours you expect the dog to need to be crated, TBH.

Are there any teens at the barn you could pay to exercise the dog during your riding?

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Can’t add much to the suggestions here, except do talk to the barn staff and other riders to explain your dilemma and get their buy-in first. Emphasize this is only temporary so nobody thinks you’re making the barn into free doggie daycare. :slight_smile:

You might also consider a Westpaw Toppl instead of a Kong, or even in addition to a Kong. Some puppies can get frustrated with a Kong, but be perfectly content and challenged with the Toppl. It sounds to me like you will be able to check on the puppy quite frequently, so hopefully it should all go well.

Agree 100% with using a metal crate.

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nice. I think most of us use ‘Kong’ as generic term for treat based chew toys, like ‘Kleenex’ for facial tissue.

Apologies for not being one of the “us”; didn’t know that and only meant to be helpful.

I promise I’m not getting a commission for mentioning Toppls :slight_smile: but I have a puppy right now who gets frustrated with the actual Kong but is happily absorbed by a Toppl.

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:slight_smile: shucks, they come out with so much new stuff now.
I didn’t mean to come across as a school marm.

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I don’t crate my dogs so I basically have just a few options when we do chores since I like to take my pup with me and it is my farm. I put 2 lunge lines together and tie her in sight while we clean the horses dry lot and run in shed/ stall every morning.

I move her while I clean the steer’s pen and then she is free when we clean and feed the goats. I take her on a leash while we do the chickens and I tie her out so she can see me when I grain the beef cows.

She cried a lot for the first week and a half but now she knows that she will be restrained and she amuses herself while she is tied or watches us .

I know in a boarding situation you don’t have that option but your puppy will get with the routine if you start one and stick with it. I would opt for a stall if there is one available to use. Put a toy or 2 in there and she will cry but she will also be able to move around and will be more able to keep herself warm.

Most people working at the barn should be able to ignore a crying puppy for a few days and if there aren’t many other boarders there at the time you should be ok.

When we go somewhere we lock her in our master bathroom and she cries but soon goes to sleep.

Just curious why not. It’s such a basic solution for about 1000 issues, including “what to do with puppy at the barn.” Also covers “what to do with puppy in the car” as compared to being a loose projectile while you are driving to and from the barn.

ETA: I have no issue with a puppy being tied, either. But in addition to crate training. My dogs aren’t really trained to tie, but all the hunting people I know train their dog to tie on a stake that swivels with a very short lead (< 4’) because that’s common a field trials etc. It’s a great skill for them to learn when a crate is not available.

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The other positive of crate training is that if your pet ever has to spend an extended time at the vets, being in a crate type situation is not one more added stress to them. If they are crate trained they know the crate is a safe place to be.

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Not for a real small puppy, but for larger ones, I think the training to tie is a great skill to have.
Both my rescue GSD’s were trained early to tie- when I did barn chores- so when I took them on excursions in town I could tie them to a sidewalk bench while I went inside to watch/shop. I always observed them out a shop window to see how they behaved. Just a good handy skill to teach, IMO.

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Or if you ever need to evacuate to a shelter, or just to a hotel/ motel.
Crating is a skill that serves all dogs.

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I just can’t stand to make them stay in a cage. It is just me. It wasn’t something that I was even aware of people doing until about 15 years ago. I tried twice and I just couldn’t get through the first night.

I know people do it with great success and it does have benefits beyond measure. Thankfully ours ride just fine in the car when a vet visit or trip was in the schedule.

With my new puppy we just hook 2 lunge lines together and tie her when we do chores so she could see us but not get in with the horses/ cows ( for her safety). Now almost 3 weeks in she is just tied by the horses now and she does chores with us when doing the rest of the animals. We just keep an eagle eye on her but she just follows me happy as a clam.

She no longer cries when tied but lays down and watches us or amuses herself as far as her lunge lines permit. When we are gone for whatever reason she is put in the bathroom and at night she has a makeshift pen by my side of the bed and she just lays down and goes to sleep.

I am not sure I understand how being tied up is OK but crated is not.

I assume you properly secure you dogs in the car to lower their risk of injury or them being ejected if you get in an accident?

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I don’t crate my dogs at night. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. My puppies sleep in my bed; it’s the easiest way to keep them sleeping most of the night and easy to know when they need to get up. Obviously not everyone wants a dog in their bed, but that’s how I live. :slight_smile:

My dogs have crates in my house, and they get fed in them. At this point, with the doors open, but when the little one was a puppy it was better for everyone if the doors were closed. Everyone got to finish their food uninterrupted, and the crate became a place that was always awesome because it meant food.

Anytime they got put in their crate, it was with food or a treat, or a special chewy/Kong type thing. And then I just added frequency and duration. They don’t get crated often for very long, but when they do, they are relaxed. (I also have a kennel, which is much more spacious and has access to outside, so I don’t have to use crates for more than short periods if we are at home.)

And since I showed them, I knew they would have to be crated, so it made sense to just start from day 1. They actually consider their crates to be like a home, so when we travel or are at a show, they prefer to be in their crate when it is busy or stressful.

Tying is a great skill and I wish my dogs were better at tying; but doing it only when they were doing bird work was really hard. They are so amped up to hunt that being on a tie was no good. If I do more bird work in the future I will really try hard to get more tie time in so they at least understand that it’s like a crate - a place to chill out while they wait.

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OP, I used to share your aversion to crating, for no reason other than it seemed cruel or unnecessary in a vague way. I had dogs for decades without a crate and we did fine.

Then came my son’s Russell terrier, who was the most difficult dog I’ve ever encountered regarding housebreaking. We went months with him having accidents - and I’m good at this. We ended up crating the dog, and that’s what got him truly housebroken. When the mountain cur came along, we crated her at night and it took no time at all for her to acclimate to it and housebreak.

Now the terrier is 11 and the cur is coming 8. The crate is in the closet with the door open and a comfy bed inside. Both dogs use it at will. The ability to crate them (shut the door) has come in super handy at odd times. Just this weekend we had a surprise visit from dear friends who had their 2.5yo grandchild with them. Kiddo was lovely, but too grabby for the cur. We told her to load up and she scooted happily into her safe place.

I also took the cur to an AirbnB for an extended stay near my parents when one of them had surgery. In this unfamiliar place I crated her every time I left. I knew she was safe and not going to get into any trouble and she knew she was in her good place.

Normally the dogs both sleep in our bed, have free range of our house and a dog door to the yard. They are crated very rarely, but it’s been really handy over the years to have them crate-broken. Plus housebreaking was faster, in my experience.

Not trying to change your mind, OP. Just an anecdote about someone who’s reformed her thinking on crates.

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We have 1 dog that sleeps with us and my daughters mini Aussie comes in around 1am and sleeps with us too. The first thing my husband said when he saw Nellie was " she isn’t going to sleep with us too is she ??"

I reassured him she would sleep beside the bed as all our other big dogs have. She sleeps there happily now.
I can’t fathom a dog of her ( eventual) size being on our bed too. We don’t have enough room with the 2 we have now!

Have you found a solution @WW_Queen ??