Meet Hank

Everyone is different about getting a new dog after you lose one.  My husband and I knew pretty quickly after we lost Tucker that we are not a one dog family. 

Bitsy, the best coworker, glued to my side during work

My husband wanted something around a year old, and he wanted something more loyal than Tucker was.  We didn't mind getting another Husky, but we had to keep in mind that with our travel schedules, it couldn't be something completely wild.  He also wanted something trainable that he could take hiking and maybe do some agility with.

We spent a month scouring PetFinder and visiting rescues with no luck.  Then one night I was browsing Craigslist and saw an ad from a city two hours away that literally had three phrases: German Shepherd Husky mix, awesome dog, housetrained, $100. 

And that's how we got Hank:

Derp.

Hank is a 1 year old GSD/Husky mix, although the more I get to know him the more I think he leans waaaaaaaaay more to the GSD side of that mix.  His behavior and attitude are like 80% GSD, 20% Husky.

We know from fostering many Huskies that the first couple weeks are always rocky as they adjust to a new house and routine, and Hank is no exception.  He's had very little structure in his life so far, the gerbils in his brain tend to go a million miles an hour without direction, keeping pace with his feet, which run everywhere he goes.

But he's proven to be wicked smart and easily trainable, which is awesome.  He came with "sit" and "paw", and in the 48 hours we've had him he's added "down", "wait", "get in your crate", "get in your bed", the "'no' noise", and has a reasonably reliable loose-leash "heel" like 50% of the time (he's a terrible puller). 

Like any high-energy, young working breed, wearing him out is going to be key to our success with him.  We've been doing walks with water bottles in the backpack before work, clicker in hand, working on "heel", "sit", and "pay attention to the human because I will change direction at any moment and you have to deal with that".  That's been working out pretty well so far:

Tired doggo = good doggo

We have a place in town that trains GSDs for police departments in addition to having a doggy daycare and obedience/trick training/etc program, so he's going to start going there a couple days a week for part day playcare, part day obedience. 

Learning about waiting patiently in the checkout line

More than anything, I want another dog to put him in his damn place and teach him some doggy body language, since while he respects Bitsy as queen of the house, he doesn't understand that she has ZERO interest in playing with him.  And also, he does need someone to play with him and we can't provide that.

Bitsy guarding her pig ear, and Hank respecting her even though he REALLY wants it

He was supposedly housebroken (nope), and supposedly crate trained (only if you count knowing exactly how to open crate latches and escape within minutes of being put in one), so we're having to stay one step ahead of this super smart guy.  A couple of carabiners and zip ties on the crate fixed his little red wagon last night, and we got to listen to him cry himself to sleep when he realized he couldn't escape from the crate.

Privacy fence = worth every penny with this dog

Even with all that, he's already an awesome addition to the family.  Can't wait to see what kind of guy he grows up to be!