The one I waited for

Bare with me as I tell Hailey’s tale…. I was five when I fell in love with the breed. I had books upon books about the breed, books that told me how to groom, train, love, show and race them. I fell head over hills with every husky I saw. While I begged for years my mother and father neglected to listen and brought home every breed other than a husky! The more I pushed the more they became blind sided to the breed. So I gave up gathered my losses and planed out a future to come with the hope of one day owning a husky. Unfortunately my best friend died of liver cancer and I became lost and had no desire to shovel throw my stressful days without my doggy therapist to come home to. Lucky a coworker tossed the husky dream back into my thoughts and I set off on a mission. At sixteen I had convinced my mother to allow me to buy my own show dog with an attached promised that said I would pay for everything the dog needed and to this day neither parent has had a reason to spend a single penny on her. So I seek out a sibe breeder at the dog show I was attending and with my surprise he told me he had one girl left! Of course I was over joyed and went home to look up the litter on the internet. The whole time I listened to my family and friends who tried to discourager me from purchasing the puppy, because we had little dogs running around the house. It became insanely easy to block them out when I looked upon Hailey’s picture, as if looking into her eyes caused imaginary ear plugs to found their way into my ears. The breeder was over joyed at the fact that their little girl was going to a show home and I was over joyed that they allowed me to have her. At seven and a half weeks old I drove a six hour round trip to pick my girl up. I was almost in tears when I hugged her and knew she was mine! That weekend I took her to her first puppy match! I also learned of her possessive/aggression problems. She tried to not only bite a passing strangers foot but tried to swallow her toy. Right away I pried the toy away and to this day she has never gotten that toy or one like it back. I also spent the next twenty minutes teaching my seven and a half week old husky puppy to ‘Release’. Even to this day it’s the best command she listens to! Just goes to show you can start training at any age! Not only did I hear a lot of “I told you so’s” that referred to my huskies behaviors, I had gotten a husky that fit all the ‘bad’ traits of the breed. But seeing that I was not only young but basically friendless due to moving place to place, I took the challenge and allowed our stubborn personalizes to clash and created a bond between the two of us. I spent countless hours trying to mellow out Hailey’s prey drive. While I failed to ‘mellow’ out her drive I did happen to teach her pack order. I did this by feeding all the little dogs before while she sat muzzled, (due to her biting) and watched the others dogs eat, after wards she received her food. While we still have many learning lessons to come I hear many ‘I told you so’s’ turning into ‘Wow! What a great job you did with her! I can not believe you got that husky to behave so well!’ While these comments please me it’s a pity the breed has gotten such a bad rap due to people not taking the time to raise their pup properly. While I will admit huskies are not for everyone. I mean in reality how many people have the time to stop a three-four month old puppy from chasing down little dogs and pinning them to the ground in a very aggressive way? Or chase a puppy through a swamp and trip over them in the woods because they hip deep into a rabbit hole? While the breed has many con’s, a huskies loves is all I need to get through the hard times. We spend most of our days together, rather it be playing ball in the park or laying together while I type this story. She truly is the one thing that keeps me going day after day. I love her howls, kisses, hugs and personality. I wouldn’t trade a single inch of our bond and trust for a million dollars. Money can buy you a pet but only love, time, determination and knowledge can give you a perfect pet. Haileys story was told by Shanna