Sunday, February 2, 2014

A Husky that wins Hearts everywhere

It's difficult to describe just how much we love our Siberian Husky, Kita.  He isn't a cuddler, but he is very affectionate.  When he meets someone for the first time, he immediately jumps up to see if they will let him give them a kiss.  Everywhere we go, someone says how beautiful our dog is and asks to pet him, and we warn them that he will try to lick them.   Most people don't mind.  Kita's actually bigger than most Huskies and is often mistaken for a Malamute.  As a puppy, he had the largest feet and longest tongue, but he's grown into them.  He definitely stayed a puppy for 2-3 years and only just started calming down last year.  We loved to take him to the dog park, where he made a point to meet every dog big and small, and every human.  He loves kids even though we aren't around them that much.  When he was a puppy, we had a family with kids, and they would yell his name every time they were outside.  Both of our yards are fenced so Kita couldn't play with them, but he would jump up and look over the fence with his tail wagging incessantly.

Kita is Excited

In fact, he wags his tail constantly.  He is truly the friendliest animal that I've ever known.  He is so gentle with our cats and any other smaller animal he meets, including our pet tortoise.  He just wants to give them a ton of kisses.  He is so gentle that he cannot comprehend aggression.  When our cat Zoey hisses at him, he wags his tail and tries to imitate the hiss as if it is great fun.  If a dog comes to attack him, he immediately gets on his back thinking that they want to play.  This was such a problem for us at dog parks with pet owners that let their aggressive dogs do whatever they want, that we had to stop taking him.  He can turn any action into a game, which makes him difficult to scold.  He likes to push us to see what he can get away with, which is typically A LOT.

Huskies love to have playmates, so we got a puppy for him a few months ago.  He fell in love with her quite quickly and his spirits have lifted significantly.  He loves to play with her and hates it if she is not in the same room as him. When she tries to run into rooms where the dogs aren't allowed (we need to have safe space for the cats), he pulls her away and blocks it so that she doesn't get in trouble.  He's constantly vigilant that her curiosity about the cats doesn't put the cats in potential danger, and he will distract her if Seph is being particularly stubborn, which is often.  If Pearl growls at the cats, he is instantly "kissing" aka drooling on the cats as if to apologize, but the cats aren't particularly fond of this type of apology.

Kita is the first Husky that I've had the fortune to get to know, but after a few years, I don't think we will ever want to be without one.  He was so easy to house train and learns new words and tricks constantly.  He's a master imitator and has picked up behaviors of many of us in the household.  However, he is not a bodyguard and not particularly loyal, which may turn some people off.  Kita is equally happy with anyone and will happily go to a kennel without a look back.  He greets me at the door when I come home from work with a toy in his mouth and a wagging tail.  If I'm lucky, I'll get a long howl from him out of excitement to see me.  I would recommend that any dog lovers rescue a Siberian Husky or Husky mix as their next pet. Truly one of the best decisions that we ever made.

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