Advice on buying an NI Puppy Questions

Hello

We are hoping to get an NI Puppy and was wondering if anyone could recommend a breeder or advise of any to avoid preferably in the North but not quite as far as scotland!

Many thanks

My advice would be don't

HI if you google the Northern Inuit you will find the relevant breed clubs if you log on there you will get the best advise from those in the breed...The Northen Inuit Society members come to our shows and the dogs are lovely and the ones I have met a very friendly bunch.

Hope this helps, there are a few NI owners on here who will help you more

Off-topic posts have been removed. Inki has been given an infraction.

Back on topic please.

I would talk to the people from the northern inuit society The best ones to get information about the breed are the breeders, the best ones to get the information about the breeders is the owners My girl is from Tracey at Honiahaka and I think she is perfect in every way, but I think Tracey is south...but I don't really know what makes north or south UK, lol, sorry I'm really not that much help!

hy join the northern inuit society there are breeders on their and you can arrange to visit them and there pack they are friendly n helpfull good luck xxxx

If you have checked out the breed and fancy one, you go right ahead, a nicer natured dog from the right breeding lines you couldn't get !x

Do your research on the dogs first, then worry about finding a breeder. If i had known what they were like to start with i would have certainly bought 6ft high 9 gauge fencing preferably with an overhang and ground wire and slabbed most of the garden. Your garden will fast become a lunar landscape.
Do you work from home? most suffer from separation anxiety, they follow you everywhere even waiting outside the bathroom door. They have to be highly socialised from a young age.
They have a very high prey drive, are you aware of that?
A few things to think about. I'm not trying to put you off at all, but feel many people fall in love with the look of the dog and don't realise what a massive responsibility they are.
Good luck.

First of all:



And congrats on getting a puppy! Personally i love the NI and think they are great dogs, hence why we are getting another one in 6 weeks time!

I agree with what lunakitty has said the best place to look is the NIS as then you know you will be getting a registered dog. Also make sure both the sire and dam of your new pup have at least been hipscored and that the score was below 16 or steer clear.

you could always rescue too I think there are two boys looking for a home together...I think one of the boys won something in the last NIS show. The person fostering them has been speaking very highly of them since they arrived. Says that they are both extremely well behaved.

They don't all suffer from seperation anxiety, seperation anxiety is born from how the dog is trained from the very beginning (PUP)it is not a dog instinct to suffer seperation anxiety it is human error when training the pup to be alone, as long as they are trained to be alone from the beginning, leaving for only mins at a time then returning and building up slowly the time they are left, not making too much fuss when leaving or returning also helps, keeping to a set routine helps, some have a high prey drive some don't again training helps with this...
mine have never tried to escape from the garden and aren't born diggers either, they have never been allowed to become that way...
as with any dog it is all down to training correctly !

Yeh thats what I always maintained until I got my first Ute!! She suffered so bad that she nearly killed herself and I came home to a kitchen that looked like a murder scene!

Some Utes and Inuits DO seriously suffer from it and should you have to leave them say toi work etc they should always have another canine companion IMO.

Was she a pup when you got her ?

Sorry to argue with you m'dear, but I beg to differ with you regarding separation anxiety. With some breeds of dog ... in particular the northern breeds, such as Mals, Huskies, Utes, N.I's etc. ... it is nothing to do with bad, lack of, or the wrong training. It is all to do with their genetic make-up. They are pack animals, more pack-ie than non-northern breeds. Their pack instinct is very very strong, so if you have one N.I., Mal, Husky, whatever, on its own, there is a very high chance of having a dog with sep anxiety. Our previous northern breed was a sufferer, and our current one is, Tai. Tai is so bad (due to his previous owner having to leave him home alone for long periods whilst he worked) that we cannot even have him in our conservatory, drying off, whilst we are through the glass patio doors in the sitting room. He goes ballistic, because he knows that he is shut in and we could "escape" through the front of the house, into the car and drive off and leave him. Of course we would never do this, but his previous owner, and likely at least some of his foster homes, had to do this, we don't.

With our previous dog, Hal, we had him from 6 weeks, and his sep anxiety was not as bad as Tai's, but he surely suffered from it on the rare occasion that he had to be left home alone. Having a doggie companion did not help Hal at all, but we could at least leave him without the house being destroyed. He just sat in the conservatory and howled every 15 minutes, and would never touch a drop of water or a morsel of food until we returned. Tai would destroy the house if we left him home alone. The stress caused to him would be unimaginable, and so we never ever leave him alone. It is not a problem, we live with it and work round it. It is the price we pay for having such a wonderful dog.

But I do believe it is a big mistake to say that such dogs can be "trained" ... many cannot be, and it will be cruel to try to do so if you happen to get one that is a sufferer. If you have more than 1, say two litter mates or whatever, then your chances of overcoming sep anxiety is greater, but folks still need to be aware that it may not be the answer. My advice to anyone would wants to buy 1 or more northern breed type dog which would have to stay home alone for long periods of time in the house and/or garden is don't. They are not a suitable type for such domestic situation.

Absolutely so, alady. With utes and ni's in particular, I would never ever sell a puppy that I bred to a home where the dog or dogs were left alone for long periods of time. They will surely be coming back as sure as eggs are eggs. Even when you have 2 or more, it can be very tricky IMO.

While i do agree with them being pack animals i think you can work and have an NI as long as you 1) keep them busy and 2) have another NI or dog.

We have had no problems with Ela and SA at all and she has been left since she was 9 weeks old with just Cassie.

If they are home alone though, they cannot be kept busy! Or, put another way, they'll be busy allright, busy digging up your garden, busy eating your house!

We had Hal with his son, Woody. The two of them together caused more devastation and destruction than one ... double the trouble. They weren't left alone all day, at the max. it was a couple of hours. Tai cannot be left even for a few minutes. This is of course my opinion, and my experience, there will always be the exceptions to the rules. But if I were breeding any northern breed, whether they be utes, ni's, mals, huskies, or what, I would make absolutely sure that the pups would be going to homes where they would never be left alone, or at least only very occasionally.

I find it impossible to not leave Loki alone sometimes. I have to go shopping and take child to pre-school - and I won't leave him tied up outside in case someone takes him - same goes for the car, plus there is the over heating issue. I/we socialise, go out ... etc. etc. These amount to no more than a few hours at a time though, not a whole day.

I did the 'home alone' training and I think it worked to an extent because he is generally fine alone for a bit. He doesn't fret or go mad alone and doesn't make any noise. I do find he is better when he's had a looooooooong walk with lots of running and has a full tummy because he is happy to sleep.

The only exception is in the days during and after he has fits, when I try very hard not to leave him because he will pace and howl and get worked up but that is because of his post-ictal state. However, I still have outside commitments, so even then, sometimes, a small time alone is unavoidable.

He is generally a little destructive though. He won't trash a room or anything awful but he seems to carefully (cynically, I reckon) select objects - usually belonging to me - to destroy. If we leave them within easy access, things like shoes, clothing and belongings will all get chewed up. Post too sometimes.

So we do have to make efforts to ensure nothing is within his grasp and we've built a removable gate for the front door/letterbox. It's very hard and annoying sometimes.

I know, I know it is sometimes impossible not to leave them home alone. I didn't mean to be judgemental. My only desire is to try to instil in those potential purchasers of little fluffy balls of fluff that look-alike "Snow Dogs" that these breeds are not necessarily the best choice for them. There are times when we have to leave Tai home alone, and on those occasions, we find the best thing is to leave him in the car whilst we go in to a doctor's appointment or whatever. This means that you need to find shade, because as you rightly point out, these dogs are very vulnerable to theft and cannot be just tied up outside somewhere. I am lucky in that I used to work for a firm of solicitors who are based right opposite the hospital, with a car park which is in the shade of huge yew trees, so that even in very hot weather, it is possible to access the hospital. My OH is self-employed working from home, I am a temporary legal/medical sec., so we can work round the dog problems, but sometimes it ain't easy. Big problem coming up is that we have to go up to London to see a barrister, and will need to call on friends to come in and dog sit, if possible. Otherwise, I will have to stay home ... and I really need to be part of the case conference.

You are absolutely right to vet the potential owners, Gnasher. Hopefully, by doing things that way, you will weed out the people who think the dogs are 'easy' and need only basic care.