Gnasher has some extremely good points. It's not that the dogs are clingy. It is that they are natural pack animals, with strong instincts in that direction. In a pack, dogs are much safer-- they can delegate responsibility for making sure where everybody is, checking out for threats (something sled dogs are expected to do and do extremely well), minding everything. The group is all-important. Remove a dog from the group and you will almost certainly get a nervous wreck: a dog who has to do everything, all the time. This includes looking after a pack member who has (unwisely) shut themselves away from them-- and they'll howl and tear down the door to make sure their pack is OK. It drives them nuts-- which is why I only advocate a very short away time, not apart, just away, as a consequence of misbehaviour.

With breeds like this, it is very important to be mindful of their intelligence. It is a trait that has been valued throughout the long history of northern working dogs-- that, and their independence of mind. You may find that they have little patience for repetitive games like fetch, and they don't particularly care for toys (though tug is often a good game, and while many will tell you never to play it, I'm on the opposite side of that camp). They will love exploring, sniffing, and running, running running-- as much as you can stand. My longest walk ever clocked was 9 hours. We got back and Berkeley's legs, like mine, were shaking with exhaustion, but Lasz (GSD/Mal) was like 'OK! I've had food! When do we go out again? Now? Now? Now?'

You're right about the shedding, MJ! Merciful heavens, blowing one's coat once a year is bad enough but TWICE... eesh. A specialist vacuum cleaner is a must have, and even with it, you've just got to put up with having hair on everything all the time. You can hoover the house completely and not fifteen minutes later have tumblefluffs blowing through again.

And that's another good point, so thank you! It's important to get a double-coated dog like a Mal/Husky mix used to being brushed and groomed regularly. Make this a nice and pleasant thing, laden with sweet words and treats, and it'll be easy. Neglect it and you'll have trouble. Taji was never taught to be groomed and (typical Akita) he HATES it. I've had people come up to me asking what on earth was wrong with him. He looked such an awful shagpile, they assumed he had some kind of disease. Nope-- it's just that undercoat blowing out. If you get a puppy used to regular brushing and grooming you can make this a very pleasant thing indeed! My other two, who don't need it nearly as much, love being brushed. Little One particularly likes those things with the fat rubber bristles. It's like a massage to her. Make it nice and pleasant early and you'll save yourself a lot of hoovering in the future!

I hope the OP is still with us!

Weve probably scared her shitless and she is returning it from whence it came! Seriously she sounds very sensible so hopefully all will be well

Thank you very much for all of your interesting and good advice. We are going to crate train him really soon, we will still going to try with the kong and see if he likes it or not. We have already tried giving him carrots and he loves it We also make him used to the brush a lit bit every day more. We always used the `NO` and it seems already to work Today we made him exercise a lot (especially running) and he was very happy but we still don`t do too much because we don`t know how much is too much exercise for a puppy? We have already noticed that he loves to be with us he never leaves us alone

Oh,.. and when he will be crate trained do you think possible to leave the house for 1-3 hours? Only one of us is working but, things they have to be done without a dog like shopping,...

It should be ok if you do it sensitively. Beware though of him chewing the bars of the crate. Our ben was crated at some stage and his canine teeth are worn right down to the pulp where he had tried to chew his way out.

Sorry if this has already been answered, ive not read all the thread.
Distracting with toys is a good idea , but he might be bored with his toys so swap them around or think of different games to play .
It might be easier if you remove yourselves from the room. he might be distressed at being shut out on the balcony .
The idea of removing the dog or yourself is to show your pup that if he plays too roughly, you will stop the play.

I would distract with toys first and if he still grabs you immediately say Ow or ack , cross your arms and leave the room pronto, dont even pause. Pups have a short attention span so leave the room for a minute and come back in and be ready to do the same again . the idea is if you repeat this enough he will learn from the consequences of his actions. He has the chance to play but if he grabs then , all fun and play stops .

Saying ow or ach and crossing your arms will become the auditory and visual cue that means stop that. Hopefully when he understand what it means , you can do the cue without having to leave the room and he will stop.

Yes, that should be ok. He will have to learn to do without you sometimes! Give him a good romp beforehand, make sure he's done all his business, and hopefully he'll be tired enough that he'll just sleep. You can give him a kong stuffed with peanut butter to keep him busy (but you'll have to wash all his bedding when you come home, and possibly him!)

Other things you can do: draw the curtains to lessen noises and disturbances from outside. Put some music or the telly on-- pick something you would usually watch or listen to, or some nice classical music. Mine like Bach's cello suites. Talk radio can be good too-- just some nice background noise so the house doesn't seem empty. Don't make a big fuss over it, either-- give him his toys, talk to him calmly, and go like it's the most normal thing in the world.

Of course there are going to be times that you have to leave him alone, and to prevent separation anxiety, it's best to get him used to it. It won't hurt him to spend some time on his own, but as he's so little now try to keep the time you're away fairly short. As he gets older, you'll be able to get a bit more shopping in.

Mine are all older and they're absolutely fine left to themselves-- we have regular games nights with friends and we can be away for some hours. But we were looking after a friend's beagle-- we were only going to the shop; it's less than a mile away and we needed only a few things-- we thought 'Oh, let's not put her in her crate; she's happy lying on the sofa'. She threw all the plants on the floor and ate a hole in my pyjamas. Seriously-- we were only gone 20 minutes!

Gnasher and strangechilde, I've just learned so much from those posts. Thank you a ton. Now I'm 100% sure I'll never own one of these breeds But I did know they aren't for everyone. I like my Labby guys. Adaptable, gentle, and only slightly sheddy. I think the OP has been given beautiful advice that, if followed, will do her tons of good.

Btw, I groom my dude twice a week, but he is not a heavy shredder, which is kinda weird since he is Labrador/Great Pyrenees mixed. It's more for my enjoyment because his hair likes to grow in 9 different directions. Another bonus, he's totally black, so the hair is very hard to see on most surfaces.

ok, Thanks again. It is very good to hear. We have time to teach him and make him use to be alone. And we will take all your advices. we will let you know how our puppy is developing and learning.