Hiya! I’m Nova, my owners adore me…and I’m looking for a new home.
We absolutely love her but…she loves chasing our cat with scary degree of drive, and after much difficult deliberation we’ve realized we just aren’t the right home for her.
Have a look, get to know her, and share with friends. And please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions.
If you’ve met Nova, you know she’s sweet, energetic and beautiful. That’s why we really want to find somewhere she can be the dog she’s meant to be.
With Love and Sadness,
Morgan & Daria
| Breed | Siberian Husky (we haven’t done the DNA test) |
|---|---|
| Weight | 37lbs |
| Age | ~14 months |
| Time withs us | 4 months (since mid October) |
| Prior to us | 2 months in the shelter. She was brought in as a stray. |
| Medical | Spayed, chipped, vaccinated and healthy |
The Story
We started considering adopting a dog in October, and went to visit the shelter. Daria wanted a pointy-eared dog that looked good with Tsuki in photos. Morgan wanted a medium-sized dog that could spend long days in the mountains. LA shelters have a lot of huskies, and she was the smallest one we could find. She’d been in the shelter for 2 months already, picked up as a stray. She was sort of awkward, and very demure, and we fell in love with her immediately.
We’d made a plan for how we’d introduce her to our cat slowly, keeping them separated and slowly letting them smell each other and gradually see each other. That plan fell apart when the cat was braver than we thought, coming into the dog’s space, but then the cat would run, and Nova was excited to chase.
We had a close call early on with the pets getting out of hand, and we put up a gate to Daria’s office to give her space. In early January we had a really close call, with the cat on our bed and Nova coming into the bedroom and getting the cat between her jaws.
Then in late February the cat got bold again and wandered downstairs, the dog followed and got the cat in her jaws again. If Daria hadn’t seen it happening and moved to intervene, we aren’t sure what would have happened. That was the final straw, and so now we’re making this post.
The Challenges
There are challenges which are inherent in any dog, and can be worked through. Then there are challenges which we are really worried about. Let’s be clear about these categories:
The Big Challenge: We’re worried about her killing our cat
- She’s attacked the cat 3 times, and each time was scary. Our cat does not fight back at all, and only runs, which makes the dog want to catch her even more.
- Huskies are known for a very strong prey-drive. It’s instinctual. She can be well-behaved and under control, and then the switch just flips.
- There are horror stories on the internet of huskies living with cats for years, and then the owner comes home and finds the cat dead and tossed on top of the dog’s pile of toys.
- Nova should not live in a home with a cat. Probably not a home with a very small dog either.
- We’ve tried to make it work…
- We’ve divided our house in two with a gate. But the cat can still roam through the gate, and eventually she gets brave enough to roam into the dog’s territory.
- We’ve trained Nova on sitting calmly in sight of the cat, and it feels like progress. But we don’t think we would ever trust that 100%
- We’ve tried introducing her to our friend's cat who will fight back. Nova’s stubborn - see videos on the album.
- We thought we could nurture her out of her nature, (and maybe someone can!), but at this point, the potential price of it (ie Tsuki’s health and safety) is not one that we are willing to gamble on this eternal question.
The Normal Challenges:
- Huskies are high energy and need to be walked and stimulated quite a bit. This includes the 6:30am wakeup to take her out.
- She’s sneaky about finding food. We don’t leave any food out in the house. This is trainable, but we’re just getting to it.
- She’s partially crate trainedr. Unfortunately, having connected walls (and a very sharp of hearing neighbor) and no yard has made this difficult. She sleeps in crate at night and loves sitting in our climate-controlled car when we run errands. (Loves the car, you say? Yes. Even when we’re home, if we open the car door, she jumps right in…) ♀️
- She really wants to play with other dogs, especially smaller dogs, which can come off as very aggressive. (Given her experience with the cat, it very well may be aggressive - we don’t want to find out.)
For Nova’s New Home
If she warms your heart and you would like to take her, we’re happy to meet up and explore this with you. Our only ask that you give her a nice home and love her as much as we do. We’ll also pass along with her bed, crate, box of toys