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I would not count on him being potty trained but you may be pleasantly surprised. He is going to be huge but he will act like any other 4 month old puppy - biting, barking, and bellowing into things. Just remember inside he’s a tiny little baby and doesn’t know any better. And when you’ve reached the point where you’re incapable of remembering that (it will happen lol), put him in time out and give yourself a break to regroup and recharge. Straight up, he will most likely be a complete monster. Just remember that it will all be worth it. I had the puppy blues bad, my dog was an absolute nightmare of a puppy, but good god I would do it all again a million times for the dog I have today, I truly love him more than I even knew I was capable of loving another creature. A couple things that specifically helped me a ton:-Frozen kongs. Or even easier, if he likes bananas (mine loves them) just freeze halved bananas and stuff them into kongs whenever you need a long-lasting treat to keep him occupied.-puzzle toys for food really help wear them out mentally and physically. [This thing](https://a.co/d/0eAHRKBF) was an absolute lifesaver for me - I served both of his meals entirely out of this and it took a good 30+ minutes for him to roll it around and get all the food out. He loved doing it! And always needed a nap afterward lol. What I did was cut the top off of a 2-liter soda bottle to use as a funnel - just put the mouth of the bottle into the ball and fill it with kibble.
Hey, my boy is an ACD x Husky mix, 40 lbs, that has some of the traits of both but also appears to be a bit mellow. I've had him for ~4 months and he's ~2 years old. Here's my experience pertaining to your questions. I'm not an expert and I will gladly accept any corrections or advice against what I'm saying. I almost exclusively feed him out of a puzzle feeder. My preferred one is this ball w/ 2 holes. Each hole has some flexible arms that block the kibble from freely falling out. I cut a couple of them to make it a little easier. I may buy another and not remove any of them since he has gotten better. I can fit about 1.25 cups total. Also, I modified a turkey baster to act as a funnel - I would have gone insane if I hadn't. If one fill wasn't enough for him I'd just fill it up again with more. He goes into a play pen to contain it and he is enthusiastic every time.https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0009YD8NS?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1 As a preface to the training, make sure you and your spouse are on the same page for your methodologies. Huskies are smart and they will most definitely behave differently with different handlers if they know they can get away with it. Both people need to be consistent 100% of the time. Doesn't matter if you are tired, short on time, or just don't feel like it. Every time you don't follow the rules the dog will learn they don't have to either. My dog behaves differently for my girlfriend because she isn't as strict with him and he knows what he can get away with. 2. I'll just start by linking a couple trainers I love. This is going to get very lengthy. Sorry if you already know some of this but maybe this will help someone else so I'll include it.https://www.youtube.com/@darwinsdogtrainingschoolhttps://www.facebook.com/pawsitivechancedogtraining/directory_contact_infoYour best way to train is going to be positive reinforcement and negative punishment, e.g. reinforcing by rewarding with a treat and punishing by removing access to something. Your first step is going to be building/charging a marker. You can use a clicker or a verbal cue such as an enthusiastic, "YES!". I will start new behaviors with the clicker and then fade into a verbal cue. Start off in a low stress environment and mark > reward. Repeat this ~10 times, take a break and maybe do it 1-2 more times. Your dog should learn very quickly that a mark is ALWAYS followed by a reward. Now that your dog can clearly identify when they are doing something correctly, let's begin. When you say rushing the door I'm assuming you are talking about bolting out the door as soon as you open it, yes? A good pre-game to play for this is your dog focuses on you, mark, throw a treat on the ground and repeat. You can walk around as you do it but the goal is just to prime them to be focused on you and this should help them settle a little if you just put on their leash. I will go to a door, wait a little bit, slowly open it and if the dog makes any movement then it will instantly be shut. Once I can get it open enough that they could fit through I pause, calmly close the door, mark and reward. The thought process is door opens, dog doesn't move, door closes, dog is rewarded for not crossing the boundary. Progression will be the door opening more and eventually it will move to adding a release cue and the dog can pass the barrier. After a while you can start to add a verbal cue and/or hand signal but it's not necessary to start shaping this behavior. My barriers are bedroom door, front door, stairs, the car doors, and any curb outside. Jumping on people. A very good rule and is 4 paws on the ground = reward. My dog is only rewarded for paws being off the ground if I ask for a behavior. Luckily my dog came pre-programed to approach someone in a sit but if he didn't I'd use a combination of negative punishment, removing access to people, positive reinforcement from the handler for successfully saying hi, and maybe some form of restricting the ability to jump. I'd do the last part by standing on the leash such that the dog is not under tension but if they went to jump they will hit tension that is caused by their action. The leash shouldn't be under constant tension. Tension = something needs to get fixed. Leading into jumping on counters and counter surfing, this is just impulse control. Watch videos on impulse control from the two trainers and I linked and that's really it. The important parts is that the dog is NEVER allowed to be rewarded from the stuff they can't have. Pulling! The equipment is important here. If the pulling is bad do not use a flat collar as this may injure them and do not use a standard harness with the leash clipped to the top (back) of the dog. Clipping on their back is just going to encourage more pulling. If you prefer staying with a collar then look up a martingale collar and if you want to go with a harness use one that clips to the front. I will largely defer to the trainers but the principles are that you are the leader, the dog goes where you go, hitting the end of the leash needs to have a consequence, and every time the dog pulls and gets what they want, they learn that pulling is how they get what the want. In practice this means that my dog is rewarded when they are close to me and paying attention. The rewards will fade but early on any check-in while being close is rewarded. If the leash is taut then it is harder to make a correction. One of the methods that I used was as the dog neared the end of the leash I would stop, plant myself firmly, and hold the leash tight to my body. The dog hits the end abruptly with a pop that they created. I am not pulling or adding any force into the system. You can no longer proceed in the direction the dog wants. If your dog does not return then you will need to start going in another direction. If the dog does return then it is not rewarded because they failed by hitting the end of the leash. We don't want to reward hitting the end. Eventually the dog will learn the distance they are allowed to be and if they stop themselves from hitting the end and come back, that can be rewarded. Also, make being close to you fun! Have them randomly do behaviors/tricks and get rewarded. If you want to lean into the pulling and let them get it out of their system, train this separately from walking on leash. Walks are not pulling time. Look into canicross or bike joring for some fun sports that's catered to their natural desires. 3. Crate Games by Susan Garrett is probably the staple for crate training. You can randomly put food in the crate, feed all meals in the crate, incorporate training of going in the crate. Crates are fun and happy places not punishment. Dogs are den animals and a crate should be their personal space. You can also use crates when traveling/emergency evacuation as a calm place for the dog to rest, keep pesky kids away, or to keep the dog contained while you handle something that is dangerous to them.