Obstinate dog

[RedwingWinter]

My dog, a husky cross, has a mind of his own and does not like to follow commands unless there is something in it for him. This is all the more difficult because he is only sometimes motivated by food. We've been practising NILIF, but we are getting fed up of having to wait for ten minutes while he decides if he is going to 'sit' or not (for example). As for 'come', well, that's why we don't let him off leash.

We always ask him to sit before putting his lead on/taking it off. Yesterday, while we stood waiting at the back door, I suggested to DH that he go outside as if we weren't going to take the dog with us. I stayed in and it was funny to watch as the dog looked very concerned, listened carefully to make sure that he really had gone out of the garage and shut the garage door behind him, and then promptly sat without me having to say another word.

This has done the trick, because now when I ask him to 'sit', he does so almost immediately. But, to show his displeasure, he turns around and sits with his back to me!!

:o Cheeky little blighter!

After giving them a command you can near as damnit hear the cogs whirring away in there, calculating whether it will work in their favour to obey or whether they should simply walk off and ignore you. It is part of their charm to husky people but owners of what I like to term neurotypical dogs () find it very disconcerting!

The example I often give to people is of my first bitch who, having had her for a week or so, I took her to the park on a long line ('tis true that they cannot go off the lead) and threw a tennis ball for her. She immediately retrieved it and dropped it at my feet - my face was like - so I threw it again, wild with elation about the lovely future walks we'd have where I'd throw a tennis ball for her like any other dog, something that I'd discounted because huskies Do Not Retrieve.

Anyway, this time she just stood there and gave me a look of such utter disdain - I somehow knew immediately what it was, it was a "What the jeff have you just done that for, I just brought it back for you and you've thrown it away again, fuck this for a game of soldiers." She then turned away and walked off.

Hang on... I have a nigh on 12 yo Labrador cross like that!

His hearing has become increasingly more selective as he's aged. There's bugger all wrong with it, he can hone in on the rustle of a crisp packet from 10,000 metres.

He's just concluded that whilst a call of "Biscuit!" merits instant attention and a sprint that would put Linford Christie to shame, a call to come in from the garden after a last-for-the- wee should and will only be met with a slow amble when he feels like he can be bothered to stroll in....

His main skill lies in eeking out the stroll-worthiness according to how late it is and how tired I am. The later the hour, the more knackered the idiot on the back doorstep, the slower the stroll.

Tsk! a last for the night wee, of course!

Haha, toboldlygo and Val, that's funny. Mine won't play fetch either, at least not with us, although he will run after the ball if someone else is playing fetch with their dog at the off-leash park, just so that he can run off with it and say 'it's mine!'. Depending how friendly the other dog owner is, it can get embarrassing.

There are dogs and then there are huskies. Not the same thing IMVHO!