Husky difficulties

[Wellfuckmeinbothears]

Hi all,

We have a 8 month old pure breed husky, he’s lovely and we love him but my god he is hard work. We walk him for an hour twice a day but he’s relentless! His pulling on the lead means I can no longer walk him as he pulls me over. He constantly whines and follows me from room to room. He’s mostly toilet trained but if he needs to go in between his walks he would rather go inside despite having free rein of a large garden. He’s also started snapping at us if we try to stop him from doing something (chewing cables, get off the bed etc) and we cannot leave him loose in the house, he has to be in the cage if we go out or he destroys the house. We are really, really trying with him. We’ve been to puppy classes etc and nothing’s helping. I’m in despair! He’s not been “done” yet so try’s to shag everything (kids included) and bites us when we stop him. Will getting him neutered help?

Any advice or just support would be so appreciated. I love my dog but he’s just so badly behaved.

The snapping is with me and my partner. It’s not enough to hurt but the more I preserve with whatever is making him snap (get him in the crate/lead on etc) the harder it gets and can be quite scary.

With a secure field you can work with him both on stimulation, exercise and training without the risk of him running off. So just as you would train outside a secure field e.g. play ball or tug and throw stuff for him so you are exciting just as much as running about. Practice recall with high value treats that you only use for recall (chicken, sausage, cheese etc). Practice sit and then some fun stuff, practice putting on the lead and then letting him off again so he doesn't just associate the lead with stopping play. I do all of that still with my 1 year old even though his recall is good (it was shit at 8 months old but we pushed through it even though I needed lots of for the stress).

Sorry you have found out the hard way that owning a husky is not like owning a bog standard dog. Unfortunately the flat /baby /home alone with him is a disastrous combination. .
Are you going to feel like you can vouch for the safety of your baby?
Not judging but we researched for 2 years before getting ours. . We have other dogs and the difference is huge.

Thank you cornflake, that’s really helpful advice!

The breeder has been incredibly unhelpful. I think another 1-1 behaviour specialist would be really helpful.

You really have a husky in a 2 bed flat?

Mamaoftwos post may not have been that helpful but I understand the frustration behind it, why on earth would you get a breed of dog that needs constant physical/mental exercise when you're in a 2 bed flat and about to get pregnant (making exercising the dog even more difficult). Just so sad. Didn't you do any research before buying a husky?

Could you contact a husky rescue for advice? Not to rehome him but they will deal with problem dogs daily. Maybe you could offer a donation for some advice /training?

I can just see this is The Sun - 'newborn baby killed by husky'... fucking hell.

We didn’t plan on having a baby until our husky was much older (8-10ish) but we’ve found ourself expecting much sooner! We love our dog very much and really want to do all we can to address the issues before our baby comes. I hate to say it but we’re in agreement that if things aren’t sorted we will have to re-home our lovely boy :( it’s absolutely a last resort and we would be devastated. The reason I’m on here asking for help is because we don’t want that.

Ok, my post was made because I'm sick of seeing people going 'oh I want that one, he's so cute' without thinking of the sodding consequences.

YY to secure field, dog behaviourist with experience with huskies, firm clear tone when disciplining. He'll be picking up on the fact you're getting scared when he snaps which will make him think he's king. Get him neutered asap

Please seek breed-specific advice - the breed club can be contacted via siberianhuskyclub.org.uk/, or there's a breed rescue who will also be happy to help with behavioural advice via www.shwauk.org.uk/.

Separation anxiety, lack of recall and very high exercise needs are typical breed traits. They can be managed with consistent training and suitable exercise but being brutally honest they do not often make good pets, they are working dogs and with a few exceptions are best treated as such, they have been bred for thousands of years to run and pull and think independently.

We did lots of research. We live in a rural area with lovely walks, I work from home so he isn’t left alone. We did an awful lot of research and happily spent an awful lot of time and money training our lovely dog. I’m on here asking for help, if I was a careless thoughtless owner I wouldn’t be.

You have a husky and are surprised at the amount of walking they need??

Please tell me this is a wind up.?

Sorry, I shouldn't have posted what I did. It just feels like such an avoidable situation. To be honest though I've done similar myself, big house and garden but got a Samoyed. Researched thoroughly. But nothing prepared us for the amount of exercise she needed. i was a lot younger back then which is my only excuse I suppose.

I do feel for you and you're doing the right thing trying to get help on here, good luck :)

I'm going to second getting help in from cornflake's link...

Some of the things you're saying are really quite worrying in that what you're doing has the potential to turn a cheeky teenager into quite a dangerous dog to be around.

You need to stop telling him off for biting or growling - straight away. It might not be how you want him to communicate that he's unhappy, but you don't want him to just skip those warnings next time.

Good advice to contact the breed club and get a recommendation for a trainer that understands the breed. Honestly that was the best thing I ever did was to start training mine based on his breed rather than doing general training. Given you are pregnant and thus have a time issue with the baby I would throw money at it and see if they will work with you 1-1 within your home.

@Hateloggingin what an awful thing to say. I’m here looking for help and am in no denial, if we can’t address our dogs issues before our baby arrives he will have to be rehomed.

I’m not stupid enough to read The Sun. You enjoy it’s headlines though.

Op, read back what you just said.
You should not have got any type of dog.

Cornflakes advice was spot on. Get in a behaviourist that uses positive reinforcement (the links Cornflake gave you and the Facebook group are great for this). Avoid any behaviourist who talks about him trying to dominate you or that he's trying to he the boss. He is snapping because he doesn't want to do what you are trying to get him to do (such as out him in the crate) so the more you force it on him the more he will ramp up the snapping/snarling. That doesn't mean he shouldn't do what you ask him but there are ways that you can get him to do these things without it becoming a stand off where one of you is forces to back down. A behaviourist who uses positive reinforcement strategies will be able to support and guide you in doing this.

You need to contact an APBC accredited behaviourist asap, and also familiarise yourself with canine body language - it sounds as if he’s snapping because you are ignoring him telling you he’s uncomfortable. You should NEVER have to force a dog into a crate - it should be a refuge, not a prison. If he destroys the house when you leave then you need to address the cause of his separation anxiety not just imprison him in a cage where he still feels horrific anxiety but cannot express it. None of his behaviour is abnormal but it sounds as if it’s escalating because rather than address the emotions driving the behaviour you’re simply trying to stop the behaviour and ignore him communicating his distress.

Read the pinned useful resources thread at the top of the dog house fur links to interpreting canine body language, training resources and how to find an apbc accredited behaviourist (not just a. ‘Trainer’)

It will take time and money but from what you’ve said you’ve purchased an entirely inappropriate breed of dog from what sounds like a disinterested (so likely backyard) breeder. He’s been set up to fail so far

They definitely need as much exercise as you can throw at them. I dog sit for a husky and she wears me out!
Usually do 15km a day with her, and she loves swimming which seems to make her more chilled and tired so we do that quite a bit
Recall - normal. She can't ever be let off, I double lead her, and use a long lunge line or extendable when she's swimming, and a harness
Chewing - yes. She's crated whenever I leave the house as destroyed a pair of my UGG boots in less than 5 minutes
Neutering should help, but they are really really hard work

I am in no way surprised at how much exercise he needs, where have I said that? We happily walk him 8 miles a day and would gladly walk him more once we address the pulling issues. We knew that recall was a problem with huskies, hopefully some 1-1 work with a behaviourist will help. I’m going to look at those links now, thank you cornflake.

Thank you so much to all who have offered advice, I’ve taken it all on board and feel a bit better informed now. As I say, I’m going to look into a behaviourist now. We’ll spend as much time and money as it takes to help our boy.

@Hateloggingin No, you shouldn’t have. But thank you for recognising that.

So you’ll deal with his behavioural issues as well?

When we went to the rspca to get a dog they had a lot of huskies.

We live next to a national park and see people running with huskies and every husky you see is on one of those leads that go round the owners waist. Can your dh run with him?

Honestly? I think you need to take the dog back. Huskies are really, really hard dogs and they're a crazy choice for an inexperienced owner. No responsible breeder should have sold her to you.

That is a stupid dog to get if you live in a 2 bedroom flat.

Why wouldn’t we?! As I’ve said we want to help him and address all the issues. Time and money isn’t going to stand in the way of that.