Cant Control Husky

Fennor

Hi everybody,
I'm having trouble with my siberian husky. Female and turning 4 months old. She is a great dog and brought a lot of joy into the house. Made a real difference to us. But lately she is getting a bit crazy. We look after her perfectly. She gets a lot of food and water, plenty of attention and gets to go out whenever she likes. Dont get me wrong, we still make ourselves more dominante then she is. But its getting crazy.
She wont come inside when she is told. She randomly starts to bark at us, and if we let her out she just sits down and does nothing. Tonight, she was jumped into the bath. It was empty, but the fact that she done it and never did before is weird. She also left... well a big mess in one of the beds. And has caused a major row in the house since. We don't know what to do.
We do love the dog to bits. But its getting a bit too much. Any suggestions of what to do?
Fennor

ghost_ie

As regards her not coming in when told, on the rare occasions that my two youngest do that I simply close the back door and don't open it again for 5 mins. They're guaranteed to be waiting penitently at the door when I re-open it.

Maybe her barking at you isn't a signal to let her out but for you to play with her. Have you tried throwing a tennis ball for her to fetch, or a frisbee? Or play with her in some other way? I have no experience with huskies but there have been a lot of them in the park lately and they all seem to be high energy.

andreac

Well firstly shes a puppy and puppies dont behave perfectly.

How much proper exercise and stimulation is she getting? These are high energy dogs and need a lot of exercise and stimulation but as shes only 4 months at the mo she cant have too much exercise yet, but she needs some.
Running around in the garden is not enough. Shes probably bored if shes not getting out and about and this will result in destructive behaviour.

Have you had her to any training/socialisation classes? These really are recommended for all dogs and will help you with all the basics.

You have to train her with rewards, so she knows when she does something that you want her to she gets rewarded, whether it be a treat, toy etc.
So i would get some really tasty treats and start by just calling her name, and when she looks around to you, treat her and lots of praise.

She will soon realise that when her name is called she gets something really nice. I would use something like chicken, liver, sausage etc and only use these high reward treats for training so she really wants to work for you.

With the mess she left in the bed, shes probably still not toilet trained and its up to you to train her so you cannot blame her for going in the house, and at 4 months she probably still isnt able to hold it in fully yet for too long, you need to give her a chance, shes only a baby.

Puppies takes months to train properly, it doesnt happen over night. They need lots of patience and time so just stick with it and be consistent.

lorebringer

Sounds like she is burning off excess energy. At 4 months, she's really just a baby who wants to play all the time. And Huskies are very energetic dogs so she will have loads of energy to burn off. Taking her for walks every day (rain or shine!) will curb some of the energy, but with pups you should only walk them for 5 minutes per month of age - so 4 x 5 = 20 minutes of walking per day. Playing with her, esp chasing or fetching games (with tennis balls etc.) will help burn off some energy too.

If you don't want her barking at you, you need to correct it. When she barks, ignore her (turn your back, fold your arms etc.). If it continues, put her into a different room (preferably with something like a baby gate) until she calms. She's just playing with you but as she gets older the habit may become very tiresome. Try to play on your terms, when you want to not when she wants you to. By playing with her when she barks you will just encourage it.

With regards to the toileting in the house (and on the bed) - she's 4 months old, she will have accidents around the place. Restricting her to certain rooms while she is being house trained is the best way to prevent unwanted surprises around the house. Bring her out every hour, she may or may not go, and give her lots of praise when she goes. Let her out when she gets up, after she eats, after play time and last thing at night. You need to set her up for success - the more she goes outside, the faster the message will go in that this is where to go. If she gets into the habit of going in the house, it can be a hard habit to break so putting in the work while she is young will really pay off. Once she gets the idea, you can add a command (eg. "go toilet" or something similar) while she is going so that she gets the message that when you want her to go - by using the command - she should go.

Just remember, she is still very young and mistakes happen. If you are consistent and have lots of patience, she will learn what is ok and not ok behaviour.

tulipi

huskies are really active - bred to pull sleds.
How often is she taken for a walk? She's still young so you shouldn't take her out for too long of a walk but you need to wear her out basically.

So walks(not too long since she's still growing) and jogs when she's grown. Letting her out to in the back garden isn't the same as a walk. And lots of play in the back garden with her or in the house - fetch etc.

That way she'll be more worn out and less prone to causing mayhem. Dogs get crazy when they don't have enough exercise and activity - especially active dogs

CreedonsDogDayc

My female husky is 11 months now. She's pretty well trained, but she still wont come in from the back garden in my parents house. she does the same thing, sits and just looks at me. She knows the 'here' command, and KNOWS she's gonna get a treat, but they're such an intelligent breed that they are very independent. I know she thinks to herself "screw the treat, i want to stay out here".

In my garden she always comes back in, if I can see that she's considering staying outside I open the treat cupboard and she comes running in.

So with regards to the coming inside, use one command and 90% of the time give her a treat when she comes in and lots of praise.

Huskies are a handful as a breed. If your a first time dog owner, I definitely wouldn't recommend them as a breed of choice.

Do you know anyone with a young playful dog? if you borrowed the dog every now and again for a play date it would provide vital socialisation for your dog and would burn off lots of exercise.


I would DEFINATELY crate train your dog, if you do it right it will help so much with toilet training and will give your dog a secure den to retreat to, and somewhere safe to put your dog when you need to restrain them!

Hang on in there , i did and its worth it in the end. I have sent you a private message with some details .

Qualitymark

She needs training - she's dying for a proper relationship with a human, and training will give her this.

Go to www.clickertraining.com and read a load of the articles there - it'll give you a start. Excellent site for training.

I had this exact problem with my guy , and every now and again it comes out. The main thing you have to understand about Husky's is they are a little different to other dogs when it comes to the understanding how their mind works.
Right now she is just trying to establish were she is in the pack . You give out to her ,she is going to push back and she will really test your limits. With regards the potty training, it took me 6 months to get him fully trained . Even after that as an act of defiance he sprayed the sofa a couple of time's .
The one thing people always mention about Husky's is "consistency" and this is very very true.

If she is bold dont wait , just put her out , give her 5 minutes and take her in. If she does it again , you do the same thing. If she goes to the toilet inside, make sure she knows that its wrong and put her out. Im not joking but this can take up to a month before you start seeing improvement.

Here is the other little thing about Husky's , they do not have an urge to please you like other dog's. If you ask her to sit. She is just going to say no. Why should i ? If you have a treat , she will do it in an instance.

Again Consistency is the key , hang in there and it will work out .

EGAR

All good advise given above. I've got one more question for you: how much protein does the food contain that you are feeding her?

I often have dogs here in the trainings classes that climb the walls because their diet it too high in protein.

tk123

EGAR wrote: »

All good advise given above. I've got one more question for you: how much protein does the food contain that you are feeding her?

I often have dogs here in the trainings classes that climb the walls because their diet it too high in protein.

+1 our puppy has really calmed down since switching from RC to Burns!

Fennor

EGAR wrote: »

All good advise given above. I've got one more question for you: how much protein does the food contain that you are feeding her?

I often have dogs here in the trainings classes that climb the walls because their diet it too high in protein.

Thanks for your reply. Im not sure how much protein is in it. We are feeding her the pedigree puppy nuts and we mix in some of the canned puppy food in the mornings. Sometimes she eats it and other times it may be 3 - 4pm before she eats anything.

Fennor

Thanks everybody for your replies. Our dog is calmed down a lot now. She doesnt act as crazy and I've been taking all your advice. She is very very playful and I give her plenty of play time. Shes a chancer tho she loves testing to see how much she can get away with. Had a right mess made in the house when I came home from work yesterday. But she was left on her own (parents were working too) so I'm guessing she got very bored. But apart from that, everything has been okay since the last day I posted

ISDW

I'd get her off the pedigree as soon as possible, it has been described as McDonalds for kids - imagine how hyper a child would be if eating that every day:D However, my first sibe had to have pedigree as a puppy as it was the only food that kept her poos solid.

Fennor

What would you recommend getting for her to eat instead of the pedigree food? Sorry for not knowing a lot, I've never had a dog before :S

ISDW

Fennor wrote: »

What would you recommend getting for her to eat instead of the pedigree food? Sorry for not knowing a lot, I've never had a dog before :S

Oh dear, a husky as a first dog, you're going to have a very, very steep learning curve:D

Sibe's stomachs can be notoriously 'difficult' and all of them are different. What one dog will thrive on, will make another one have the runs all the time. I would recommend a good quality food, this doesn't have to cost the earth, you will feed less of a top quality food than a cheaper one that is full of filler, so even though they seem really expensive, they work out at about the same. It depends whats available where you live, or you can get it online. I am feeding a salmon food at the moment that I get from a company called Paddypaw in Belfast, but I get it by the pallet as I use so much. I've heard good things about CSJ, but its new in Ireland, so may be difficult to source. Orijen is supposed to be fantastic, so is the Land of Holistic Pets foods, both Luath and Robbies. Again, Skinners is supposed to be pretty good, but new to the country, so not the easiest to source. Red Mills, but the top end of their range is again, meant to be good, I feed their greyhound food to mine sometimes when they're working, they need the higher protein.

lorebringer

Fennor wrote: »

What would you recommend getting for her to eat instead of the pedigree food? Sorry for not knowing a lot, I've never had a dog before :S

Just to list a few good quality foods - Burns, Origen, Acana, Royal Canin, Arden Grange, Red Mills Leader, James Wellbeloved... list goes on...

Most of the above mentioned brands do a "puppy food" which would be a good idea for your dog while she is growing. You can buy in bulk so it works out about the same as the cheaper foods in the long run. Steer clear of the supermarket brands (Bakers, Pedigree etc.) and try to feed all dry to start with. She'll get used to it and then, if you like, you can add other bits (meat etc.) to it. Decent foods can be bought in pet stores, vet practices and online (www.zooplus.ie or www.zooplus.co.uk are good sites).

As ISDW mentioned, Siberian Huskys can have sensitive stomachs so it may be a case of a few trails and errors before you find what suits your dog. When switching over foods, do it over a few days (gradually increasing the new food and gradually phasing out the old) so as to prevent a runny tummy.