Hi everyone!

Just wanted to get your thoughts on something. Zeus is around 10 weeks old now, and I've been taking him out on a leash, but then letting him off-leash to play and run around. I stay in an apartment complex, but they have a big field in-between two apartments that isn't closed in. I usually let him run around off-leash and run with him and have him chase me. He NEVER leaves my side while off-leash.

My question is, is this normal for puppies to not wander off or run away like people say most huskies do? Also, when he gets older, will that behavior change and make off-leash play impossible (when not fenced in)?

Would love to hear your thoughts or experiences with this!  

Right now your dog is a puppy so he will generally not run too far from you. As your dog gets older though, they really develop their own personalities and will run off if they find something more interesting to them. Huskies are also very prey driven so just the sight of a squirrel or bird can send them into a full on run. Then they get distracted and continue to roam to find this small creature that they will ignore any recall from you. This is why most husky owners do not trust their dogs off leashes. My dog is great and will stay by my side UNTIL he sees a dog (favorite thing) or a kid (even more favorite thing). Then he would run off to see them and completely ignore me. They are very smart, stubborn dogs

I stopped letting them play off their leashes in the yard when I could no longer catch them (obviously that didn't last to long), I thought better safe than sorry. You will notice when your puppy starts to get comfortable and wonder a little bit, that's when its time for the leash all the time. Because one day he could just take off and surprise you and something bad could happen. Especially if you haven't taught him any kind of recall.

I would agree with what has been said. Here in the next couple months you will see your dependent puppy start to wander off and start ignoring your calls. My advice would be to get a 50ft leash off amazon, I have two of them, they're great for letting your pup run around and play fetch in the area between the buildings. I actually have something exactly like that outside my apartment, and without a backyard 50ft leashes are my outlet to letting them have some freedom if we can't make it out to the dog park.

I'll definitely have to look into getting that 50ft leash! I usually do most of my dog shopping on amazon because of the cheap prices, so I'm surprised I never ran across it.

Also, I guess when he gets bigger he will chase after other dogs and people, but right now he's afraid of other dogs because they bark. He loves to bark at me inside the house, but once we're outside, he never opens his mouth lol.

I keep my eyes on him at all times when he's off-leash. I guess when I start to notice him wandering off more and more, I'll immediately discontinue off-leash play.

This is the perfect time to work on recall and maintaining a safe proximity.  It's difficult to say when it "clicks" in their mind but it seems they are gonna stay close by right up until they just don't anymore...that is the general warning anyway.  

For anyone thinking that their Husky is the exception while they are young is misguided.  That said, my pup is about 6.5 months old and he spent the past 3 days off leash in the woods and he never left our sight and followed us like a shadow.  Whether or not he is an exception remains to be seen.  But for now he is fine.  

I read somewhere that breed specific behaviors/personality quirks kick in around 9 months: herding dogs will start herding, retrievers will start proactively retrieving, hunting dogs will start hunting, tracking hounds will start proactively tracking, working dogs will start working... Huskies will start running.  I have nothing empirical to back this up but this general *warning* has been stated in a few different sources.  

Just food for thought.

I used to be able to let Maggie off leash until she was 9 months old when her strong prey drive kicked in. Maggie used to get out when I lived in the mountains she come back 30 mins later.

I think it really depends on the dog. I have met some mals and huskies that can be off leash and others can't.

As a puppy he will stick to you like glue but as he grows that will change greatly depending on the dog and also on how you handle his training. I can only talk about my own experiences with Thane and being off leash but I started off-leash training at 10 weeks and he is now 1yr and 4 months old and we have no issues currently. But I have put in a ridiculous amount of work and time into his off-leash training and to this day I am still working on refining it.

If you are close to busy roads (which sounds like it may be the case) I would suggest keeping him on a long leash cause he is still young and you just never know be it him (Still growing and in training) or the environment you are in (cars, prey, dogs, crazy people). Husky or not this world can just be unpredictable and it's better to be safe then sorry.

On the whole Off-leash subject I like to think:
A fool believes that their dog is a special snowflake and can be off leash without proper structure or training and an idiot will tell you it's an impossible goal to achieve because they themselves cannot do it.