Hey guys, newbie here!

We have just secured a Siberian Husky and are currently now looking at setting up our home. We did lots of research and fully understand not only the benefits of having a husky but also the disadvantages. I have raised dogs/puppies before but this will be my first husky, so a little nervous to say the least.

We have decided on a crate, as we have a 3 year old and we believe that the dog needs its own space. This space is in a room that our daughter has no access to and it means that the dog will have “peace” if needed. We have been working on “training” our 3 year old. My parents have a jack Russell so she knows what she can/can’t do a dog (i.e. no tail pulling).
We have been teaching her about what is right and wrong, and obviously will be supervised 24/7 around the dog. The same as she is with the Jack Russell. They are best buddies but only because we set these limitations, for example daughter isn’t allowed to touch any bones, food etc. and he isn’t allowed to touch teddies. If he is sleeping / lying down she is not allowed to approach, he has to come to her. So she sits down on the floor and calls him, and he will only go if he wants. When we get the dog we are also going to set clear limitations that he is not to enter her bedroom, this works in the same way as his crate, she has her own area that the dog is not allowed to enter. If there is anything else people think we should be doing with our child then I would be happy to hear, I may not have mentioned everything we do as it would be a novel in itself but I wouldn’t take any advice as harsh / personally.

In a lot of the books / online we read that obedience training is pointless as they are so stubborn but I wanted to know first-hand? I taught my parents jack Russell his obedience but because he didn’t go to training classes he never received the same level of dog socialisation. I am really wanting to attend obedience classes, first and foremost to teach obedience, secondly to socialise with other dogs / people of all walks of life, and thirdly to make contact with other husky owners so advice and support.

Also I have read in the books and even in this forum regarding not being allowed off the leash. The Jack Russell was attacked at the park one day and has never been let off the lead since for his own safety but is it appropriate to use a training line with a husky instead of allowing off the leash ? When we take JR to beach we have a huge training line, meaning he can go explore and do things he wants to but all in the safe distance of ourselves. This has worked really well for us and has also given us the chance to give him plenty of exercise, i.e. running with the long line meaning he can go at a slower / faster pace than the human. While Im talking about leash I want to point out that at no time do I let me daughter take the leash, as I know some people are quite happy to let their children walk their dog but I am not one of those people.

As I have said before it was myself that trained the JR to sit, lie down, come, etc…. however I think I started late around 6 months. So I’m wondering when is actually the best time to start training as such. We will collect him when he is around 8 weeks old, and I know he has to have his injections before being socialised with other dogs.
We obviously bring him home and let him settle into the new environment but how early should you be teaching him to for example sit nicely to get his dinner etc.. Due to the nature of the dogs we want to set clear boundaries from day one and wondered if really day one is acceptable to start saying no you’re not allowed in their or on the couch etc.


Once he is 6 months we are going to have neutered which I hope in your opinion is the correct thing to do. We are also looking at activity clubs for the dog to attend weekly as well as obedience to keep exercise fun, mind occupied etc.. Is this recommended for husky as I can’t find anything online and again when would this be recommended as we have read we need to carry down stairs etc. until there over 1 year old. The one we are looking at does Agility obstacle course and fly ball. These are just activity clubs not for competition so everything can be done at own pace etc.

We are quite lucky in that the breeder is a family friend and the dog is a pedigree (checked and verified include hip scores etc.)so I know they would help with any problems but I really want to be a responsible owner. I know in the area I live (Scotland UK) that these dogs can be seen as scary so I want to have trust in my dog.

We have put a lot of thought and effort into our decision and are currently dog proofing our home. I.e. wires etc. And I believe that we have made the right decision.

Your thoughts and opinions are welcomed

Thanks
Lyndsay

We started loki's training at 13 weeks right when we got him and the rescue did training with him 1-2 weeks before. He is in puppy abc class now and doing good. I think huskies are actually mid way in how well they can be trained, not at bottom of list like beagles and mastiffs. The rescue we got him from said he would excel at obediance though and he is pointed out as good example in class as he learns really fast, so it may be he is just unique. I have seen lots of husky videos here showing pretty well trained dogs though. They are super smart dogs. It is more off leash most cannot be trusted. Just remember lots of positive re-enforcement.

Hey Techgirl!

Thanks for the reply. I really want to go to obedience for obviously many different reasons so I think its best if I do

Im actually looking forward to it to be honest!

Sounds like you have done your research on Huskies kuddos on that.  

I got my first husky he was 9 months old we enrolled him in training class about 2 months after we got him he did great.. The second one was an adult rescue she was 2 years and we took both of them to a intermediate training class and they both pass. We work on the training with them daily. Have you looked into the "Nothing in Life is Free" training. Here is a link that talks about it basely the dog has to do something to get what he wants food, treats, going out side ( except when a puppy I know you have to work on house training).

http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/dogs/tips/training_nothing_in_life_is_free.html

Hey thanks. Ill check out that link!

He will be about 8 weeks when we get him so still the cute puppy stage. We seen these bells that the dog rings to go outside, so thinking of getting these.

The only thing we cant get info on is food. In the UK we obviously have different "brands" to the US etc but everything I find is US based food brands.

It sounds like you have done your research and have a good idea of how you want to train your dog. My advice is if you know that you have those boundaries that you want to establish, stick to them. I have found that huskies are masters of 'that look' that just melts your heart and makes you say "Well maybe just this one time..." And then they're in for life. Haha.

We have had a lot of success with training leads. I think the biggest help for us in our training lead/off leash training has been our dog park. It's quite large, wooded and rarely crowded, so it was a place that we could work with Bode from the very beginning on sticking with us in an environment where he could be off leash with no worries. Outside of that, we use a 50-75ft lead for outings like the beach or my family's wooded 50 acre property. Usually we don't hold on to it since he does well, it's more there for safety measures so we can catch him if he takes off or if we need to reign him in. Bode is pretty good about it, but I would not trust him completely off leash simply because it isn't worth the risk. What we use for a lead in those situations is just a cheap, light, braided nylon rope that you can get from any hardware store in any length you want and attach a clip to it. That way you don't have to worry if it gets ruined and it is also great for the water since it floats and doesn't get weighed down.

Welcome! When you say you have secured a pup, does that mean it has been born yet and picked out or is the dam still pregnant? Either way, we'd love pics of the mom or even the dam and sire!

Definitely take him to obedience classes! It's important for all the reasons you mentioned. Plus its a great way to have fun and bond with you puppy! You sound really prepared and its great to see someone approaching it that way. Just know that no matter how prepared you are, you'll have a moment or two where you think, "why did I think I could do this?" Husky puppies are awesome and crazy and will make you question your sanity lol, but just know they are worth it and just know that things will get better!

thanks Everyone

Im hoping some of you can offer some advice.

My partner and I got our husky a week past Friday . As previously said this is our first husky, although not our first dog.

The first night, he was very nervous but was fine with us once he had a wee sniff about. He has a cage to sleep in and was up 3 times during the night, each time to go to toilet.

The dog (male) has really taken to my partner (male) and its not becoming a problem. When Im left with him, or another member of my family is watching him , he just howls for my partner. With myself, he does eventually fall asleep but it is a good hour. My sister is currently babysitting my daughter and him and he has been howling since 11.45, its now 13.20!!

I have tried correcting him, placing him on his sleeping mat, giving him toys etc. but he just will not relent. He has also started doing this in his cage at night while we sleep. He will get up for toilet but once back in his cage he will howl and cry. Unfortunately we live in a flat so we can’t just allow him to howl etc. as we can be thrown out but I just don’t know what to do to stop him and to make him realise this is bad behaviour.

Anyone got any ideas how to stop him howling? My partner has tried to take a step back and not be as involved in anything to try to detach himself but I just don’t know what to do. My last pup (Jack Russell) was the complete opposite, he loved everyone! However husky only takes to my partner.

When we had our first injection the vet mentioned it and how he was extremely nervous and that this can develop as gets older and obviously we don’t want this at all!

We have a 2 ½ year old and he has now taken to barking at her. For example if she is standing in the living room and goes to the couch he will run after her barking and snipping at her. I have put him on his sleep mat and told him bad then ignored him but it is just not working. I think it may be a dominance thing? Any other suggestions?

We researched loads before we got him (hence why we found this site) and asked loads of questions but now we just don’t know what to do. I don’t want an out of hand aggressive dog and I certainly don’t want to lose my home.

The other thing is toileting! He was doing really well and toileting in a spot near the front door (if we didn’t manage to get him outside) but now he has just started toileting where ever he wants. We have watched for signs, but if you move him he just doesn’t bother doing it for another hour or so! Also when were outside he is more interested in things like leaves rather than toileting. I know he is a pup and its all new to him but as I say my Jack Russell was the opposite. He toilet trained quickly on pads, then outside no problem. Never cried apart from first night. And loves everyone.

I would really appreciate some thoughts/ suggestions!

Hi

Congratulations on your new fur-baby, you certainly sound like you have done your homework

I also have a pup with attachment issues and first things first - it does get better! Your baby has just been separated from everything he knows and felt safe with so try not to judge him on his behaviour quite yet, he has a lot of settling to do and the puppy he is right now isn't necessarily who he will be in a few weeks

Orion bonded very quickly with me when we got him and it did not take long for it to develop into an attachment issue - he would howl and scream whenever I left his line of sight. For us it has been a slow process but it is feasible, here is what I did...
I would pop Orion behind a baby gate with me on the other side then step out of his sight and immediately back again and click and treat for silence (Orion is clicker trained) then gradually I increased the time I was out of his sight (and I mean very gradually!) I did this at random times throughout the day and as often as I could in as many different places as I could (kind of like playing hide and seek) I'm sure I looked crazy but it does help. As he got older he then started recognising "triggers" to me leaving and started reacting to them getting all hyped up and panicky so I started doing his triggers randomly too - putting on my shoes walking round taking them off, picking up my keys going outside then immediately coming back etc etc all the while clicking treating and praising every time he was quiet. At 7 months old Orion still has attachment issues but I work with him daily and he is constantly improving, every now and again he will regress but I just keep up with the reinforcing. I have never punished Orion for this behaviour because for him it is not naughtiness he is anxious, so I have kept with purely positive reinforcement to help him through it. I know it sounds like I have been working on it for a long time (and I have) but in my case I have a partner that is not particularly involved with Orion at all, if he was then the process would have been a lot easier. If you and your partner work on this together you will get there

Orion also howled, although he did it an night (sometimes until 3 or 4am straight) and the best way i found to get him to stop was just to distract him - if i gave him a frozen king or something when i knew he was in a situation where he would cry (but hadn't started making noise yet) then he would get distracted and kind of just forget to complain :)if he had already started i ignored him, i didn't tell him off or anything just completely ignored him. I figured that bad attention (telling him off) is still attention and really that was what he wanted (which would reinforce the behaviour and he would keep going) so I just did nothing. He soon learnt - huskies can't stand to be ignored!
I also taught Orion the "speak" & "quiet" command - you won't believe how handy they are with a vocal dog

The issue with him and your daughter is difficult, was he leashed when they were introduced so boundaries were properly established? Our youngest niece is 18 months (so has no concept of right and wrong way to behave with a puppy) and we made sure when they were around each other initially he was under control, also the first thing we started working on with Orion was the "gentle" command so he knew not to be too rough. hopefully someone else will chime in with better advice for you with this one!

Toilet training is notoriously hard with Huskies, it took me 4 weeks so don't despair he will get it! I took Orion out every 20 mins whether he showed signs of wanting to go or not and when he did I praised like crazy, eventually he got it. Persistence will win the potty battle just stock up on good cleaner in the mean time! Oh and the distraction thing is really typical :)Orion will still stop mid potty to chase butterflies or something equally silly

I know it's hard to adjust to some of the Husky quirks after having a different breed that picked everything up easily - my last dog was a goldie, she was such an obedient sweetie, the complete opposite to Orion's tenacity but for everything I have a better bond with Orion thanks to the blood sweat and tears I have put into him, your boy will never be like your last pup but I guarantee you will love him for it even if you are having some teething issues

It definitely gets better.

With the howling at night, do you have him sleeping in same room with you? I noticed Loki more easily relaxed when we put a crate in our room for him. You can also do clicker training where you put puppy in crate, then every time they stop whining you click and treat. Slowly you can move farther away. When they calm down, you click and treat. Also, feeding Loki in his crate for about a week helped him get use to it. Loki cried a lot in his crate, now his only seperation issue is when I go upstairs and he has found he can knock down the gate to get to me. He only does it when I go upstairs though.

I would maybe use drag line (leash) on dog around child and practicing zero tolerance on his acting excited or rough with baby. Then, you can stop him before he gets to her. Also, reward heavily with when he is calm around your daughter. Does he accept treats nicely? If yes, I know with my lab and daughter, we had her give him treats and make him do sits. So he got attention from her only when sitting or laying, but we still had to be careful to be around at all times in case he got zoomies or something since he was huge and could knock her down so easily. Otherwise, she would sit in our laps or next to us when he did training with our dogs (not huskies) when our daughter was young.

Are you using puppy pads? If yes, I may suggest not using them. Just keep taking him out when he starts inside. Lift him up as he is going. He will get the point. If you have fenced in yard, take him out on leash and only let offleash once he goes. If you must keep leashed, then don't walk around too much until he goes. Then, reward with fun time afterwards.