My bond with Smokey my husky has been pretty steady. He still doesn't like to cuddle but sometimes he'll put his head on my tummy when I'm lying down. He's super independent and I don't consider him very loyal to us per say...

My bond with Zeeva my GSD however has increased with time. She lets me cuddle with her and lays down by me if I ask her to without moving until I do. In fact I think she's developed a little bit of separation anxiety we've gotten so close...

So, do you think your bond with your husky has grown over time? Do you think dog breed makes a difference with respect to bond over time?

A dog that doesn't like to cuddle doesn't mean he is not bonded with you. He simply doesn't like to cuddle.

You won't notice loyalty in a husky like you would in a GSD. A GSD will become your shadow. A husky will become your best Buddy.

My boy will not sleep in my room or with me. He tolerates cuddling but doesn't really like it. He will listen to anyone's commands and not only mine. One could think he's not loyal.

Then you see another side of loyalty. My boy doesn't get excited when my parents put their shoes on. He will not go on a walk with a friend if I don't come along. He waits for me to Wake up every single morning before doing anything in the day. I went on a 10 day 2500 miles road trip and not once was he anxious about not having the rest of the family along. My parents went to visit the family and brought the dog along without me. He got anxious and stayed by the door all evening waiting to come back home.

They show their loyalty in a different way than most other dogs IMO. Try to notice the little things.

I feel like my bond with Chuck is more brotherly than the more traditional 'father-son' type dynamic I feel like is traditionally associated with dogs. I'm the big brother of course

It has grown over time though, mostly it's acceptance that he does love being around me even if he doesnt really want me to touch him haha. He's only 7 months though, still growing.

My boy is 3 years old and I've had him for 2 years. Give yourself some time. Husky puppies are very independant compared to any other puppies. Took a good year for him to accept me completely.

Like I said they are just different. Best way to form a bond is to spend time and to fulfill his needs. I noticed the biggest change after my 10 day roadtrip alone with him. And I also noticed a difference when I started to make him run 25 miles behind the car every saturday. Now he shows me his loyalty in many different little ways.

Rundown wrote:

I started to make him run 25 miles behind the car every saturday.

How do you set that up? I've heard they're not supposed to run too far on hard tops...

First of all most of the training I did with my boy in the first year was off leash training. It was hard but it paid off in the end.

I'm Lucky anough to live close to a HUGE grass expense. It's gotta be a mile and a half long by half a mile wide.

We are allowed to drive on the grass if we don't mess it up. So i just let him out the door and start driving. He stays right with the car. I usually drive for 2 hours at 12-15mph with the occasional sprint at 28mph(his top speed)

This didn't happen overnight it required HUGE amounts of work and training. But doing this with a husky is priceless. To see them running like they were meant to.

Edit: and even on grass/snow his paws required attention.

What was the huge amounts of work and training you mentioned to get there? Curious what exactly it took to get that to work. That sounds awesome for him.

https://www.itsahuskything.com/t10347-my-husky-off-leash

Go check this. It's one of the first topics I made here. I tried to explain my training protocol as best I could. Just be ready to spend a lot of time training and eventually you'll get over the husky part and you'll find the dog Under it.

My experience with mine is that ,yes, it has changed dramatically with time.

Link was very aloof when he was a puppy and seemed like he could go days without touching either me of my partner. I would never have described him as sweet or affectionate at all prior to 10 months, even though he was fun and engaged and clearly trusted us and respected us.

Gaining his trust and respect took quite a bit of patience and consistency.

But then something clicked around month 10-11. I think he showed more affection in that month than in the previous 7 combined. He started touching us more, cuddling, asking for petting and messages, and looking at us with a sense of.......love.....for lack of a better word.

He's 13 months now and he has only gotten sweeter and more connected since. This has been a wonderful stage of his development so far, not to mention a nice departure from months 2-4 when we wondered everyday whether the little aloof, independent devil even liked us whatsoever.

It definitely changes over time ,and in our case for the better.

Well since we adopted our 2 we had to build a bond with ours, sierra and jack are both bonded more with me then ken, as much as ken wanted jack to be his dog my activities with them both created the bond I have with them. Feeding, walking, hiking, dog park visits it all helped. The 2 of them have also worked up to be good off leash above treeline on hikes as well as hanging near by camping, by the car and with our front door being open. It takes time and involvement from both sides to make it work. They have been with us almost 5 yrs and the bond just gets better and better, it could also do with their age as well sierra is almost 11 and jack almost 6....

It took almost a year for a bond to form between Zoey and I. She much preferred my boyfriend over me, and it was quite obvious. She never sat by me, but she'd sit by him. Always came to him when called even if it was me. You could just tell that she didn't love me as much as she loved him. Almost 2 years ago now I decided it would be a great bonding opportunity for Zoey and I to take obedience and agility classes. After a few weeks our bond grew and now she sometimes prefers me to my boyfriend. It's all about the work you put into it.

This is a very interesting question to me and in my experience, the bond definitely changes over time. My puppy is now 11 months and I'm finally starting to feel bonded to him. He is my second husky, and my first I got when I was 15 and she just died a few months ago. I felt bonded to her the minute I brought her home and until recently felt a deep bond and intense connection to her. She had been living with my parents for about 5 years, when we moved from Colorado to NYC, I just couldn't see changing her life that drastically, at the time she was 11. Anyway I missed her and my heart ached for her. I got Dizzy about 6 months before she died and he was such a wild little puppy I felt like I'd never have a deep feeling bond with him. It felt like he had no connection to me and didn't care about who brought him food as long as someone did. Over time, he bonded to me but it was still a shallow feeling. Within the last month, I've started to let Tasha go and as I did that my bond with Dizzy deepened. I also started looking at different approaches and philosophies on training. I have slowly started to change how I interact with him and it's definitely having a positive influence on our bond.

I'm sure your husky is bonded to you, but they don't show it like a gsd would. Also, I think you have to earn it from a husky, it's a mutual effort, vs a shepherd, which give more freely.

I really like this thread I have only had Simon for a little less than a month and he does seem to care about us more then day one but he is pretty happy to go off and do his own thing. One thing that kind of makes me smile is if he gets worried or feels overwhelmed he will come sit in between my feet. I am hoping obedience agility and skijoring will help us bond more as he gets older.

Hmmm... well, it's hard to compare a bond with a husky to a bond with another dog breed. I think the preconceived notions of dog loyalty don't quite apply to a siberian husky. That said, I definitely think Shaqua and I have become closer over the years. She still won't sleep on the bed overnight with me. She prefers to lay on the ground. I've even wasted good money on pretty, comfortable dog beds.... she prefers bare floor like tile. She does like to be *near* me though, as in if I move to a different room she will follow me and find her own corner to lay down in. She likes cuddling with me for just a few minutes, but then she is ready to have her "space". It is kind of why I love huskies. They are a lot like me: Independent and able to show love without having to be all in your face.

I thought I had a cuddler when I got Journey, but it turns out that was only a short puppy phase. She has now decided that she also prefers to sleep on the floor. The other night I asked her to come up and cuddle with me and she stood up, walked over to the curtains, and laid down behind them with only her tail sticking out. I took that as a no... ...


Ha ha! I can still tell she is tied to me, when we are at the dog park she always comes to check in with me periodically. If I spend too much time working on my thesis she comes up to get some attention, and in the morning she will lick my face to death. (LOL...unlike Shaqua, who just snuggles to get me out of bed).

Well, now that you got me story telling about my husky bonds and I remembered that moment I have to go add that pic to Journey's photo album... LOL!

Yes I honestly don't have a great bond with Koozie or Klutch as I do Keno.
And to be honest, it wasn't until Keno probably turned 2 and started the slight calm down that I actually felt the bond growing deeper. Yes I loved him, but man oh man were there days I wanted to just open the door and tell him to go find a new home lol But now he is my constant shadow when I'm home, sleeps in the bed with me and my husband.
Koozie, is just Koozie. He doesn't like much contact and likes to do his own thing and be left alone, he has always been that way, so we don't have an amazing bond, but he has his moments were he is a normal dog and you can see there is something there.
Klutch, well he is slowly and surely working his way up the pole. He has been the worst puppy ever and we almost thought about sending him back, and he is still flippin crazy, but he adores my husband like Keno does me. So I can see not having as strong of a bond with him as I do Keno, but I don't think he cares as long as my husband is around.
My akita though, she is our dog and it would kill her if we weren't around. She is true to her breed and we love her and we both have an amazing bond with her.