Any tips for dealing with a teenage husky?

Kai is 10.5 months old now and I think she's getting some attitude. Her crate is in our living room and she has been crate trained since she was a young pup. If we sleep in the living room for whatever reason, we'll let her roam at night. She usually sleeps in front of a fan (Yes, we have an industrial strength fan going for her in the dead of winter. She likes the air. can you tell who runs the house ) If we sleep in our bed, she gets crated, which she's fine with. We have tried to invite her in our bed, but she gets too hot and isn't much of a cuddler yet, so she never stays very long.

Two nights ago, I was asleep for about 40 min, when I hear her shriek from her crate. It wasn't a howl, it sounded like she was scared of something. I quickly run to the living room to let her out. I ended up sleeping in the living room and letting her roam. We thought that was weird and decided to play music for her last night (which we had done when she was younger). At 2am, I hear her making noises again. When I get to the living room, I notice she was in the typical husky position where she's on her back with her paws up making noises. She then noticed me and wanted to come out to sleep on our balcony. She may have been fine if I hadn't gone out so quickly.

Have any of your huskies done this? I'm thinking it was a nightmare or something, especially the first night, judging by the sounds she made.

She doesn't mind the crate, but prefers sleeping on the living room floor or on our balcony. I think she's also just trying to get her way.

This morning we were leaving to bring her to doggy daycare. We always instruct her to sit before putting her harness on. She kept acting as if she didn't hear us and proceeded to attack cardboard (her new favorite activity). It wasn't until I actually got a treat did she listen to me.

It seems as though she's just getting more attitude recently and becoming more rebellious. She's definitely testing our limits. We did obedience class when she was younger, but haven't done the intermediate class yet. We're signing her back up because we intended to anyways, but feel it's especially a good time now.

Any tips for dealing with a teenage husky? An already stubborn breed going through the stubborn phase.

Tip number 1 from the voice of experience: Do NOT think and convey to puppy dog that you think any of this behavior is cute or "poor puppy, let me comfort you..." Much harder to extinguish undesirable behaviors after that...how do I know? Cause I've made all the mistakes  (There was the time we had to stop the car to get some cheese curds 'cause I used up all his treats before coming home...Daddy knew why he was whining, I thought doggy was in distress -Daddy knew best - gave him a cheese curd and he was quiet the rest of the way home  ) 

The thing that works the best for me and Doggy is for me to just go still, wait, and not engage in anything I don't want to recur. (I'm still paying for thinking how cute he was when, after months of walking wonderfully on leash, he got bored, decided he wanted to play tug with the leash, decided he wanted the treats in my pocket, decided a belly rub in the middle of the road was absolutely called for...I indulged him, now, I'm back to standing still, staring at the sky, waiting...  

These damn dogs are SOOooo smart - let something happen once and it's learned! For my dog, waiting and ignoring seem to work best to extinguish behavior. Sometimes, its so hard to remember - "do I want this behavior to happen again?" before responding...

Just remember too that you aren't gonna be able to train this away or remove it from her. It's a normal and necessary stage of her natural development and she has to go through it. You can perhaps make small improvements here and there, but you're not dealing with a behavioral problem that requires intervention from a trainer or an obedience course.

You're dealing with a normal, essential stage of her life.

seattlesibe wrote:

Just remember too that you aren't gonna be able to train this away or remove it from her. It's a normal and necessary stage of her natural development and she has to go through it.  You can perhaps make small improvements here and there, but you're  not dealing with a behavioral problem that requires intervention from a trainer or an obedience course.

You're dealing with a normal, essential stage of her life.

haha yes, my thoughts exactly. I think that, while I expected the teenage stage to come, I naively thought that since she was doing so well and thus she wouldn't rebel as much. It's absolutely a natural stage and we will do our best to make it as easy as it can be. But we fully expect to go through times where she will pretend not to hear, where she'll frustrate us to no end for doing what she wants, it's all part of raising a puppy! Especially a Siberian husky puppy.

I was just curious as to what people have done that may have eased the teenage period a bit.

Well I think a huge part of it is a function of the foundation laid in puppyhood. Most obedience training and a dog's basic personality (calmness, hyperness, energy levels, neediness, etc) is foundational and set before the teenage phases.

The great thing I utilized once Link was older was context dependent behavioral training. For example, he is never allowed to mouth me (teeth on skin) unless I'm down on all 4s engaging him and I started it. Then, he can play with me as though I were a husky. Prior to this age though, I never ever engaged him in rough play or allowed him to mouth me at all.

So his foundation was set as teeth-never-on-skin (of course he still did it but he was never encouraged or allowed to). Now, with that foundational expectation set, I can build off of it and allow it in a specific context.

Now is when trust amd respect come into play big time and this is a great time to use their cognitive skills to teach about context.

That's my big strategy advice for the teenage phase.

they absolutely need outlets for their behavior right now and I find that using context specific training allows them to utilize you for their needs and therefore further building their trust and respect for you.

seanbrunett wrote:

We have tried to invite her in our bed, but she gets too hot and isn't much of a cuddler yet, so she never stays very long.

My girls do the exact same thing. People are always like "OH, I bet they are great to cuddle up with in the winter!". No...no they aren't. They will cuddle for a few minutes then they have to be in their own space. Journey has discovered she likes sleeping between the curtain and the window. Nice and cool.

seanbrunett wrote:

This morning we were leaving to bring her to doggy daycare. We always instruct her to sit before putting her harness on. She kept acting as if she didn't hear us and proceeded to attack cardboard (her new favorite activity). It wasn't until I actually got a treat did she listen to me.

It seems as though she's just getting more attitude recently and becoming more rebellious. She's definitely testing our limits.

This is typical husky "selective listening". It is worse when they are teenagers and I'd like to say they grow out of it completely but..... ha! Even Shaqua, who is very well behaved, does this on occasion. I tell her to sit and she pretends like she didn't hear me. I know she heard me, and if she didn't she saw the hand signals (I always couple commands with hand signals.... I can use them interchangeably with my girls. I can use the hand signal alone, use the command alone, or do both. I do both most of the time but in different scenarios or settings it may be necessary to tell them to sit silently or my hands are full and unable to use the hand signal so I think it is good to teach them both).

You can even see it in their eyes. They KNOW what you want them to do but they seem to have this "Hmm...do I WANT to listen" look. It will get better with time, just be patient. And no matter how hard it is don't fall victim to the "Oh, you are just too cute!" routine... I've done it....I still fall for it occasionally....but all it does is reinforce that ignoring your commands is ok. I sweat, huskies KNOW how cute they are and they use it to their advantage. It's pure evil! LOL

CavingSiberian wrote:

Journey has discovered she likes sleeping between the curtain and the window. Nice and cool.

HAH, Layla does the same thing. We have a big sliding glass door in our den that she uses to go out to the back yard, and when she's bored or tired she'll lay between the curtain and window and watch what's going on outside (though there's usually not much to see) and then take a nap.

CavingSiberian wrote:

You can even see it in their eyes. They KNOW what you want them to do but they seem to have this "Hmm...do I WANT to listen" look. It will get better with time, just be patient.

Geez, Layla hasn't even reached her teenage phase yet and she's already got selective obedience, especially when she's outdoors. Luckily we have her on a lead until we get our fence built this spring, so if she doesn't listen we can always "reel" her in, haha.

Biggest piece of advice I could give for dealing with a teenage husky... Remember you are only human. They will wind you up and push your buttons something chronic and it is ok if you have to step out of the room and take a few deep breaths
The teenage phase is one giant waiting game I have found and in all honesty you give these furballs a millimeter and they will take a mile so stay strong lol
My strategy has been to keep Orion as occupied as possible with as many different activities I can.
He goes to classes 3 times a week, I have taught him completely useless things for the sake of mental stimulation, for example the name of all of his toys so I can initiate games of hide and seek, he walks as much as I am able, he gets play dates, swimming time and if all else fails I can take him out to his breeders and his muma shows him who's boss and that he's still just a pup lol
It is an awkward phase because they are not old enough to just rig up and run the excess energy out of them.
The crate issue I don't really have advice for, I have an ongoing problem with Orion at night so I really am no help there.
The selective hearing is a hard one because they are so ridiculously stubborn, I usually just wait him out and eventually I will win but occasionally if I get sick of waiting I will give him his "watch" command (for some reason he does that one every time) then as soon as he looks at me I will give him his had signals for whatever it is I want him to do - Like Nicole I trained using both verbal command and hand signals and for some reason Orion responds far better to hand signals.
Best of Luck

I like to call it the "I'm gonna make you want to kill me stage" lol. Just stick with all the training you've been doing and be patient. I think everyone else has given pretty solid advice.

I definitely second the take time away advice.

I need to separate myself from Link sometimes because his teenage antics get me so frustrated and anxious and I don't want that to stress him out, so I just leave. Go have coffee, or a beer, or a walk, or browse in a store. Whatever.

Sometimes you just gotta get away and breathe.