I've read that Huskies are very friendly to everyone for the most part. I've noticed with mine since day 1 that she really only wanted to be around me for the first week or so, even now she follows me everywhere, even in the bathroom. jumps on the edge of counter to see what I'm doing. Jumps up with me if I lay down for a nap. Wondering if this is normal, because when I take her to visit my bf's parents, She doesn't want to walk up to them, and stays hidden by me, even having them over at our house, she's the same.
Is it normal for Huskies to not be overly friendly with "strangers"? Or is it possibly just the age?

She's at an age right now where she's likely to be wary or scared of everything new. Make sure she gets positive exposure to as many people and other animals as possible. I would like to stress these experiences should be 100% positive for her. At around 16 weeks she's just leaving that critical socialization period for puppies, when they learn about the human world and what types of people and things are good and which people and things are bad or negative. Take it slow and let her observe first and when she shows confidence and interest, praise and give treats. When she approaches a stranger by herself, praise her and let the person she approaches say hi and pet her, if they would like. Another great tip is to let her approach someone and have them give her a treat.

It may be more difficult now that she is leaving the critical socialization period of her life, but socialization is possible through a dog's entire life. Keep exposing her to as many new things as you can in a positive way, and as she grows she will gain confidence and will be comfortable being friendly with all different types of people and animals.

Our boy was very shy with strangers up until about 6 months, even then he picks and chooses who is super friendly with. Generally huskies are known for being stranger friendly. You don't want your pup to be scared of strangers, so you need to do a lot of positive socialization. We made sure that we always had treats with us and would give the stranger a treat to give to him so that he understood strangers as a positive experience. Expose her to as many different kinds of situations as you can, but gradually so you don't overwhelm her.

Also, I'd say that when she does act shy and scared, don't coddle or comfort her. Just ignore it and act like it's no big thing. If you try to comfort her, she may take it as praise and think it's a good thing to be scared in that situation. If you show confidence or act neutral in a situation, she will sense it and it can help ease her fears. If she's overly shy or scared about a situation, that's a good sign to calmly take her out of the situation and either start over or take her back a few steps and go more slowly.

capellalayla wrote:

Also, I'd say that when she does act shy and scared, don't coddle or comfort her. Just ignore it and act like it's no big thing. If you try to comfort her, she may take it as praise and think it's a good thing to be scared in that situation. If you show confidence or act neutral in a situation, she will sense it and it can help ease her fears. If she's overly shy or scared about a situation, that's a good sign to calmly take her out of the situation and either start over or take her back a few steps and go more slowly.

I strongly second this - got my first husky as a 10 week old (long gone, now). When I walked her, every time I saw a large dog, I picked her up (I was a scaredy cat new mama  ). Didn't take long before I was knocked to my senses - one day while walking her, a very friendly, nice dog approached and though I thought Sasha was big enough and the other dog benign enough that I let her meet the other dog. She thought otherwise and came running to me to be picked up. Fortunately, I wasn't too stupid to read the signs and now longer picked her up but encouraged her to "meet and greet"! Liz has some excellent suggestions.

Thanks for all of the great advice everyone! Liz, you could not be any more right! I've started to not "baby" her or pay any attention and she seems to be more open. She even played ball with the neighborhood kids earlier!
I agree 100% that positivity is very important!