My dog is rescue and from the very beginning I knew she would be difficult to train/socialize because of certain behavioral signs when I got her. She has come a long way, from being scared of all dogs and people. I have introduced her to many different places & people. Now she loves all dogs and for the most part women . . . But she is scared of men!!! I don't know how to adjust this unwanted behavior. On another note she is okay with women and children as long as they are calm and approach slowly. There is instances when kids run up and grab her from behind, whereas I don't see it coming as well. It scares me because I don't want her nipping a child, but I can't tell them to be patient when I don't even see them coming! Thanks!

Makes me crazy when people just walk up to Miya, she, like yours, is shy towards men, she does pretty good with women and children. Miya is not a rescue, so I have no idea as to why she is this way. When we go out I talk to her a lot, in a soft, gentle tone and hope that people come up and let her sniff them first. I can't tell you how many times people ask her to shake, which she will, but I tell them to do a high five with her and not grab her paw to shake. Of course they grab her paw and she does the loudest yelp you'll ever hear. Haven't a clue why my husband and I can shake, but no one else can.

You may try carrying a high value treat with you and when men want to pet her let them feed her the treat. Only men so she will hopefully start figuring out that extra good stuff comes from them and that gives her a reason to at least give them a chance to not be scary.

Hm I already have tried that. It's 50/50. Sometimes she won't even care about treat and go on 'red alert'. I think it's also because most people who don't understand dogs rush her too fast (even after I warn them

I don't think the rest of my message sent. But I'm thinking about Highering a professional trainer, but I'm worried I'll waste my money. I feel like I've tried everything and just have keep trying maybe. I've had her for about 10 months.

And nova is like Miya! It's so strange isn't it. At least I know there is other dogs like this. I have had dogs my whole life, all rescues, but never with this particular issue. Sometimes I don't mind it though when I'm running at night haha.

If you decide to go the trainer route really research your trainers and chose one that has experience with northern breeds if you can. Not all trainers are created equal and be sure to quiz them on what style of training they do. Are they positive reinforcement? The nice thing about going through a trainer is they often times have access to many stimulants that can be used to help your dog all while being in a controlled environment. My dog goes to training for dog aggression. He has dogs of all levels to work with her around which is much safer than trying to work with her at the park where you don't have full control of the other dogs involved. If you chose the right trainer and are willing to put in the time to do the homework, because you will have to put in time everyday between sessions to work on what you learned last week, it won't be a waste of money. A good trainer maybe able to also help you get to the root of what causes her fear.

Jenn,

Excellent advice, there are no trainers for me within a hundred mile radius, that is one reason I'm here on the forums. Miya doesn't see treats as a reward. The most difficult for me is when she totally mistrusts certain men than others, her hackles come up, to be honest the men her hackles come up are the ones I don't trust either. Now that's sensitivity, there's a bagger girl at my local grocery store, she acts and looks more like a guy and she is slightly mentally disabled, the only female Miya has put up her hackles with.

Another oddity of hers is the f-bomb, we don't normally cuss, but if she hears the f word man she goes and hides. My husband was playing call of duty, I was in the bathroom doing laundry and he starts cussing dropping the f word, Miya goes in the bathroom, as I go to leave she blocked me in the bathroom. Explain that one. She loves us equally, he isn't mean to her, but she hates that word. If I stub my toe and say it off she goes. The bathroom incident I believe she thought he was yelling at me, he wasn't, but I think she was protecting me.

I put in a post somewhere else that a husky psychologist would have a blast with her, we got her at 5 weeks old, how on earth did she develop these issues?    


Wanted to add, last night we went for a walk, and one of my neighbors came out to say hi, he was on his side of his fence and Miya went up to him, he is older, drinking a beer, already drunk, and she has never really met him. The man was smart put his hand down so she could sniff, she was ok with him so she got on her hind legs and propped herself up against fence, he gave her a few pets, talked to her softly, the next thing you know YELP, poor guy was I didn't do anything, I had to tell him she's a drama queen.   I never know what type of reaction I'm going to get with her and men.

She could be picking up on the tension when the word is used and building an association. Just like a dog learns "outside" or "walk" and gets excited. She knows the F bomb is bad and to duck and cover.

I have to wonder if her yelping is the same as her saying "enough". Her nerves might get the best of her and so she yelps to signal stop same as she would with another dog if they had played too hard and she didn't want to anymore. Just a thought.

Jenn,

Thank you for the insight. With the f word, to me there is no tension, but to her maybe. The yelping thing, she does seem to be over it with people quickly, where everyone just wants to love on her, and she gives me this look like "ok mom can we go now" I want her to be sociable with people, but I do believe she has a low tolerance to people in general. Last night she was still jumping up, so I figured she was ok with him, then the yelp, so I guess it's body says yes/ mind says no, kind of thing.    at tractor supply last week, some idiot asked if she'd shake I told him yes but do a high five, he didn't listen and Yelp, I had to laugh because her look and yelp sounded like"Stranger/Danger"

Nova, I'm sorry kind of stole your thread, and I agree it's nice to know you are not alone in the husky weirdness behavior.

off topic Jenn, how is Kenzi's head cold?

We have always taken a smother-them-with-it-until-it-don't-bother-them approach to scary stuff. Keno is scared to death of cars. Walked him down the road three times a day until he quit laying down upon approach. Kenzi didn't like loud cars at first so every night she had to walk circles around a started race car. Now she goes to drag races. We will have to do this with Keno as well. With men, I would just ask every guy I knew to show up at the park one day and we would spend a couple hours walking up to every one of them until she settled. Someday I'll start breaking Kenzi's fear of fireworks.

Kenzi's head cold seems to have gotten a little better. She did kinda sleep last night. I made her lay in the bathroom while I took a hot shower then cleaned her nose out after the steam broke some of the gunk up. I've been giving her a couple squirts of colloidal silver the last couple days as well. Her nose is still a little crusty but she is definitely feeling some better. She was gassy a couple nights ago. Not sure if that was related or not. Gave her a little olive oil to flush her system so now her heads clean and her bowels are clean. Now we wait.

Thanks for the shower suggestion, btw. I do think it eased some of the pressure on her brain she had been dealing with.

Thanks for the advice on trainer! That is very smart. This is just a side note but I went out today with Nova and she let a dad and his daughter pet her. However, later on a young male tried petting her and she barked and growled. But he kept petting her! (Or trying to) and she kinda nipped at him. It shocks me but people try to force her all the time. Usually I walk people through it, be patient, let her sniff you yada yada. I'm from SoCal, maybe it's the people here I don't know hAha. Get well with the cold as well by the way!!!

Jenn,
You're welcome about the shower thing, I was going to suggest a neti, but said to myself how in the heck are you gonna give a husky a neti,    that's when I came up with a hot shower(steam), same idea.
Nova,
People are dumb everywhere I think. And they never want to listen to you, the owner.

Where I live we are so rural and I have to travel forever to get to where there are people. We try and take her to pet friendly stores so she can learn to socialize better, and that does work. Inevitably it's usually women who work at these places, so it doesn't help with the guy thing.

Does it seem like younger people tend to lean over her to pet her? Kenzi will often walk away from young people when they try to pet her but they are usually leaning over her to pet. Most older people we meet or people she don't mind tend to take a knee to pet her.

Jenn,
For the most part nothing to do with age, women tend to get down to her level, men don't. Although there was an older gentleman at the petsmart parking lot, who walked past us and said wow what a pretty husky you got. He must have known we were surprised he said that because he asked if he could come over, we said yes and he knelt down to pet her. He said he had huskies all his life and how sweet she was. Most people do not recognize her as a husky, at best a white gsd, most think she is a wolf, and I have to correct them. They always say huskies have blue eyes, or have a curly tail, or they are not her color, meaning black or red. It gets frustrating dealing with idiots. Watching mothers whisk their kids away and under their breaths you can hear them, you can't pet a wolf. OMG 
How am I to socialize her when an encounter should be a couple minutes long and it takes me that long to explain she's a proper looking and acting husky.  

I agree with Miya. It varies from person to person on how they behave with the dog. Even with children, some are very forward and lean over while on the other hand some children are shy and patient.