Hi, not too long ago I posted a topic about our pup getting fixed. (tnx for the oppinions on that post)
So now the pup is 8 months old and is healthy, playful and energetic. ( as typical husky pup)
But, since she got fixed we've noticed her reacting aggressively on correction. ( when she does something wrong and we say No and ask her to sit or when we are taking her to her timeout spot)
So it didnt happen too often but it happened.
Sometimes she got worked up and was trying to nip me and my wife thought she knows really well to not do that.
And so two days ago while i was at work my wife messaged me that she bit her.
So I was in shock cause she have never bit my wife ( i mean draw blood ).
when I talked with my wife she told that pup was starting to bark nonstop and sprint around the apartment.
So as were in a complex and we have neighbors we cant let her do that at so late hour ( 11:00pm) and in general we usually stop her and tell her No.
And she understands but sometimes thees no other way for us than use a bark collar. As she doesnt stop after us telling her to do so.
So my wife was taking her by collar to stop her and put the bark collar on and the pup bit her.
And now were in a really desperate situation. We love the pup but shes been getting worse during the past month or two. And we dont know what are we doing wrong or what can we do to get her back on the right track.
In around 7 months we are moving into a house with a baby and it makes us even more concerned that she might show aggression towards the baby if she will try to pet her or getting close to her.
Any advice and suggestion will be appreciated.
Thanks,
Ahri owners.

Wow, I do have some questions before advice. Is pup on a regular exercise regime? A tired husky is a well behaved husky. Huskies thrive on consistency, routine and lots of play time. Are you the main discipline and trainer? Or do you and wife share this equally? If you do most of the training and discipline, your girl will confront and challenge your wife, because you are the meany and she is the secondary. In other words You are the sole leader.

I would suggest a lot of exercise prior to the evening. Having your wife be the "Pack Leader" and you play the secondary role, so your girl understands that you equally share the "Pack Leader" responsibilities. Lastly, and I have mentioned before with problem nippers, hand feed. Hand feeding can be a useful tool for mouthy huskies as well as for huskies who food guard. With the nippers, hand feeding teaches them to be more gentle. Miya gets crazy when I give her a treat and the cat's around, so we taught her "wait" "be gentle" and hold food in front of her until I say "get it". With these steps, she takes food off my hand very gently, slowly. I talk to her quietly and soothingly yet firmly. You can then use similar method to get collar on, "sit" "wait" "be good/be gentle".

I hope I helped a little. There were times I would just bawl my eyes out, while Miya just threw tantrums, and then one day I told myself that I was going to be not only just the food lady , but more importantly the leader. She's very well behaved, doesn't throw tantrums, and respects me. And she views Me and my Husband as equal "Pack Leaders".
Renee

I've never posted here before, but had a couple of suggestions I wanted to share. We went through some tough times with our girl when we got her at 9 months old. We were both inexperienced dog owners.
In any case, what we used to do a lot was keep a four-foot leash on her in the house so that it would be easier to take her and lead her around, rather than grab her collar. Second thing, at the beginning and for quite awhile, it was hard to put her walking collar and leash on when it was time for a walk, because she'd nip a lot. I used to put a little peanut butter on my arms and she'd be licking that while I could put her collar or leash on. Finally, we thought we'd never get to the point where in the evening we could sit and watch TV quietly without her acting obnoxious, barking in our faces etc. Then we realized if we sat calmly and put our feet up on the coffee table, she'd go find a chewy, usually her antler, and lie down under our legs. If she didn't calm down, one of us would calmly take the leash she was already wearing, and lead her to the timeout room for a few minutes. Eventually she learned if she wanted to be with us, she'd better lie down and chill.
I hope some of this helps. Your dog is entering adolescence and will need a lot of guidance now.

ddvora,

Welcome and also excellent advice!!

All huskies go through a teenage stage and it sounds like your girl has hit hers. She's going to test the limits and see what she can get away with. My suggestion is, if you are using a bark collar on her for training, don't take it off. That's just asking for trouble. Until you are positive that she will listen to you, keep it on her. Also, do you give treats in your training? The best technique I've used has been nothing in life is free training. If she sits, she gets a treat. I still give my husky treats when I want her to do something, not every single time, but sometimes, to reinforce the training.

Thanks all of you and sorry i haven't had a moment to reply to the responses.
I just got back from a walk with our puppy and shes now sleeping in front of the AC.
MiyasMomma - shes getting walked every day and on weekends she gets a good time at the dog park.
After my wife gets home from her work she plays with her and sometimes takes her to dog park during the week too.
Both of us are doing training and discipline, actually my wife sometimes does it more than me.
Im more patient i guess so i will give the pup 2 - 3 warnings before getting her in the timeout while my wife usually gets to like 2 warnings and and she will put her in timeout.
though we dont use timeout that often at all.
A lot of times our puppy uses us i guess. Once we stand up and ask her to sit or come here she will get next to the couch and have this "Im sorry" face and body language that were like - bad, no!. and thats it. We use commands a lot. When she asks for water or when we give her food we make sure she sits and waits till we tell her " OK go" her release command for food, water and when we go for walks.
She had a little bit food and toy aggression but we have got rid of that as well as we have hand fed her a lot.
ddvora - thanks for the advice - ve have tried peanut butter few times when she was little and t seemed to work tho she still have nipping problem against me.
And shes not aggressive or acting insane all the time she just get these like bursts when she goes nuts.
cinnamonbits - it start to look like teenager age. the thing about bark collar is we put it on only when she doesnt listen to us. also it cant be on her for more than 12 hours.
tho usually we leave it on only for like an hour or two.
and yes we use treats - we even got her jerky treats that she goes insane for hoping that shes getting more reward feeling from doing something good.

Thank you all for the advice.
Lets hope she gets on the right track.

Personally I would stop with the "warnings"

Bad behavior should get an instant correction.

TwistedTale wrote:

Personally I would stop with the "warnings"

Bad behavior should get an instant correction.

I completely agree. In many ways, dogs are like 2 year olds. They really don't grasp the concept of a warning, but they do understand cause and effect. If an undesired behavior results in a "don't do that again or I'll say "no" in an authoritative voice," the dog won't get it.

My opinion is, that the correction needs to be nearly instant in order for it to be associated with a particular act. It also helps to reward desired behavior. Depending on what the issue is, you could set up controlled scenarios in which he will be tempted to act in an undesirable way. When he acts like he should, reward him. When he doesn't, give the correction.