Hi all. It's been quite a while since I was on this board.

My wife and I are having a debate. The other day she was out jogging with our boy Ice, 65-pounds of teeth, muscle, and fur. (Seriously, he is the strongest husky I've ever encountered.) A shady looking truck seemed to be following her, and she got freaked out and called me from her headset to stay on the phone with her until she made it back to the house.

Our debate is this:
I say that if someone was to genuinely attack her, then Ice would defend his alpha female and attack whoever was hurting her. I say the pack instinct is strong enough in huskies that he wouldn't really have a choice in the matter, he would do it because his genes are programmed to do it.
She says no way, he would just want pets from the attacker because huskies are so just so dang sweet.

Thoughts?

If it really came down to it I believe he would. Animals are smart I wouldn't count it out.

Mine is cautious around most people, he'll approach minimum contact distance and lean forward to smell a hand just to be sure. Also the UPS delivery man came and his hair stands up and he barks and does the front hop thing (where they get low like they're playing, almost like a challenge to him). Haven't figured out if its out of protection or not.

Most huskies have never met a stranger. Some of us get lucky, if you will, and get a protector dog. There have been countless times a stranger has approached Miya and I when we are outside, she will position herself between me and them and then bark in a very deep tone of voice, not her typical and not a growl, but somewhere in between. It all depends on the husky.

Ice is the usual Husky, very friendly to everyone who isn't a small furry feathered or scaled creature. I just think that he would sense the wife's fear and hear her scream and would take action. One of our previous huskies loved everybody except for a couple of people she met who she just didn't like, I mean growling and baring her teeth at them for no apparent reason. There was just something about them she didn't like. Dogs are very perceptive and a good judge of people. Chances are if my dog doesn't like you, there's something wrong with you!  

My girl won't ever bark at a person but I know if push came to shove she would attack. She is friendly for the most part but I spend a lot of time walking her alone on some pretty secluded trails and have never felt nervous that I might not be protected, but she has proven she is willing to possibly bite my own husband if he tries to rough house too hard with me. New dog is more like what your wife expects. Wouldn't hurt a thing no matter what it's doing, and yet he is a follower and if Kenzi went after someone he would follow suit.

Im with jenn on this one, I know Sierra would attack someone hurting me, she goes after ken if he starts messing with me and I call her for help, jack im not sure, he might just because Sierra is.

think it depends on the husky.

Nala doesn't like our next door neighbors probably because she can sense they don't like her but, that's the only person she has ever barked at but when my boyfriend and I start messing around Nala usually joins in so I think like what Jen said it just depends on the husky. Nala probably wouldn't hurt a person the only thing shes ever hurt was a bird. lol

I don't think I can rely on Ami for protection, other than as a deterrent because he is so big and gets mistaken for a wolf  The only time we've had any discomfort was when my neighbor down the road was getting hot and bothered because I walked by his house and made his dog bark. The man was hollering at me and super excitable - Ami's response was to nestle up close to me in a sit, looking for me to protect him!

I know can definitely rely on my sibe for protection if the need arises. He has offered his protective services on multiple occasions. He is like a typical husky that loves everyone but he also knows when something or someone poses a real threat and he steps up to the challenge without hesitation. Now if a bad person came along with yummy food to offer...well, then I'm not so sure where his devotion would lie.   

I find this topic very interesting as well. I've always wondered about this and thought about all the What Ifs related to it.

Here's my take.

We all know of course that the common description of the breed is that they "aren't good guard dogs", or less commonly put they won't "protect"you.

Well we could be talking about very different things with these descriptions. The more common meaning of a guard dog is one who guards property. I'm thinking like my friend's Schnauzer out in the mountains who constantly scouts the perimeter of their property looking for intruders or danger, and when found...perceived or real...she goes crazy and barks and growls and chases. When Link sees this, it is play time. He then chases the schnauzer and tries to catch her and play bows. He could not care less for the intruders.

Guarding, in this sense, is clearly not his job, not his work; I'm assuming there are very few Huskies who might be motivated for this work.

That is all together different from a situation where a Husky's pack human is attacked. Huskies have strong pack drive in addition to prey drive and I feel, generally, that my bud would make some attempt to fight off an attacker.

He can't even handle my partner and I karate sparring. Physical violence, even if controlled and playful, is upsetting to him because it disrupts the pack harmony, symbiosis, and companionship.

An attack by a human looks strange, sounds strange, and I'm assuming smells strange and I think in general a Husky's pack drove would kick in if it were a real attack and there was real danger.

Just my thoughts.

Oh, also to add.

Link never, ever barks at dogs or people in the "go away"sense. I think this is related as well. But again, while he is not motivated to fend off strangers or threats in advance, that's not the same thing as him intervening if an attack occurred.

Totally different scenario.

seattlesibe wrote:

Totally different scenario.

Great point. My old dog is a guard dog. He prevents and defends. He serves as a preventative before a situation occurs but will also attack if something has already escalated. Kenzi has no preventative action. She is purely reactive.

I generally wouldn't rely on Yukon to protect me as he's way too people friendly. Although that's kind of a non-issue for myself since people know not to mess with me unless they want a foot slammed in their face.

To simplify my stance on the matter, although a dog is certainly capable of protecting you, I don't think you should rely solely on them when conflict arises. Your dog could end up getting hurt or worse, and one should really learn how to protect themselves anyways. There are a plethora of things you can do to protect yourself. Including but not limited to; picking up martial arts, carrying around pepper spray, learning how to use a blunt weapon like a cane, having a pocket knife at all times, or even getting a concealed carry permit. Besides if your dog does jump to your rescue and you already know how to defend yourself, then you'll be at a great 2 vs 1  advantage.

May I add, with Miya, I mentioned this before, hubby playing modern warfare starts getting mad drops the f-bomb, I'm in the bathroom, Miya calmly proceeds to the bathroom and stands across doorway and would not let me out, I had to reassure her he wasn't yelling at me. Also if someone knocks at the door, she will put herself between me and the door and remains silent. Lastly, although she is considered a medium sized dog, strangers are afraid of her. I have witnessed people coming on our property(mostly men) and they will stop in their tracks at a considerable distance once they see her, again with her deep bark/growl that is constant and her hair standing up all the way down to her tail and her between me and them, must be intimidating. Lastly she walks the perimeter of our property every morning on our first go out of the day, if a car drives slow or pulls over she will go and sit and watch until they leave. However, I do know that I inadvertently trained her to do this as a pup, often I would tell her to sit and"watch them", haha she does this on her own. I call her the town watch dog, if it's a car/truck she doesn't recognize she will sit and watch, and trust me she would do the intimidating thing if someone were to get out of their car.
Aidan, very true, I have a carry conceal permit, I do carry, but it's nice to have her with me, 2 on 1 makes me feel a whole lot better.

TwisterII wrote:

seattlesibe wrote:

Totally different scenario.

Great point. My old dog is a guard dog. He prevents and defends. He serves as a preventative before a situation occurs but will also attack if something has already escalated. Kenzi has no preventative action. She is purely reactive.

Nice, I like that distinction of preventive versus reactive. That's onto something....

Luci would jump on the person and mouth him in an attempt to play. (yeah, manners is a continual work in progress). If she sensed I was frightened, she would likely try to run away. But really, just having a largish dog with me deters most strangers.

I have found that dogs can surprise us in terms of protection. My old lab used to be called Baby before we adopted her because she was so sweet, she hardly ever barked, and just seemed to wana be loved and snuggled. Once she broke both of her front "wrists" and when I went to handle them she just licked my hands. We never would have thought of her as a guard dog until a man went after my mom.

She snarled and strained her leash and was more than willing to rip a piece out of this guy who wanted to come after her family. I don't know who was more startled the man or my mom but he backed down and ran off. Like I said even the most mellow dog will, at least I think so, try to protect his or her family just like we would. But that's just what I think.

Thanks all - great responses.
I agree with the preventative vs reactive deal. Ice's only real preventative value is his size and appearance. Most people (even some Husky owners) think he's a white German Shepherd or a wolf-hybrid because he's so big and intimidating looking. And he has no regard for personal space.   If he wants your attention he is right up on you. Only someone in the know about huskies would know he's a big baby. But a stranger approaching my house sees that face watching them through the front window, or sees those teeth jogging alongside my wife - that's a good deterrent. In a crunch, a real defensive situation, I truly believe he would protect his alphas.

I am not sure what Diz would do, but he is extremely tuned into my emotions, and very connected to me and I do think that if I were in danger, or actually being physically attacked, he would intervene. I have seen his hackles go up if we are out and someone makes me nervous, or if he thinks someone is acting shady. He is also a deterrent in that his presence alone is scary to some people. Even if he is giving them a goofy grin.

I will say though, that when I took Mechta to a show, it was a totally different story. She was definitely a guard dog. She would bark when someone walked by the hotel room, she would bark if someone made a loud noise in the room next door, and she would bark and raise hackles if we encountered someone outside that she didn't trust. People were afraid of her and she was much more intimidating to others than Diz, even though she is 15 lbs lighter.

Dogs can sense our emotions and if we are feeling nervous or being attacked, we are going to be releasing a whole host of chemicals and hormones. If they can predict and alert people about to have seizures, then I'm sure they will know something is wrong. I've done a little bit of bite work with Dizzy and it's very hard to get his bite drive activated or get him interested in it, but once he does, he goes hard, but loses interest quickly. Whereas your typical 'guard' driven dog will be much more intense and focused on the bite.

This is an interesting one, in my case I know there would be no hesitation to defend me although I am not sure I could say the same for for him defending my partner.

I have had 3 scenarios where Orion has acted defensively, two when I was out walking with him and once at home. One of the walking instances we were walking past a hedge when Orion put his shoulder into me pushing me sideways then turned and growled at the hedge, turns out there was some creep of a kid just standing in the hedge but Orion was having none of that and the kid bolted. It wasn't a serious intent growl, just a warning. The other instance was slightly more serious and Orion even scared me a little. I was out walking at around 10.30pm (it was the heat of summer) on a Friday night and I was approached by three guys, clearly intoxicated who were saying some fairly unpleasant things. Orion placed himself directly in front of me, raised his hackles, dropped his head down, bared his teeth and started snarling and snapping while slowly moving towards them in a stalking motion. His whole body language was quite frightening, he was very very deliberate in his movements. There was no doubt in me at that stage that if they moved toward me he would attack them. Luckily for them they backed off, then ran   
At home one night, he started barking and growling waking us up - there was an intoxicated teenager wandering around our yard lol.
My partner on the other hand was followed by two guys when he was out walking one night and Orion never did a thing.

I should mention that Orion is absolutely people friendly he practically throws himself at new people, hes such a wee hussy. We are also doing canine good citizen where he has to be completely handled by strangers etc and he has never ever shown any threatening inclinations towards anyone, not even mouthing. Myself and another girl in our local dog club are also looking at doing some school visits with our dogs to teach kids about handling dogs so we have had our dogs temperament assessed by a vet and Orion passed with flying colours. It is only seems to be when he thinks I'm in trouble and then he is dangerous.

I would not want to depend on a husky for protection, but I would think one could definitely be a deterrent. They are strong dogs, with all the requisite equipment and power to do significant damage to someone. Add that to the common perception that they are wolf-like and they could certainly be construed as something to not mess with. Although, I think that when push comes to shove, any breed of dog will defend itself from harm, and possibly their human as well, I just don't know how reliable a husky would be unless he thought he was truly in danger.

I had an experience with someone at my front door a while back. He was by no means threatening (although annoying, as I work nights) and he definitely took notice of Storm.

Our conversation went something like this:

Storm: Brrrrrrrr
Visitor: Is that a wolf?
Storm: Grrrrrrrr
Me: No. He's a Siberian Husky.
Storm: Brrrrrr
Visitor: Oh. I've heard they can be mean.
Storm: Grrrrrr
Me: Yes.
Storm: Brrrrrr

With that, he looked somewhat unhappy and started to mumble something about the particular religious group he represents and then walked away. I almost felt badly about it, but I don't
appreciate being awoken in the middle of my "night". Of course he had no way of knowing that those are Storm's standard greetings for new people, usually delivered right before a snout punch and demands for attention. Unless he's showing his teeth, which I've only seen once.
I am also not exactly an un-imposing person and was admittedly irritated and gruff with the man, which probably added to his obvious discomfort. Fortunately, visitors like that are a rarity where I live. The houses are a little far apart to make door to door anything very effective.