Hi all I am going to repost this here in the training category. I had a post in the General category named nibbling and biting. You can read all my info there.  I am still very concerned about this bad growling and biting.  The biting has not ever hurt but it is just terrifying. What is more I can do to train her or do I just need to try rehome her with some family without kids? David

Well, before I lost what I had typed, I was going to say that I was going to address this in two different way ... but I think I'm going to get a bit more carried away than that.

First, no rescue / shelter is going to take her if you're surrendering her because she bites. And you don't even want to think about the potential for liability if you pass her on to someone else without telling them.
Sash's now bitten me five different times - in varying degrees - and in my mind I have two choices, I either keep her and work with her and try to overcome the cause of her biting or I have her put down, end of story. BTW, from your description - *I* wouldn't even consider having her put down.

Question time now. In that other thread you got quite a bit of input, but this is the first I've seen after that. What did you try, what were the results?
How did she respond to hand feeding, how about grooming? That picture in your avatar shows a pretty matted dog so it was going to take some work to get her cleaned up.

We asked you to let your eldest have some of the responsibility for feeding and grooming her, did you and what happened?

How much exercise is she getting? Being tethered outside all day does not even begin to give her enough exercise, as a generality they're going to want out and about for at least a couple of miles a day. If she's not getting enough exercise that could be reason enough right there for her to want to play - and again, they play rough!

You say that the biting has never hurt - which makes me feel that it's mouthing, not biting; but you find that terrifying, do you think you can explain why it's terrifying to you? While I understand your concern for your kids, you've only had her for a couple of weeks. It normally takes longer than that for any dog to adjust into a new situation.

I think I'd really like to see a vid of what you're seeing because I would still maintain that you have a super excited dog who wants to play, wants attention - and Husky's thrive on both of those.

I'm including a youtube video here,

Right at the 0:09 mark there's a "growl" it's real short, but that's not a growl, that's just one of the ways they vocalize when they play.
At the 0:59 you'll see the camera get "attacked" but from what precedes it, it's quite obviously play.
There is a beautiful line at the 2:40 mark - that has to do with training.

I've included one more because these two Husky's (on the opposite side of a kitty door) are playing with each other but it does give a lot of the range of vocalization they use when they play.


From your description, if you weren't so blasted far away, I'd take her at the drop of a hat but the middle of Arkansas, I think, would be the half way mark ... a long trip for either of us.

I walked away for a minute to reassess my answer as well Al. David, huskies are an extreme commitment, just like your children, they are a way different breed than most, the only ones that are similar that comes to mind are mals and german shepherds, and even those are not nearly as stubborn, nor activity hungry as the husky. They want to be involved in everything you do, and few are true couch potatoes, and even if they are they are sitting with you on the couch. Being tethered is ok for a certain amount of time daily, but most do not do well being alone and tied up.

Do you have a fenced in dog park near you, I'm so betting your girl is not getting enough people attention and not enough exercise. My girl Miya has taught us games because she was bored, nibbling at you is saying "hey look at me, play with me", just like a child tugging on you for the same reasons.

Get a soccer ball or a heavy duty tennis ball and play fetch, heck I let Miya chase me and then I chase her. Like Al said have you involved your oldest, so she can get used to kids? Have you hand fed and done some soft grooming? I can not stress enough that she is more than likely asking for attention and play. How much do you walk her and do the kids go with you on walks? Help us help you, your family and more importantly your girl.

Great videos Al! I want to mention David, Miya has been around children on leash at Tractor Supply she sits and gets a brief pet, that is the most interaction she has had with kids. She greets most adults with a jump up, last week our neighbors grand kids were around a little girl age 5 and a little boy age 10, she never jumped on them. In fact little boy has cerebral palsy (I thought ms), I posted on a thread earlier this week. She had never met these kids, yet was gentle and in fact protective of the little boy. Miya has also been very gentle with an older neighbor of ours, he's in his upper 70's and recently had a stroke, again she sat and talked to him. They have a keen sense of their surroundings and the people who interact with them. I hope that gives you some peace of mind and reassurance that with a little training, she will be the family's best friend.

Everything was said already. I would just add that you can say that husky is really angry and might attack you by watching his gestures. If he is constantly pulling his lips upwards showing you his front teeths that's the sign of him being angry. Otherwise the husky is just bored and wats to play or force you into something. 15 minutes of running around the block is all it takes at the beginning, depending on the activity level she is used to. Ours tend to fall off after 35 - 40 minutes of running .

Sorry it's been so long since I have responded. We are. Getting ready for our 25 th. Wedding renewal. We have been working hard on Zena, every time she tryst to bite or nibble I firmly just tell here know. And pull my hand away. So far so good, she is still doing it but think it is getting better. I have a very large back yard fenced it with a 6 foot privacy fence. But some time I. Need to put her on a chain to get the mower out or truck in or something , but when I go to put her on the chain she gets very growling different then early talk about and she does kinda show some teeth then really makes me nervous I will not let the boys outside to see her do this. But once she on the chain she is fine just the putting her on , a I might note we changed her collar last week and that was really bad too. Thanks for all the help sorry to be so long winded. David

I'm happy to hear that you have not given up on this pretty girl. Keep working with her, we are here to help. To me the grumbling she does about the chain tells me she'd rather be with her people and not entirely to be mean. Just telling you hey, that chain is soooooo boring.

Congrats on 25 years, if you can be with somebody 25 years you certainly know patience and persistence that helps in retraining a rehomed husky.

david gossett wrote:

Sorry it's been so long since I have responded. We are. Getting ready for our 25 th. Wedding renewal. We have been working hard on Zena,  every time she tryst to bite or nibble I firmly just tell here know. And pull my hand away.  So far so good,  she is still doing it but think it is getting better. I have a very large back yard fenced it with a 6 foot privacy fence. But some time I. Need to put her on a chain to get the mower out or truck in or something , but when I go to put her on the chain she gets very growling different then early talk about and she does kinda show some teeth then really makes me nervous I will not let the boys outside to see her do this. But once she on the chain she is fine just the putting her on , a I might note we changed her collar last week and that was really bad too. Thanks for all the help sorry to be so long winded.   David

Hint for tethering: Ami never goes on a lead without at least a a few pieces of kibble, tiny piece of cheese or something to treat him. If we are going somewhere and he gets put on his trolley - he gets a bone (but only 1 per day.) Now, we can walk to his trolley with him unleashed (the back yard is fenced), he follows along and sits beside the tether hanging down, waiting for his treat

Hi all , sorry its been so long but I am still having trouble. I thought about taking Zena to a obedience class at petsmart someone said it might help. It is a 6 week class for 120.00 do y'all think it would do any good for my problem. Or help in any way? Thanks David

Hey Dave, back off the second honeymoon?  In either case, congratulations of finding someone who'd put up with you for 25 years!!

Classes at PetSmart, In my opinion, it'd probably be one of the best $120 you've ever spent, for several reasons.

• For starters, it'd give you a chance to see how she reacts to someone else. Someone who's supposed to know about dogs.
  
• It'd give her a chance to socialize with other dogs.
  
• (and please don't take this the wrong way) It'd give you a chance to learn from a professional how to work with your dog.
  

Training classes normally accomplish two things, one is to teach the dog, the other is to teach the owner how to work with the dog.

Since this is PetSmart you're talking about, I'd request a one-on-one with the trainer first. PetSmart in Houston encouraged potential class members to have a solo session so the trainer could see how the dog might fit into his (or her) training method. It also gave them a chance to veto any dogs that they thought might not work out in a classroom situation.

Best of luck with it ....

Thanks for reply. I will go out and talk to the person at petsmart and see what thay say about Zena. Thanks David

David, petsmart is worth a shot, I walked in on a training session once, well not walk in, lol, but they have a window so you could watch, and there were puppies as well as what appeared older dogs, so good luck I really hope it works out for you both. I love your new avatar. Zena looks very happy and was giving you her belly for a rub, great signs that she is coming around, such a pretty girl!

One thing I just want to add is that my guy "growls" all the time he is being a husky talking complaining sometimes playing. I would see if you have a rescue or a Siberian breed club in the area or just a good dog behaviorist to evaluate the behavior so they can tell you if it is actually aggressive behavior or just husky talking and play behavior. It's hard for us to tell from a description what your pup is doing. But as you can tell husky behavior isn't black and white. For example my dogs growl when we play tug they know the rules they drop when I tell them to drop they drop they keep teeth on the toy and they sit polity while waiting for me to tell them they can get it.

Training is always a good idea helps the dog behave better and teaches you to work with them.