Hey all, just wanted your opinions on crating your husky. We stopped crating ours for a little while, but of course, he started tearing things up. We obviously have to crate him again (he is still a puppy only 1 year and 3 months old) but I just wanted to see what everyone things of crating a husky in particular. I know they get bored very easily, probably why ours is tearing things up. Any information and opinions would be great, thanks!!!

If you choose not to crate, it's vital that you make sure they are getting enough physical and mental stimulation before you leave them alone. If you don't then it won't matter how old they are, they will get bored and they will tear stuff up. If you live in an area where you can build a nice outdoor kennel, that's also a good system. I use a tie-out system but I know many huskies can easily escape these and some places have a higher rate of dog theft than others.

Dahowlers,

Thank you! Apollo is a ball of energy, and yes I agree that not stimulating them enough will result in this type of behavior. Sometimes he does not get the efficient amount of exercise . We try our very best each day though.

Thanks again!

You can leave things like frozen stuffed kongs for him to find and go at throughout the day. If he doesn't swallow things he tears apart then plushies are a fun thing for them to be allowed to tear apart too! Plus Goodwill sells them for cheap. But regardless I wouldn't leave him loose if he hasn't been worked enough.

Good idea! I never though to do that with kongs. He is ALWAYS hiding toys and bones...that would be fun! He actually just came back from a 3 week training camp which did wonders on him. However, he is still a husky and will still show those tendencies. It just comes down to us giving him enough exercise.

Yeah, it doesn't matter how much training a dog does or doesn't have, a bored dog is still a destructive dog. What type of training camp did he go too?

Very true. He went to a place in Northern New York. It's called Certified K9 (www.certifiedk9.com). They did a wonderful job. We felt safe and comfortable leaving him there.

Out of curiosity, what method of training did they use? I was looking through there website and I couldn't find it anywhere.

They achieve mutual respect between them (the trainers) and the dogs and use lots of praise (no treats). The trainers work with the dogs about 20mins on then 2 hours off. To correct them they use the pinch or chain collars and electric collars. It may sound harsh but it's not at all...the trainers are wonderful people with lots of compassion for the animals and respect for the owners. I believe they have trained over 2,000 dogs.

I thought they used compulsion but I wasn't sure if that's what they purely used and I didn't want to make any assumptions. I used to use compulsion exclusively but no longer use it.

I have two huskies and they both get crated at night or when we're out of the house. We work different shifts, so they're tied up outside in the fenced in back yard between transitions or when we run to the store. They also have a duplex dog house to shield them from the wind, if need be. The male, who is 2 years old, is very well behaved on and off leash...we made the mistake of letting him sleep with us one night, back in 2013, because he is so well behaved, and he had eaten one of our wedding presents. Must of been bored with his toys. Needless to say, he was caged every night since then. The female just turned a year in September and she will tear up everything if left alone long enough. She constantly jumped the fence in the back yard, until we reinforced it, little escape artist, which is why we've started tying them up every time, fenced in yard or not. I just found her with the downstairs tv remote the other day, because the two were in the house playing while I was on the computer. Little scamp. Long story short, yes, crating is a good thing when you're sleeping or can't really pay a lot of attention to them at the moment. Hope this helped.

Also, crating was our best friend when they were younger and learning to potty train.