Hi guys, my husky, Harlow, is a really great dog and is pretty obedient (for a husky) but he has some aggression issues I haven't been able to train out of him. There are two instances where he will literally take to attacking me. Jumping up to bite my arms, torso, anything he can reach. And not just the husky nipping it's a full on bite that has broken skin once or twice. Anyways he does this consistently whenever he has something he knows he's not supposed to have so there is no getting it back from him. He also does the same thing when I try to walk him as well as tugging at the leash. I have tried to end the walk, redirect his attention, bring a toy for him to hold and a water spray when he acts up. When this happens Harlow does not respond to any command. Not sure how to correct this behavior.
I adopted him about 8 months ago and he is leading an active lifestyle. I do try to leash train him with hikes about once a week and to make up for the lack of walks we can spend up to two hours at the dog park every day. Lost as to where to put my efforts in training. Any advice would be welcomed thank you!

Britt, a little more background on what you do and how you do it would help. It would also be a major help if you'd let us know where you are (in your profile, please)

My first comment is that your dog simply doesn't recognize you as the master. But before I could make any suggestions I will make one, *you* probably need the services of a good trainer - and the best trainers train you about how to work with your dog.

How old is Harlow? This sounds a lot like Ami for the first year we had him (adopted at 1 year of age, give or take). And it sounds just like Archer, my son's dog, now. I was covered in bruises and regularly had torn, broken skin from dog teeth. However, it really never had an a aggressive tone, just rambunctious untrained young husky male.

You need to decide what behavior you want to change first. And what behavior you want instead.

Well as far as location I am in Atlantic Canada ins city called Moncton.. When he acts like this I try to correct him with a command like "no" or "leave it" which are commands he listens well to ant other time ... There have been times where I have to sit right on him to calm him and keep from him from biting. When we adopted him that was a regular thing and though it seemed that he was getting better in the last two months or so it's been happening about once a week.
Harlow is about a year and a half old we adopted him on June 2014 and the previous owner was unclear of how old he was the guess was 1 year old.

Hi Brittany - welcome to the forum. Harlowe is a handsome fellow I'm not sure I would call the behavior you are describing aggression. It really does sound like typical young husky rambunctious behavior.

My very first thought is he needs more exercise, maybe a dog park or play dates with a friend/family member who has an active dog - even now, if Ami has not had romp time with Archer in more than 2-3 days, he becomes a handful. My son and his wife report similar behavior with Archer...leaping, nipping, pawing.

This summer, I stumbled on a way to keep Ami from running at me, leaping up and grabbing my arm with his mouth (he was doing this all last winter but, with a heavy duck work jacket over fleece and long underwear and insulated lined leather work gloves it was not an issue. With short sleeved, thin cotton tee shirts, my arms were a mess of cuts and bruises )

When he runs, leaps at me, I turn sideways to his approach, cross my arms in front of me, close to my chest, lower my head, no eye contact. If he stopped, I treated him, if he did not stop, I turned my back and ended the play/walk session. Since all the rambunctious stuff is really an invitation to play, I was effectively taking away the very thing he wanted.

It also sounds like you need to work on a "leave it" or "drop it" command. You can search using those words...others on here have clear, effective strategies for teaching this...mine was kind of a muddled mess of "drop it" and hauling the offending item out of his mouth. Here, a good heavy pair of insulated, padded leather gloves work well (protection from teeth.)

Initially, I was using a firm, loud voice with "no" or a loud yelp to teach him not to mouth me. I found that rather than calm the situation, it actually stirred him up more. So for me, the closing of my body, with cessation of contact seemed to work better.

Honestly - I think the best help came from my son adopting a husky mix and giving Ami an outlet for his play energy. Since that is probably not an option for you, I would do anything I could to up his exercise - fenced areas where he can run after something, try searching (here or google etc) "flirt pole", a bike attachment...

Also - for walks, I still use a prong collar. There are several threads on here on their use. I swear by the prong.

Any chance of taking him to training classes? For him and to help you learn how to gain control?

Good luck with your boy.

What our trainer told us to do when that is happening is to buy an air horn and every time my dog would jump on someone i would blow the air horn and they would get down because they don't like the sound, and eventually she stopped because she didnt want me to blow the air horn i know thats kind of loud but you could also try something else with a loud sound that they wouldnt like. thats my suggestion that helped me!

I saw this before I left this morning and I've been driving for most of the day ... I like living where I do but sometimes it seems as if everything is a LONG way away ...

An air horn ... well, I've never tried it so I can't say it wouldn't work - at the same time, to me it would sound a lot like cruelty since a dogs hearing is so much more acute than ours and it hurts ours - I can't imagine what it would sound like to them.

Force and violence are the absolute last things that should be brought on the table to be used to teach a dog - all it really teaches them is to fear you, 'course if that's what you want ...

There are times I raise my voice with my dogs, but then I'm so soft spoken that people often aren't sure that I'm talking to them. Both my dogs can hear me quite well in a normal tone of voice and know that when I raise it they do need to pay attention.