We bought 2 Siberian Huskies from a breeder in South Dakota about a month ago. Well, the male screams anytime when we touch his collar (or just touch him when he does not want to) and I just want to know if this is normal. If we did not buy him from a puppy state I would believe this puppy was beaten..... Please help...any advice and/or tips.

Welcome! Two pups sounds like quite the project. The yelping sounds a little extreme, but from my Husky experience a bit of overreacting is normal. To me a month is still recent enough to not be adjusted to the new surroundings yet. My own Husky would scream awful when we walked by him, and didn't even touch him. Since I don't have any advice from puppy experience, I will tell you what I would try. That would be incorporating the sensitive areas (like around the neck) into a daily massage that all new dogs get when they arrive until they're settled in to my liking.

Second, I would ask what is happening that you need to reach for the collar? Normally that shouldn't elicit that kind of response unless the dog has only had bad experiences with collar touching (ex., he's fully engaged in happily destroying something and you grab the collar to remove him). But my gut instinct says he's probably a real dramatic Husky.

I guess I used the wrong words before but it is not just when you reach for the collar it is also just having to reach for him period. An example of what I mean is that when he goes out for playtime in the backyard and he does not come when we call for him then we go out to bring him in....he screams like we are killing him. This is even from the first time that we picked them up from the airport and took him out of the crate. Now, granted he was 8 weeks old and his breeder had stated (the day he was boarded on the plane) that he did not like strangers.....just now leaves us to wonder so many things. There are just so many issues and questions that we have it is hard to just stay on track with one thought! LOL! I know you understand and I have read sooo many of your posts. Thank you for any advice!! You are right two pups are a huge challange especially being new to the breed....

That sounds really strange to me. Personally I'd take him to the vet to see if anything's wrong with him. Other than that, just keep handling him all the time like while he eats and when you give him treats. Get him used to it. But make sure there's not something wrong with him first.

Hello and thanks for the replies. We took these two to the vet twice since we have got them for thier first checkup/shots and the second time for thier 12 wk shots. Each time at the vet everything went smoothly as far as Kivu is concerened. When he is out of his "Sissy la-la" stage he is truly amazing and just the best loving dog for us and our kids, however, when he is in his deep depressed/dont touchme/cowering stage he really worries me. It's to the point where if my kids tried to touch him in that stage I would worry for thier safety because when I have to get him he will curl up in the submissive stage and start defense biting me as I grab for him. And I have to grab for him sometimes I can not always sit there for 20+ minutes trying to coax him into coming to me and trying to get him into a friendly stage. We walk these guys twice a day on top of plenty of "romping exercise" around the house. I train them both in short 10 minute sessions seperate from each other so they get plenty of socilization.
The first time I reached for him I knew it was going to be trouble and I was like "ohhhh boy". I'am trying so hard to maintain a positive attitude so that translates to them both but I'm in a very odd situation now because I just don't feel like he can be trusted as a family dog. And I have to say this severe defensive state is not a full time deal, it's really like a 30% of the time thing but during that time its bad. Like I said if I would not have got this dog at 8 weeks and knew that he was a puppy I would swear he was a severely beaten dog by the way he acts during that time.
Severe screaming, submmisive urinating etc. etc. And we are both kinda shorter people I'm 5'8" my wife is sitting at like 5'1" tops so we arent towering and scary to them due to thier size as well as when we approach him we do it at a slow pace and try getting down to his level and coax him into a "happy state"
Ugh, I'm just lost with him. I'm still VERY happy we chose sibes and we are from North Idaho and are very outgoing people, we did a TON of research to this breed before deciding to get one cause we knew our activity level would cater to thier needs but nothing could prepare me for him. I read so many stories of irresponsibile owners and the reasons huskies find thier way into shelters/rescues I just can not do that because this is our responsibility to make him/her conform to our living style but I'm lost and my kids will always come first and I hate to have to tell them "Stay away from Kivu he might bite you".
Thanks for any time and I'm wondering if anyone has encountered this behaviour before in thier sibe.

Completly lost but completly in love,
Keith and Teresa

That is really weird. Have you contacted the breeder about it? What were the parent's disposition like? Was he bought up in a household situation or out in a kennel? You sound like you are doing everything right for him. It's really strange that he acts that way and is only a puppy. Wish I could help out more, but I really don't know what to do in that situation. Maybe find a good dog trainer in your area and with the way he's acting make sure they use all positive renforcement. I think any negative would just set him back even more.

BTW, mine will yelp if I grab her scruff or hold her own to trim her nails or something, but other than that she's fine.

harrise wrote:

Welcome! Two pups sounds like quite the project. The yelping sounds a little extreme, but from my Husky experience a bit of overreacting is normal. To me a month is still recent enough to not be adjusted to the new surroundings yet. My own Husky would scream awful when we walked by him, and didn't even touch him. Since I don't have any advice from puppy experience, I will tell you what I would try. That would be incorporating the sensitive areas (like around the neck) into a daily massage that all new dogs get when they arrive until they're settled in to my liking.

Second, I would ask what is happening that you need to reach for the collar? Normally that shouldn't elicit that kind of response unless the dog has only had bad experiences with collar touching (ex., he's fully engaged in happily destroying something and you grab the collar to remove him). But my gut instinct says he's probably a real dramatic Husky.

My first thought would be in agreement with the above post and I'd definitely work on building a relationship and getting the troubled pup used to all kinds of handling. You don't want a liability on your hands and you also want him to be comfortable being touched as it will be necessary for vet visits and routine at home care.

Sara's suggestion of having a vet rule out a medical issues is a good one but the fact that it's only "sometimes" that the pup has this problem leads me to think it's not medically related...but I couldn't rule that out entirely as we are not vets and we cannot assess the severity and nature of the problem first hand. I do strongly agree with Sara on the positive reinforcement though.

I would also devote a lot of time into building up his confidence. It sounds like you have a very unconfident dog on your hands and they need to be handled a bit differently than confident dogs. Simple things like petting on the head, staring, and coming at them quickly or in a way that they feel trapped can heighten the fear and tension in unconfident dogs thus making them worse and increasing the chance that they aggress in an effort to protect themselves. Ways to help with this include petting under the muzzle instead reaching over their head, not staring and using indirect eye contact, and possibly approaching with your side or back to the dog so that your approach is not so intimidating. Also give lots of treats, toys, and and praise for him being social and allowing contact. Reward the good behavior immensely.

When he goes into one of his phases of yelping, biting or growling I would not grab at him in any way. Get him to come to you by enticing him with a reward of some sort, like food or a toy. This will increase his confidence and allows him to make the right choice for himself rather than being forced which is very threatening and can make matters worse. If you do not have the time to work on this and let him make up his mind to come on his own then I would use a leash to get him to come in situations where time is limited like when you must leave for work or something (important note on this though, the leash is only for when you are in a big rush and can't wait, it's not for all the time!).

I commend you for wanting to keep him in your home and work through this issue so as not to have to rehome your pup. I'm thinking that should not be a problem if you bought from a reputable breeder since all of them should have something written in their contract that any pup that does not work out for any reason must be returned to the breeder. I'm sure the breeder would find the right home for him if you ever did need to remove him for the safety of your family. I know you don't want to have to consider that as an option but your family and most importantly your kids' safety is the most important thing here. If your dog bites your kids you could face losing your dog and custody of your kids so it's extremely important to take every possible precaution as you work through these issues. I know how awful a situation it is because a family member of ours has gone through something similar and it did not end well.

I'm glad to see you trying your best to nip this in the bud and wish you the best of luck. I hope for everyone's sake it all works out.

Well I had wrote out a response but maybe I hit the wrong button to submit it ><! Anyhow the breeder thing was completly a terrible experience after the fact, or I guess I mean after we picked and payed. And we had did alot of research about the brreded also at least as much as we could do anyhow. Google thier names as well as thier personal names, asked to see pictures of thier dogs living quarters asked for references from previous buyers and so on. I feel we did as much as someone could without physically going to thier home. Everything checked out as best as we could. Then it just felt like a sleazy car salesman experience, like once you drive off the lot they dont care what happens to the car or the buyer of it. We got a email the day of the shipping that read something like "He is very shy around strangers" but I'm sorry it is not just that way, he is very scared around EVERYTHING including anything encountered on walks (dogs barking, cars going by, random joggers etc.) He is very unconfident and can not cope with situations and what I mean by that is lets say we sit him in the middle of the living room on an island so to say by himself, he will immediatly try to come cower behind you looking for comfort or try to go into the smallest corner of the house (under desk or something like that) at that poing if we try to get him out from under the desk he will bite out of complete defense. So we go get a treat to coax him out and once he is in that mode he just doesnt care and will not get out of it. At that point it comes a time where you have to get him out of there cause there is something that needs to be done or whatever the reason is when you have to go get him, and I must stress that this is a very slow and never intimidating process on our part, we have to ULTRA baby him opon the way to doing this, he will bite when reaching for him, and it does not matter if its grabbing for the collar or anything.
We do all the right things and have done them from day one as far as not reaching over the head and not towering to intimidate cause quite frankly that just wouldnt work and would make the process so much longer. So much patience in talking to him softly and baby talking his way out of that mode. We have taken him to the vet and asked him what is going on as far as if it maybe medical, we had him wormed to be sure that wasnt an issue.
I feel the breeder should have seen this coming with her 12 years of breeding or whatever it was but man o man was it a bad experience from the second we "cut the check". Both we feel didnt have proper socialization but our female is just that bubbly personality that can excell in any situation so we can work with her great and get her proper socialization and she is doing completely fantastic. Of course its not a overnight success with her her but lol we don't expect it to be. Really with her she is only have great difficulty on recall which is fine cause you can see the gears turning so she will get it.
It's not that its the challange we are having problems with with our boy Kivu, we are challanged by Mila our female also and we can deal with it. It's that its downright scary at times with him and he is only 15 pounds.. if he doesnt come out of this I will have fear for our personal safety when he is actually big enough to do damage.
This forum was a major turning point in our decision to take the husky step, it dispelled alot of the husky horror stories and let us know that it would be a challenge and not the impossible task so I sincerly appreciate any and all help/advice and want to say thanks for having an outlet for people to gain knowledge in this breed from actual owners and not just copy/paste and *insert breed here* help. Everyone is great!! I look forward to this but I dont want to fear for my kids and simply put I just can not do it!!

Keith

Wow sorry for the book ha I guess I got carried away I'll keep em shorter next time lol as you can see I'm in a "Whoa" state with this.!

One other question I have that may just be very stupid to ask but I have nothing to lose by asking it is, would it be a good idea to let one of my friends adopt my female so I can focus 100% on him? She has that personality that would make that easy for her to transition into any situation so it would be a completly ok thing to do as I know they are good people and would provide a great life for her. I love them both and I just want the best for both of them and she is young enough still to adjust to that change. Just an idea cause I'm scrambling here.

Wow, sorry to hear it was not a good experience with the breeder. Well, that's water under the bridge and the situation is what it is now.

Do both pups have their own separate "safe place" that they can retreat to for comfort, rest and hiding? Something like a crate or little dog house that they can feel secure in and go to hide or escape from people and everything else that scares them? I ask because you mentioned him hiding under a desk and not wanting to come out. If they have a personal crate or something similar as a safe place then I don't see when there would be an absolute need for them to be forced out into an uncomfortable situation. If he doesn't want to leave his crate he doesn't have to.

Btw, I am writing with experience on having a dog who is extremely unconfident, unsocialized, came to us terrified of literally everything, and has been that way since she was a puppy (or so I'm told). With that in mind, I completely sympathize with you and have gone through a lot of what you're now going through. Although our shy one we adopted when she was already 3 yrs old and she came from a BYB.

What we did with her was give her her own personal crate as her safe place. For weeks she would not leave her crate except to go outside to potty. And each time she went outside to potty she was terrified of every little sound, sight and object. For the first month we made it a point to completely ignore her. So if she came out of her crate on her own we didn't acknowledge her at all and just let her explore as she felt comfortable. I swear it took a good few MONTHS before she felt comfortable leaving the room her crate was in and even then she was extremely cautious and would go running back at the slightest strange noise or persons approach. It is extremely slow going with these guys so don't give up or lose hope if things take longer than you would expect. We've had our fearful, shy, unconfident girl (Glory) for almost 11 months now and she's still very unconfident, shy and overly skittish. She's even still scared of my husband at certain times, some times she's all over him giving him kisses and wanting to be pet and other times she beats a hasty retreat with her tail tucked between her legs, peeing submissively, and barking and growling at him for no apparent reason. It's a never-ending challenge and something we are still struggling with almost a year after adopting her. Yes she's made huge improvements in some ways but she still has a long ways to go too.

Be patient and don't set time limits. A month is certainly not much time at all so I would imagine he's not yet really settled or comfortable in his new home or with his new family. I'm not sure how young your kids are but young children can be rather terrifying to a young pup and even small dogs. They're big, loud, fast-moving and unstable...very scary indeed!

As for keeping your female or adopting her out, that is really entirely up to you. If it were me, I would keep her as she'd probably be beneficial in helping your male out of his shell. Definitely have one on one training with each but I would not rehome the female if your only reason is working with your male on his issues.

Thank you for the reply^^ Yes we have crates for both of then that are denlike crates. Once they are in there everyone in the house knows to leave them alone. They both completely love thier crates and are fed in there. They know it is thier own slice of the house that noone in the house bothers them in.
I think after reading your reply I will continue to give him time and understand that the times when I have to get him out of other places I will have to accept it for being what it is. When he is a "normal" dog so to say he is just amazing. I have a great bond with him and I'm sad to see him when he feels so small. I own a lawn care business and it's middle of winter so I get to spend alot of time with these two. I will continue to grind this out and see where it goes lol. I dont wish it on anyone else but I'm glad I'm not alone. ^^ Our kids are 13 12 and 5 and the living room area has never been a place of play and thier rooms are off limits to the dogs. The craziness of the family life (5 year old playing loudly) has not been a issue really.
Thanks so much again!

I personally wouldn't adopt of the female, you might end up getting in trouble with the breeder because if you can no longer care for you dog, you almost 90% of the time need to return it to the breeder, and those things can get a bit messy.


sorry to hear all the issues you guys are having. have you considered bringing them both to puppy classes? it helped tons with our boy, he was terrified of everything as a puppy, but never did the yelping thing, putting him in puppy classes helped a lot and brought him out of his shell very quickly.

+1 on puppy class, at least for your female. It's a great place to get them socialized. I took Siku to puppy class and now she's great at the dog park and not afraid of people or strange dogs, well never really was, but I'm glad I took her. My new one Elara was a bit shy at the first puppy class to my surprise, but today was our third time meeting up at class and she's pretty much totally come out of her shell. She loves the other people, I think she now thinks all strangers have treats for her, lol, and she played with the other puppies! The first time she just hid from the other puppies, so I was really happy to see her playing. Good luck with your two and good for you for sticking it out. Oh and I too would keep the female for the same reasons as posted above. I think he'll fell more confident with her around and she'll teach him to be less afraid.