My husband and I adopted a siberian husky puppy when she was around 2 1/2 months old. Her first owner bought her from a pet store, and then found she couldn't have a sib' at her apartment complex so rehomed her, where we found her and adopted her. We named her Yukiko, Kiko for short. She has an older brother" Riley, a 1 year 1 month German Shepherd. Along with our two dogs, we have a 4 (about to be 5) year old daughter. Kiko is our first full Siberian Husky. We've had a dog before who had a tiny amount of husky, and that was years ago.

Kiko is full of energy, as any puppy (but compared to when our GSD was a pup she's got a lot more). i take her on walks frequently through out the day, as well as off leash in an enclosed area. She used to be a lot more mouthy but i worked with her. She hadn't become mouthy at all until one day (this is about a week ago) I went to pick her up. She rolled on her back and when I put my hands on either side of her abdomen to roll her over to pick her up - she tried to bite two times, then full on bit me. I was shocked to be honest. Literally seconds after that bite, she tried to do it again. NOT play bites. I grabbed her mouth and held it shut and told her NO. She whimpered and after a moment I let her go. No real issues since then until this morning.

My husband was sleeping in bed and I left her in the room because she was still sleeping too. I guess she got up, went over on top of his pillow (above where he was sleeping) and made some noises. He said it was like a, "Err -rrrrr" and then she bit him on the head. Top/back of it. He got up went to the bathroom. I checked him out and wasn't able to see that she broke any skin, but I could see indentations and scrape where some of the teeth had gone down on his head. I wasn't really able to see the bottom/back of his head with the lighting. There was definitely force behind the bite. We haven't owned any dog pup/adult dog who has bitten before. We've had very mouth Alaskan Malamute pups, GSD's, Lab's, a Collie, and a Pyrenees/Husky mix. (Between the two of us and growing up ourselves). She was at the vet's last week and they said she has lost all but one puppy tooth in the front, and then she has one last set of teeth to fall out. Her teething has really fallen off recently.

We've both been around many dogs before and other Siberian Husky's and we're to be honest, not sure if this is a normal thing with the breed/with her? I know that from school 4 months they can still be teethy, nipy, etc. BUT these were bites - no way around it. I don't want this next part to come off cross or negative to anyone, but I've seen others post for help with some people answering, "I wish people would read up on the breed, etc. before getting one" and before I get slammed I would just like to say that both my husband and I did plenty of researching before we decided to bring one into the family. We're hoping that someone could maybe please shed some light on this and help us? If anyone has had experiences with this? If this is normal? I'm leaning towards it isn't myself, BUT I know I don't know the breed with first hand experience. I thought coming here where there are other Sib' owners who have experience with the breed, could maybe help?

Thank you everyone for reading this long wall of text, and for any responses!

ETA: I have looked at the sticky on this about biting, etc. I'm still looking for help though. The picture below is when we were bringing her home.

She's beautiful and sounds like she just has too much freedom if she thinks it is acceptable to get on your bed and bite your husband. She wanted him to move and she got what she wanted by biting him and then him leaving. Did he make her get down from the bed? Reprimand her in any way? Is she allowed to go wherever she wants? Get on any furniture she wishes? When you held her mouth and told her no you were telling her that wasn't okay, and she seems to have gotten the hint. She is testing you and will rule your life if you let her. Testing their humans is normal for huskies, especially in the 8 month to 2 year range. The terrible teens as we refer to it. There are many things that can fall under teenage behavior from biting, to potty training regression, to all out chaos. Now is when having boundaries and structure is crucial to keep you husky under control. And welcome to the forum!

TwisterII wrote:

She's beautiful and sounds like she just has too much freedom if she thinks it is acceptable to get on your bed and bite your husband. She wanted him to move and she got what she wanted by biting him and then him leaving. Did he make her get down from the bed? Reprimand her in any way? Is she allowed to go wherever she wants? Get on any furniture she wishes?  When you held her mouth and told her no you were telling her that wasn't okay, and she seems to have gotten the hint. She is testing you and will rule your life if you let her. Testing their humans is normal for huskies, especially in the 8 month to 2 year range. The terrible teens as we refer to it. There are many things that can fall under teenage behavior from biting, to potty training regression, to all out chaos. Now is when having boundaries and structure is crucial to keep you husky under control. And welcome to the forum!

Thank you! and Thank you for replying! She sleeps next to our bed, but in the morning will climb up next to us. When she bit him, he said he got up off the bed and got her off the bed. He did reprimand her by smacking her bottom. We don't smack our dogs, hit them, etc. (first for her)With this it was such a shock and hurt that that's what he did when it happened. She is/isn't allowed to go where she wants, BUT I think she does have a little bit more freedom then perhaps she should. We had some trouble getting her to go outside on a leash. So we would take her out, let her off leash to use the bathroom. If we don't do that we can go out and walk around for an hour or so and sometimes she'll use the bathroom or just wait until we're back inside to go. I wonder if they will change who they listen to better depending on a few things? For a while she listened to my husband a lot more than me. However of late if I call her she comes usually immediately. She is very lovey to all of us, but really seems to listen to me more than my husband. Is this part of the issue?

In the house she gets spurts of energy and will tear around the house. (runs around house, jumps on couch, jumps to back of couch and will jump off )  two days ago she did 3 rounds of that before I could catch her. She does get on the couch, but usually just as a step to get onto the recliner chair, or to try and hide a milk bone in the cushion. With the recliner, She sits on the back of it.

We are working with her with commands and such. She has sit down BUT will only do it if she wants to do it. When we go outside (Putting the leash on, about to go through a door, walk across a street), about to feed them (reg. food, treats) she sits for those. Leash training is not really there...She pulls pulls pulls. Off leash she does well. If we have our GSD with us (her and I when we walk) she will stay with him or be by us. If it's just her and I she will stay close to me, use the bathroom then she walks next to me. We recently got a softer prong leash to help train our GSD not to pull on the leash. He's pretty good on leash but it's that some times he'll pull and jars your shoulder/arm. We used it two days (literally for about 10 minutes of use) and he walks without pulling at all. We were thinking maybe later down the road if other training methods don't work maybe using one for her? I know they're dogs who were bred to run run run and so I wonder if walking her on a leash without the pulling is possible?

I also read on another site that if a Sib' talks back that they're being unruly - but I don't want to punish her (never have about this) for talking. Their breed does talk, but is there a good/bad time for that? Kind of like a human child talks, but sassing (talking back) is different. Opinions? :Q

ETA: With all of our dogs we never went to puppy classes. Would this be a good thing for her to do? With Kennel training she will howl if we put her in there. Not always but she will get to that point. When we first brought her home I started by putting her in the kennel at night and I covered the kennel. She howled for a bit but would calm down. Eventually though she started doing in the night and then that progressed to any amount of time she went in the kennel she would do it. We live in an apartment and she is a chewer - leaving her out isn't an option. Currently I'm a SAHM so she's not alone very often. But when we need to leave somewhere and Riley (our GSD) has to go with us she will just howl. Any tips for that? Go back to putting her in there at night? Of just for a couple hours during the day while we're home? She will go in there and sleep sometimes. (Had VX's two days ago and went in her kennel and slept for several hours) We do keep the kennel doors open so they can come/go as they please.

It really sounds like she is running your household

I think it's time for some boundaries and some serious compliance / accountability for commands.  If a dog Sits only when she want to no matter when you say it , then Sit means nothing and she has not learned that you are a priority and and she needs to pay attention and comply.

I would say her days on the furniture,  including your bed, should be over.  The running in the apartment needs to stop,  and she needs some serious on-leash training both inside and outside.

She's under 6 months old now, yes? Now is the time to set her default foundation for when she's done with adolescence and becomes your dog. Seems like she's off to a bad start .

I think more rules and structure,  more time in command or in a crate ,  more time on leash indoors , and keeping her off the furniture and stopping her from runny around like a crazy dog should slow her mind down a bit and get her giving you better choices and better behaviors.

seattlesibe wrote:

It really sounds like she is running your household

I think it's time for some boundaries and some serious compliance / accountability for commands.  If a dog Sits only when she want to no matter when you say it , then Sit means nothing and she has not learned that you are a priority and and she needs to pay attention and comply.

I would say her days on the furniture,  including your bed, should be over.  The running in the apartment needs to stop,  and she needs some serious on-leash training both inside and outside.

She's under 6 months old now, yes? Now is the time to set her default foundation for when she's done with adolescence and becomes your dog. Seems like she's off to a bad start .

I think more rules and structure,  more time in command or in a crate ,  more time on leash indoors , and keeping her off the furniture and stopping her from runny around like a crazy dog should ow her mind down a bit and get her giving you better choices and better behaviors.

Thank you for replying! How do you do in door leash training? I've never heard of that before. For kennel training, should I put her in it for a couple hours during the day (kind of like a nap period)? to get adjusted? Should she be sleeping in it at night? She likes to chew but she will chew through almost everything. She loves squeaky toys/plush toys but she shreds them so quickly and am so afraid of her ingesting a foreign body. Any ideas for toys? She likes rope toys (what her previous owners gave her, but again with the strings and her shredding them I don't want to cause a foreign or linear body obstruction).

Has it happened since and has it happened prior to this? I only ask becasue in all likely hood she could have been prompting a play moment, as huskies make the same grrring sounds when playing as they do when being pissy, and does not understand bite inhibition. Is she nippy in general?

My two cents: this puppy was likely ripped from mom very young, thrown into a small kennel at a store, injected with who knows what, and is now expected to behave as though she knows anything. Get into puppy play dates, training, etc. and do it soon. She probably has no concept of bite inhibition (among other things) and would have learned these things if she would have been able to stay with her siblings instead of being sold to a pet shop.

Also, please don't take this as me being rude to you. I'm not.

I'll chime in here a bit since I'm a strong advocate of an "in house leash" and then let Jeff correct me (differences of opinion are expected, allowed and normally not critical) I do agree completely with Jeff's comment about your dog having to much unstructured freedom.  He and I often say the same thing differently enough that it sounds like we're contradicting each other - we just come at it from different directions.

Inside, the leash becomes your handle on the dog.  Let's say that you don't want your dog on the couch but being a Husky, he'll push the limits if you let him.  He jumps on the couch and you take the other end of the leash and guide him back down.  Since I talk to my dogs and tone of voice, imho, says a lot I'd be telling him that he's not allowed on the couch as I gently pull him off.
One recommendation I see a lot of here is to "swap up" when puppy has something they aren't supposed to have.  In my mind, what you're teaching is "Oh, if I take this then mommy's gonna give me that goody!" Guess where that's gonna lead?  If you have him on a leash then you can, gently guide him away from whatever he has and chances are good that he'll drop it in the process of figuring out what it is you're doing.
Definition - "In house" leash would be something that's at most 3 - 4 feet long; too long and it's gonna get tangled in "stuff", but you want it long enough that you can get it without puppy deciding to get you in the process.

Chew toys - I particularly like Nylabones - I particularly do not like the digestible Nylabones.  There's a lot of chatter - good and bad - about them but I've had a couple of nylon Nylabones for 2 - 3 years and my two will still occasionally pick one up to chew.  They're about as indestructible as they come, get one that's bigger than you'd expect and they'll chew and chew and chew ....

Her crate should be her safe place, it should never be used for time-outs or correction, you want her to go to it willingly; stressing this, it should be her den and generally if she's in her crate you should be left to whatever she wants to do there.

Should she sleep there at night?  right now, yes, quite probably.  It's part of the structure to her day that she (and you) needs. Once she becomes comfortable with it as being her "bedroom" she'll probably happily spend the night there even if she has other options ...

Posted as I was writing, I also agree that the pup probably has no idea of bite inhibition - from what you've described. Husky's play ROUGH!!!

mbarnard0429 wrote:

Has it happened since and has it happened prior to this? I only ask becasue in all likely hood she could have been prompting a play moment, as huskies make the same grrring sounds when playing as they do when being pissy, and does not understand bite inhibition. Is she nippy in general?

My two cents: this puppy was likely ripped from mom very young, thrown into a small kennel at a store, injected with who knows what, and is now expected to behave as though she knows anything. Get into puppy play dates, training, etc. and do it soon. She probably has no concept of bite inhibition (among other things) and would have learned these things if she would have been able to stay with her siblings instead of being sold to a pet shop.

Also, please don't take this as me being rude to you. I'm not.

No, No! You're fine! I've got tons of questions hahah! The noise that he said she made is the one she makes when she's full puppy mode and wants to play. For a few days or so in the morning she would wake up before me, come over to me on the bed and pull/chew on my hair. I'd roll over, she'd go to the other side and do that. I'd cover up with the blanket, and she'd pull the comforter off my side of the bed. I have wondered, like you, if she was trying to initiate play - but with how hard she bit I think that's why we question it. She does play really hard with our GSD where she will even make him yelp. Rarely rarely has he done it to her. She will play a little hard sometimes with me. Sometimes I'll walk by and she'll, "Whoooooo" at me and when I look at her she'll do it some more and/or run at me and jump up and/or roll over on her stomach. Get up and run around and do it again. She gets rough sometimes where she'll try pulling your hair by your ear. I think she does this similar to what she does with Riley - tugging on his ear or scruff to play. We have a cat and i caught her chasing the cat once. She caught up to our cat, and grabbed her by the scruff and started dragging her. Our cat isn't petite, she's about the size of Kiko and Kiko is 26 lb.s (Artemis, our cat, I'm sure doesn't weigh that much - probably around 12-15 lb. range) That didn't bode well for Kiko and she now leaves the cat somewhat alone, however, I've caught the cat running up and playing with her and since then the play hasn't been nearly as rough.

What you suggested about her maybe being pulled from mom away early, I've too thought about. She is actually missing the last digit on one of her back toes. It would be like you, or I missing the tip of our finger. I've heard that a lot of pet stores buy their pups from puppy mills. Her being born without that toe, or having an accident early on as a pup would make sense with what I've heard about puppy mills. I've read also that Sib's are affectionate (also heard they're really really not) - but Kiko is OVERTLY VERY affectionate. If she's not sleeping or playing, she has to be right next to you (usually by my feet) and/or giving you kisses. Another reason why we were shocked with the bite. She will sleep close by but with some space between us. When she's in the living room she'll sleep on my feet, or where she's touching them, or literally a foot away. No matter where I'm at. She'll also wait outside the bathroom door (sometimes scraches at it) if I go in. If I'm in the shower she'll open the door and come in the shower. All of this Husky stuff too? or more part of her personality?

ETA: She hasn't bitten anyone or tried to, etc. since then. With the hair pulling she hasn't done that today either.

I would try getting her to sleep in the crate at night. Move it into your room so she can be close. Giving her calm times during the day would be good too. Give her a frozen Kong to work on. She will see the crate as a good calming place with time. She seems to be okay with the crate on her terms, when the door is open, but not so much on your terms, when the door is shut. She needs to accept your terms.

Having her wear the leash inside will help her get used to it. Have her drag it around. Lead her from room to room. Praise for good walking. Do the same outside. She's learned you'll let her loose if she won't potty on leash. That's one thing while she is small but it's a sure fire way to lose her when she gets older. Have you tried treating her for potting outside?

TwisterII wrote:

I would try getting her to sleep in the crate at night. Move it into your room so she can be close. Giving her calm times during the day would be good too. Give her a frozen Kong to work on. She will see the crate as a good calming place with time. She seems to be okay with the crate on her terms, when the door is open, but not so much on your terms, when the door is shut. She needs to accept your terms.

Having her wear the leash inside will help her get used to it. Have her drag it around. Lead her from room to room. Praise for good walking. Do the same outside. She's learned you'll let her loose if she won't potty on leash. That's one thing while she is small but it's a sure fire way to lose her when she gets older. Have you tried treating her for potting outside?

I've thought about it but have not brought the treats out with me yet, no.

I suspect Megan is right on the money with the lack of bite inhibition and trying to initiate play.

And I've no doubt that is you follow Jeff and AL's suggestions, you will see results.  Puppy classes would be a big plus, too (she's had shots?)

My son's husky mix loves to play with their cats.  One of the cats, loves to play back, Archer has been known to have kitty's whole head in his mouth - as soon as kitty goes limp and "mews" he lets go.  The other cat would rather Archer moved to the south pole.

Archer is the original lap dog...Ami the quintessential independent-personal space means out the backyard is close enough.  Anywhere in between can be normal for huskies, in my opinion.  

A lot of your pups behavior sounds like both Ami and Archer in their younger days - I'm sure if you follow the suggestions from other posters, you will have a fine, well behaved, bonded pet as she grows up.  It's the getting there that can be...interesting

BTW - she has a most beautiful face, though have to admit, looks to be a bit of a vixen!

Cerece wrote:

In the house she gets spurts of energy and will tear around the house. (runs around house, jumps on couch, jumps to back of couch and will jump off )  two days ago she did 3 rounds of that before I could catch her. She does get on the couch, but usually just as a step to get onto the recliner chair, or to try and hide a milk bone in the cushion. With the recliner, She sits on the back of it.

Zoomies! I love 'em.

amymeme wrote:

I suspect Megan is right on the money with the lack of bite inhibition and trying to initiate play.

And I've no doubt that is you follow Jeff and AL's suggestions, you will see results.  Puppy classes would be a big plus, too (she's had shots?)

My son's husky mix loves to play with their cats.  One of the cats, loves to play back, Archer has been known to have kitty's whole head in his mouth - as soon as kitty goes limp and "mews" he lets go.  The other cat would rather Archer moved to the south pole.

Archer is the original lap dog...Ami the quintessential independent-personal space means out the backyard is close enough.  Anywhere in between can be normal for huskies, in my opinion.  

A lot of your pups behavior sounds like both Ami and Archer in their younger days - I'm sure if you follow the suggestions from other posters, you will have a fine, well behaved, bonded pet as she grows up.  It's the getting there that can be...interesting

BTW - she has a most beautiful face, though have to admit, looks to be a bit of a vixen!

Thank you for replying! I will do their recommendations! I'm very happy to have received so many great suggestions! I'll post some updated pictures of her

I wouldn't worry - I'd just make sure you are proactive. She is probably from a puppy mill. Do you have any pedigree information? I can look up a few things and see what I can find if you do.

Just don't punish her for talking and growling. These are warning signals and should not be punished, for fear that they doesn't use them next time and bam, you have a bite without warning.

I truly believe this was a play initiation gone wrong. She will learn. If she starts getting nippy make sure you yelp so she knows it hurt. You can teach her a lot, so don't give up.

mbarnard0429 wrote:

I wouldn't worry - I'd just make sure you are proactive. She is probably from a puppy mill. Do you have any pedigree information? I can look up a few things and see what I can find if you do.

Just don't punish her for talking and growling. These are warning signals and should not be punished, for fear that they doesn't use them next time and bam, you have a bite without warning.

I truly believe this was a play initiation gone wrong. She will learn. If she starts getting nippy make sure you yelp so she knows it hurt. You can teach her a lot, so don't give up.

When we got her she would be mouthy a bit too hard and I would yelp. If we, or Riley yelps she lets goes. When we first did it she let go and tilted her head to the side. She's pretty good about being soft with her mouth but still can be too hard. I won't give up I'm really very happy with all of the suggestions I've heard. I can't wait for my husband to get home to talk to him all about it. We were worried it was early aggression. We haven't punished her for talking. We like it, but wanted to make sure that it was all along the norms. The only information I got with her (from first owner) was information from the Vet (clean bill of health, first shots, etc.), and the agreement/contract when she was bought from the pet store for $1800. It didn't specify in those documents where she was born, came from, etc. Just the date she was born and how much she was, and basically their return policy and what they guaranteed/didn't guarantee, etc. I was actually surprised and confused that Kiko's first owner was able to buy her from a pet store in the Denver area, because I believe it's the Aurora pet store was shut down awhile back. If I remember right it was a PetCity pet store where Kiko was bought from (almost 100% sure). There is one in Aurora, who sells Siberian Husky's. Their prices are $1300 for a Sib' but the paper work for her was definitely $1800. Not sure why she was sold for so much more. I was thinking of calling them and asking where they get them from.

You know Megan this episode with daddy and Kiko sounds a lot like the time that MsKitty jumped on my feet and got kicked off for her efforts. What we experience in that first few seconds of waking up can seem to be completely different from what it really is.

Ashley describes Kiko playing with her hair in bed and then playing with the comforter ... Ashley wasn't there so she decided that daddy was fair game but daddy wasn't seemingly awake enough to realize what was happening ... all of that from a dog who hadn't learned good bite inhibition could easily result in "the bite".
Where she describes Kiko being on her back and then biting when Ashley tried to pick her up still, to me, sounds like a pup who hasn't learned good bite inhibition and was expressing displeasure (too bad pup, what *I* want is gonna happen) and is a good example of where an in house leash would have come in handy.

What I don't hear from her is how Kiko interacts with their 5 year old. That would have been my primary concern after taking care of the immediate wounds ...

aljones wrote:

You know Megan this episode with daddy and Kiko sounds a lot like the time that MsKitty jumped on my feet and got kicked off for her efforts.  What we experience in that first few seconds of waking up can seem to be completely different from what it really is.

Ashley describes Kiko playing with her hair in bed and then playing with the comforter ... Ashley wasn't there so she decided that daddy was fair game but daddy wasn't seemingly awake enough to realize what was happening ... all of that from a dog who hadn't learned good bite inhibition could easily result in "the bite".  
Where she describes Kiko being on her back and then biting when Ashley tried to pick her up still, to me, sounds like a pup who hasn't learned good bite inhibition and was expressing displeasure (too bad pup, what *I* want is gonna happen) and is a good example of where an in house leash would have come in handy.

What I don't hear from her is how Kiko interacts with their 5 year old.  That would have been my primary concern after taking care of the immediate wounds ...

Kiko is great with our daughter Scarlett. There was a couple times when we first got her that she would be playing with Scarlett and shortly after she would be chewing on her shirt (pulling on it). She does not do that anymore. She likes to give kisses, she does that with everyone. She will sleep by her bed (just like ours). She is pretty good when it comes to Scarlett. Sometimes she gets a little rough (mouthy) but we nip it in the bud and stop the playing. From when we first got her, to how she is now with Scarlett she's really well behaved. When Kiko starts to go on one of her bursts (where she gets super excited and wants to run all over, or wants to play rough with Riley I don't let our daughter get in the middle of that) I usually feed our dogs, and I haveScarlett help with that alongside treats/telling her to sit/brushings, etc. I never mentioned it because with the two (Kiko and Scarlett) there haven't really been any issues. We know that Kiko is still learning and that we have a long ways to go. We keep that in mind when they interact and what happened this morning between Kiko and my husband is why I (we - my husband and I) watch how they interact and what level of activity/play they're doing. They play a lot of ball. We do hikes/walks quite a bit. When we all go out say to a dog park or a fenced in area, Kiko will go and say hi to different people but she's by Scarlett's side.

ETA: For a while after we got her we learned she had a thing for hair. I think it stems from playing with rope toys frequently at her first owners home. The first incident was one day (within first few days of getting her) Scarett was on the ground and Kiko came up and grabbed her pony tail and with her bottom in the air (Kiko's) she was pulling and wagging her tail. She's come up a couple times where she will grab at your hair and playfully pull it. We've really gotten on her about that (Kiko) and have seen very few incidents with Kiko wanting to go for someone's hair. There was a little bit of time where (I believe I've mentioned) Kiko would come up and pull at my hair/by my ear in the mornings. I did bring that up with my husband that he doesn't have long hair, so maybe she was trying to do that to him and that was a result. She hadn't tried to go for anyone's hair for a while before today (if that's what it was). Becuase of the first incident, just to be safe, we don't let our daughter to lay on the living room floor if Kiko is out and about - especially if she's in an active puppy mode.

Cerece wrote:

seattlesibe wrote:

It really sounds like she is running your household

I think it's time for some boundaries and some serious compliance / accountability for commands.  If a dog Sits only when she want to no matter when you say it , then Sit means nothing and she has not learned that you are a priority and and she needs to pay attention and comply.

I would say her days on the furniture,  including your bed, should be over.  The running in the apartment needs to stop,  and she needs some serious on-leash training both inside and outside.

She's under 6 months old now, yes? Now is the time to set her default foundation for when she's done with adolescence and becomes your dog. Seems like she's off to a bad start .

I think more rules and structure,  more time in command or in a crate ,  more time on leash indoors , and keeping her off the furniture and stopping her from runny around like a crazy dog should ow her mind down a bit and get her giving you better choices and better behaviors.

Thank you for replying! How do you do in door leash training? I've never heard of that before. For kennel training, should I put her in it for a couple hours during the day (kind of like a nap period)? to get adjusted? Should she be sleeping in it at night? She likes to chew but she will chew through almost everything. She loves squeaky toys/plush toys but she shreds them so quickly and am so afraid of her ingesting a foreign body. Any ideas for toys? She likes rope toys (what her previous owners gave her, but again with the strings and her shredding them I don't want to cause a foreign or linear body obstruction).

Al pretty much summed up the indoor leash idea. It's just a way to narrow her world view a bit and keep hr engaged to you and out of trouble.

Yes, I think she should sleep in a crate and be asked to hang out in it several long durations a day. This is for any dog under a year, in my book. A crate should be as banal as the floor. If you make it a big deal or allow her to make it a big deal by releasing her when she cries, then it will be a big deal and you're training her to not relax in the crate.

I'm personally not a big fan of toys and I've never been. I find they cause excitement and in some cases resource guarding nastiness and I think it's best to just avoid them. My dog gets toys around Christmas from gifts from friends or secret Santa on here and that's about it. I never gave my dog toys. He had I think two stuffed animals from Fluff N Tuff ( I think) when he was a puppy and those lasted a really long time. My dog pretty much only likes or gets animal parts like bones, antlers, or bully sticks and pig ear type stuff. He's a shredder too so toys and rope things are no good.

Okay, I had to Google "Why do dogs chew people hair" and found two interesting reasons:
The first is that the dog has OCD about peoples hair - uh, okay, but OCD in a dog, I'd think, is a learned behaviour.
The second is that people use shampoos that smell attractive (to the dogs as well as the humans) which makes more sense to me.
The third (of two?? okay, this is my take) is that many of us play on the floor with puppies, who seem to naturally gravitate to ears and hair when they're playing - and the old rule "train them young to be what you want them to be as a dog" might apply here. As the pup gets older, I think most find hair not as appealing (as a play toy) since we're generally not on the floor with the dog.
Takes your picks and if it's number three, the collection box is over that way -->> (( yeh, right ))

aljones wrote:

Okay, I had to Google "Why do dogs chew people hair" and found two interesting reasons:
The first is that the dog has OCD about peoples hair - uh, okay, but OCD in a dog, I'd think, is a learned behaviour.
The second is that people use shampoos that smell attractive (to the dogs as well as the humans) which makes more sense to me.
The third (of two?? okay, this is my take) is that many of us play on the floor with puppies, who seem to naturally gravitate to ears and hair when they're playing - and the old rule "train them young to be what you want them to be as a dog" might apply here.  As the pup gets older, I think most find hair not as appealing (as a play toy) since we're generally not on the floor with the dog.
Takes your picks and if it's number three, the collection box is over that way -->>  (( yeh, right ))

Ami has been known to grab my hair.. usually it starts with him wanting to go out and pawing my leg, progressing to my arm (I am usually seated, drinking my morning coffee.) then to grabbing my pant leg, sleeve, all the while woo-wooing. As I try to hold him off long enough to finish my coffee, he, in desperation, will grab a mouthful of my hair and gently pull. By this time, I am laughing so hard, I give up the coffee and we go for a walk.

It may be a remnant of puppyhood - a day with archer does not go by without him running all over, hanging on to Ami's tail.