Do any of you have smaller dogs with your husky?

I own two rescue small breeds (Min pin/Jack Russel/Spitz mix and a Beagle/Dachshund mix) and my concern is their safety and how they will do with a rough housing Sibe pup/young adult.

I would crate the sibe for the time I am away from home (8-9 hours max per day with 4 hours being the longest time left in one go, weekends I am home or will take my pup wherever I can when I am out). With this said the Sibe wouldn't have access to my other two dogs. The beagle mix is also crated while I am gone, but the Jack Russel girl has free range of the home since she is very well behaved.

I know husky's have a very high prey drive and don't usually do well with cats, but how about an 18 and 22 lb dog? My 22lb. girl loves to play with the big dogs and tones down her strength when playing with her brother. I just don't want any accidental injuries or, god forbid, a death. I know it would absolutely crush me if anything like that happened to my babies and I would feel very responsible since I was the one that introduced the Sibe to our home in the first place. Any input is much appreciated.

I was really concerned about small dogs when we first got Ami but I think my fears were groundless. Our neighbors to the northeast have a little maybe miniature doberman that is about the size of my ski boot - that dog keeps escaping and coming over here to play. Ami seems to think she's cute and moderates his play with her. To the southeast of us is a family with several mini dogs, incuding dachsund. He is all over Ami, barking, acting like he's a newfoundland and again, Ami just seems to think it's cute. BUT, he's never lived with a small dog so I can't be sure - do know that on one of our walks, there are two little things, one of whom can be nasty and snappy and Ami, even when provoked, did not try to hurt the dog.

That is great to hear. You're Ami seems like such a sweet doll to not even snarl at a defensive dachshund! I have heard if raised as a puppy they can do fine, but I know if I had a chihuahua or Maltese I would never get a husky. My dogs have a little more heft to them than say a toy breed, but a neck grab and shake would definitely harm them greatly or worse.

That's what worries me with the shrimpy thing across the street - the family seems to have NO clue! Ami killed a raccoon last summer - broke its neck shaking it.

I've hard all the rumors and a couple of months ago I had a stray cat show up at my place (now that's a real feat all in itself!)
Sasha has never had a problem with him, Avalanche was a little "What is this?" but eventually they've become friends.  At the moment the cat and Sasha are laying literally back to back.  More than once I've found the cat using Sasha's legs as a headrest ...   Sasha will chase him but when she catches up it's almost like "Tag, you're it!"

That said, I'm not sure sure whether it's that they were raised around cats (both are rescues) or what, but they've both accepted him as a member of the family.  How do you tell?  Other than trying, I have no idea!

i have a husky and a chihuahua. they get alone well. i usually keep my eye on my Chihuahua though hes very old and a bit grouchy from time to time. Leo loves to be around him as long as Joey is behaving.  

he really likes small dogs even during our walks he's made many small dog friends. so far he has a Pomeranian, mini pin and some other chihuahuas as friends.

i think i really depends on the dog or dogs, i read  stories as well.

RedFlashFire05 wrote:

i have a husky and a chihuahua. they get alone well. i usually keep my eye on my Chihuahua though hes very old and a bit grouchy from time to time. Leo loves to be around him as long as Joey is behaving.  

he really likes small dogs even during our walks he's made many small dog friends. so far he has a Pomeranian, mini pin and some other chihuahuas as friends.

i think i really depends on the dog or dogs, i read  stories as well.

That is too cute! I am glad to hear that he gets along with the chihuahua. Do you leave them alone and they are fine together or is one/both crated while unsupervised?

My aunt has two little chihuahua's, cute as ever and sweet to me, but I know she would be worried over our Christmas and 4th of July gathering's with a big husky around.

This makes me feel a lot better though! All these replies are great. I believe with proper obedience training, raising the pup at a young age w/small dogs, and being sure to pick the right temperament of puppy will all be what determines if he/she will be able to get along with smaller dogs.

when he was younger i would crate him, wail i was using the bathroom or not able to keep an eye on him, and puppy preschool helped as well  .  now he's okay to be alone with my old man Joey wail in the bathroom. but they are usually supervised just to make sue Leo doesn't eat strange things . Leo is very calm and lazy for a husky  he dose chase birds for time to time though .

RedFlashFire05 wrote:

when he was younger i would crate him, wail i was using the bathroom or not able to keep an eye on him, and puppy preschool helped as well  .  now he okay to be alone with my old man Joey wail in the bathroom. but they are usually supervised just to make sue Leo doesn't eat strange things . Leo is very calm and lazy for a husky  he dose chase birds for time to time though .

What a nice pup you have! I want one just like that .

I have a Siberian and Chihuahua (used to have 2 chis previously) and my sibe has always been fine with them. My current male Chi is fearless and plays with my Sibe all the time...he really instigates it! Even play can be dangerous to a little dog but most of them can hold their own. My previous 2 female Chis wanted nothing to do with our Sibe and they let him know it.

For safety sake it is wisest to not leave small dogs unsupervised with a large dog. I have always kept my sibe separate from my Chis when we are not home for the Chis' safety and my peace of mind. Although my Sibe is so great that I have recently started leaving them both loose in the house when no one is home for short periods (up to 2 hours) and they've been fine. Now this is assuming there is no food for them to fight over! I don't dare leave them together with anything edible in the vicinity to prevent a fight over resources...my Chi WILL be on the losing end if that ever happens.

Mine interacts with guinea pigs and rabbits. She also likes the chinchillas but they are more fragile and their bouncy nature is a bit too tempting for a less than 1 year old husky. My akita walks right in the area of the basement with loose small animals when I am doing chores. It's how you train them. Personally though I only get puppies to raise in my situation because it is far easier to teach them the right reactions to the various animals and dogs from the beginning than to fix an adult who has been allowed to let their prey drive run wild. We fostered a very unsocialized male akita and it was incredibly annoying. We had to put a barrier set out 2' in front of the chin cages to prevent him thinking he was within reach to catch them. It helped keep him calmer. We also left the leash on him in the house and I would pull him back to my desk if he got too excited. After 4 or so months he did start to improve. I still wouldn't let him in the same room as a small animal out of it's cage like I do all the time with the dogs I raised. I'm not sure if that would ever be safe with such a dog. He did spend at least one of his 3 years locked in a closet all the time though so it's an extreme case of no socialization and it's an akita. Huskies are far easier to handle than akitas.

My husky does fine with small dogs. My mom has a old grumpy yorkie that Simon meet at 8 weeks old. Paquette has never given Simon an inch and he has a ton of respect for her. Now they will sleep next to each other and he behaves wonderfully around her and other small dogs. I also made a point to reward him for calm relaxed behaviors when around small dogs. But I still don't ever leave them alone in the house unsupervised.