So start off with I rescued my husky in october of 2014. I've trained her on my own up to this point. I have a trainer coming in three weeks for her to do private training to help correct this socialization problem she has, but in the mean time i was wondering if anyone had any tips of their own i can do and work on at home. The reason i am waiting rather than finding another trainer is I have used her before and have recommended to her to friends and she has done wonders training dogs.

So Skye is a 6 year old female spayed husky, she is 50lbs. She loves smaller dogs than her. She gets very excited and she approaches them she is confident around them. She plays with a few of them, others she just doesn't know what to do and stands there. So that is one problem with her socialization. The other part is any dog her size or bigger, she loses all confidence around them and is scared. When she is away from them she seems to really enjoy them just as she approaches she gets nervous. Once she gets withing 2 feet of the dog she is terrified and wants nothing to do with the dog. She will sometime become reactive and growl if the dog were to sniff her, but majority of the time. She just drops into almost a fetal position. She won't go face to face with the dog. Now the weird part is she will walk aside any sized dog without problem, she won't care the dog is there or anything. I have been walking her with a very well trained German shepherd who is about 90lbs. They will go on walks together without problem. But if we were to try to introduce them face to face she becomes scared and won't. The German is very well trained as i said, he will just stay in a sit position and the entire time, he will not move towards her or anything.

I was wondering if you guys had any tips or helpful training ideas, i can work on with her for the next 3 weeks, until her appointment with my dog trainer. Oh forgot to mention she is the only dog of the house, i am not forcing a second dog into the home or upon her. There wasn't much information on her when I rescued her, it seems like she just never received proper socialization skills as a puppy so she doesn't know how to interact with another dog.

wanted to include a few photos of her as well! Hopefully the sizing is correct!

Welcome to the forum, and what a beautiful husky girl you have.

I do not have much experience in this, and to be honest in the gsd world, most owners are taught to train their dog to not care about other dogs. Huskies are different they do prefer interaction with other dogs. Is it possible to have the gsd and your girl hang out in a private setting where no other dogs are around and the two can slowly interact? If so I would observe and see how the two are together, don't force anything, but allow for introductions. Dog parks are at times the worst opportunity for a dog to do anything. Having a controlled setting may help her.

It is a holiday weekend so not sure how many people will respond, have patience, some people should be able to help.

MiyasMomma wrote:

Welcome to the forum, and what a beautiful husky girl you have.

I do not have much experience in this, and to be honest in the gsd world, most owners are taught to train their dog to not care about other dogs. Huskies are different they do prefer interaction with other dogs. Is it possible to have the gsd and your girl hang out in a private setting where no other dogs are around and the two can slowly interact? If so I would observe and see how the two are together, don't force anything, but allow for introductions. Dog parks are at times the worst opportunity for a dog to do anything. Having a controlled setting may help her.

It is a holiday weekend so not sure how many people will respond, have patience, some people should be able to help.

Also thank you for the compliment, I got very lucky with her, she's a wonderful dog!

Actually the GSD comes over to my house on these walks. It's a friends dog who was trained by my trainer. The interactions are done in a baseball park, no other dogs around but fenced in. We've tried to slowly interact them so far she just seems to want to run away and do her own thing. We've gone on 20-25 minute walks around the neighborhood with them side by side or with one of us in between and no problems at all. After the walk she is what i would call scared to be near him if we're not moving. He has another gsd who is 4 months old and about 30lbs, him and skye get a long well. She just doesn't seem to realize how to properly interact.

I try to avoid the dog parks as well. They can be great places, but the ones near me hold no accountability. A lot of untrained dogs and there is no shots check or anything to go there. It's basically a honor system as to if your dog is up to date on shots. They're supposedly building a new one where you have to get a card to scan to be let in and to get the card your dog must be up to date and remain current on shots, or they lock you out. Or if your dog is aggressive and causes problems with other dogs, they can lock you out as well, but its likely a year away still!

Hmmmm.....Huskies have a weird sense of play. Does she play with the younger gsd? Can you have all 3 together to socialize? Does the older gsd play with the younger? Have you and your friend interact and play with the dogs? Sorry for all of the questions, but I feel that in this case if you run around and play as well maybe she would come out of her shell a bit. Miya my husky/gsd, but more husky has never met a dog she doesn't like, she is a bully to every dog, but she does like dogs. My gsd pup on the other hand does not like dogs smaller than her. Since we do not socialize with small dogs, nor plan to ever have one, it is not a big deal to me, we have no dog parks around here. But I think if you include yourself as part of the pack of dogs it may help.

I'll try that Wednesday when they come over. As of now if all 3 are out together, Skye will try to engage the young German in play and if the old jumps in she will just go solo and on her own. I've tried to join in on the play but usually if the larger German comes over, away she goes. Most of the time she goes by my friends side to get petted lol. She's very social with people. I'll see if maybe I can engage her with a toy to keep her interest. I'll also get my friend to join in as well, maybe it will help her feel more comfortable. M

Just saw your reply at the Acana thread.....if you need help with the 2 breeds you can pm me here. I have only had gsd's and husky's all my life. I don't post much at the other place, it is an intimidating site, so many old farts who know everything. haha. I think in your situation, my suggestion above will work. Getting a puppy with your adult should be no issues and in reality they will bond as the pup grows and she should have no issues. Also, depending on the gsd you get, there shouldn't be a drastic size difference, the gsd will be slightly bigger, but growing up with the pup, she should be able to adjust her socializing and accept the gsd.

Here is a link to my girls scrapbook, I also have one of just Miya. There are a couple other members here who have both breeds.

https://www.itsahuskything.com/t15236-miya-and-sofie-s-scrapbook-updated-pics-sofie-6-months-old

Just so you realize that there are more members here than just Renee,  Hi! and welcome - and you do have a beautiful Sibe!!

I'm going to comment on one thing that stood out to me from your original message was "She won't go face to face with the dog." which was no surprise to me.  Face to face leads to an aggressive stance.  

Think about it in human terms; where's your boss when he's chewing you out?  Bet he's directly in front of you, no?  When you and you BFF are together are you facing each other or are you walking / setting side by side ... you may 'take tea' setting across from each other, but I'll bet you spend more time beside each other than face to face.
Dogs are pretty much the same way; a comfortable dog will willingly, happily run along beside his playmate.

I'll include a link that gets a little verbose to my line of thinking (says the guy who tends to write books!) before I make my suggestions.

• When meeting the first time - or any time before they're comfortable with each other - they should meet on neutral territory. You don't want one of them "protecting their turf". Have the meet "accidentally" in a park, for example.
  
• Walk them normally, your dog on your left, your friends dog on their left (as the link suggests it should be "dog, human, dog, human") (left or right doesn't matter, there should be one human between the dogs)
  
• As you go along, release more and more of the leash and let the dogs migrate toward each other. This should be comfortable for all concerned (human and canine), if it's not then "reel them in" and try again later.
  
• Stop and chat (or whatever), give the dogs a chance to "meet and greet" in a completely relaxed atmosphere. As long as neither of them becomes aggressive, leave them alone! Just as we humans need to meet on our terms, so do dogs.
  

Now the link I gave goes into agonizing detail ... I just it summed up with my preferences.

thank you, i will definitely keep that in mind and try that Wednesday as well. That actually makes a lot of sense, I'll go read over that link.