Hi all! It's me again.

So far we have had a few very negative encounters with Lance, but the more he warms up the lesser they come. He has become MUCH more active now that he's adjusting and recovering from his neuter. If I don't take him for long walks at least twice a day, he gets very aggressive and bites. He does recognize both myself and my boyfriend as alpha, however he does not respect my sister Kayla. Allow me to explain an incident.

Kayla got home from work and Lance was super excited to see her! He jumped in her lap and gave her kisses. Then out of nowhere, he bit her lip. No growling, no nothing. It wasn't even a quick snapping bite. It was very slow motion. We assumed he was trying to "gentle play fight", however I am uncertain.

Since my last post, he has not growled at me. He eats treats and kibble out of my hands, and watches me scoop his food with my hands. He knows I am the provider. He did play too rough and try to bite, but I blew a whistle and yelled "DROP IT". He just started to learn two days ago, but followed through with the command. I grabbed the ball, made him do two or three tricks, and rewarded him with a treat. (turn the negative to a positive, right?)

One sister who also lives here, but has been staying with my mom since her 6 pound Maltese is there (Lance had Kennel Cough), has only met him once. I'm worried that since he has more energy, he may be way too rough with her little 6 pound Maltese once the two move back home. Especially since he has yet to be acquainted with Kelsey. I'm terrified he'll act toward Kelsey as he does Kayla - and once that happens my father will probably force me to remove him from my care. Since he's gained more energy, he has been VERY interested in other dogs - barking, charging at, etc. All of which was not experienced the first few days we had him - he even came into contact with 5 or 6 dogs of all sizes at Petco and gave zero cares. Any tips for this being a problem?

Kennel training is going tragic. I've been feeding him kibble and special treats (rawhides, pig ears) in his crate, so it's not going in it that's an issue. It's staying in it. I went outside for 15 minutes (per kennel training thing I read) and when I came back inside, he had bent the metal so severely it barely opens and shuts. The pads and sheeting I had put in there for cushions were shredded. FIFTEEN MINUTES. I left him with water, rawhide, pig ear, and kibble. PLEASE HELP. He seems to have extreme separation anxiety from me. He can't stand not being in the same room as me. I am a college student and working employee taking mental health leave from work. You see my problem. Have the anti-anxiety treats from pet stores helped anyone out there?

Speaking of the mental health issue, I wanted to get him trained as an Emotional Support Animal. Yes, I know, he has a long way to go, but he is learning so fast! I keep reading online that shelter dogs are an awful idea for that, though. He's only 1-2 years old, and I purposely wanted a shelter dog because I figured we could both make each other's life better. Cheesy, I know. Have any of you certified you dog as an ESA or service dog? What training/certificates did he complete prior?


He is a sweet boy who loves to meet new people. I'm beginning to feel like he doesn't like it when Kayla touches him certain ways, demands certain things, or speaks to him in a way I do, because he does not see her as a superior.

Thank you to everyone who actually read the entire thing. I wanted to offer as much info as I could think of. Any and all responses are very appreciated! But please nothing hateful, I am trying my best to be the best dog mommy in training to my new baby.

Madison, I think Lance is just playing and doesn't understand he is too rough. Have you looked into my suggestion on going to a dog class? I am not familiar with your area, so I can't personally recommend a trainer, however I did see this trainer and may be of interest because they actually train therapy dogs. I do not recommend board and train at all. You need to work on bonding with lance, and a board and train will make that nearly impossible, I do recommend group classes. I would go in and visit different trainers and see what one will work best for you. This is the link that mentioned therapy dog training. http://www.cmcdogtraining.com/services.html If you and Lance feel comfy with them I say go for it, I also recommend a trainer that is positive based, and or NILIF based or a combo, staying closer to a positive based or a balanced based trainer.

I'm not so great at advise because i've been training my baby since she was 3 months and it's probably more difficult at his age, but I found this if it may help:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUREXCizjb0

Amanda, I am sorry but I do not recommend Cesar Milan, ugh.....I understand you are trying to help, but I don't recommend his tactics at all. Madison if you do not want to take him to a class, which I think is valuable to you and to lance, he works around other dogs and you have a trainer to see how you interact with Lance and can guide you. Then I recommend looking up positive training or balanced training on line, there are books you can read. Also in the forum in the training section, it may be stickies but if you type in positive training or balanced training, or NILIF training there are some info that can help as well.

Thank you so much! I'm definitely looking into those now. I just purchased an airline crate from Amazon (it's Prime Day! Great discounts) and I'm hoping the durability will help with crate training.

So far he's attached at my hip. I've heard giving him a Benadryl 30 minutes before I leave can help. What are your recommendations on that?

I am not a big fan of giving drugs to us or our dogs. Jenn Twisterll gives melatonin to her girl at times to quiet her, I will see if she can get on this thread and tell you what she uses. My husky mix had severe separation anxiety, under a year old, and she did grow out of it. I have heard that plastic crates may be easier, just make sure lance gets a lot of air circulating since the plastic crates are slightly hotter than the metal ones. I know you want him to have comfort, but since he has shred objects, I would not put anything in his crate as far as blankets, pads, towels or clothing, if he shreds he may eat and then cause a possible blockage. Personally the suggestions on crate training on the forum are superb suggestions, tho I will add just one, and probably will have people thinking I am crazy or I am coddling, but I do say to Miya and now my second pup Sofie, "momma will be right back, so wait" I haven't a clue why that works, but I say it in a soothing voice, not hyper, and it does have them in a more calm state. Teaching calmness is probably going to be your key short term with Lance, getting worked up, just causes more problems especially in huskies. Everyone in the house should practice calmness, speak calmly yet with authority, no high pitched tone of voices. I find women have the most difficult time with high energy animals like the husky, because we naturally have high pitched voices, which translates to excitability to our dogs.

MiyasMomma wrote:

Amanda, I am sorry but I do not recommend Cesar Milan, ugh.....I understand you are trying to help, but I don't recommend his tactics at all.

This is Victoria Stilwell. If there's a difference between the two - I don't really follow either. She was showing what to do with a dominating dog.

Amanda, Victoria is a Cesar guru, however that particular video isn't bad, and had some useful educational value, I had seen it a long time ago, and decided to see it again, when you posted up just now. If you read my post above yours it is indeed similar to what the video mentions, keep a calm demeanor of yourself, leash dog at all times so not allowing dog to jump and mouth, time outs. lance probably was taken from his litter to early and is probably why he was in rescue, because many people have no idea how to handle a high drive animal. I did laugh at one spot of the video when Victoria said that Diesel was one of the most mouthy dogs she had ever encountered, ummmm, nope, not by a long shot, my girl Miya was the demon puppy from hell, and today she is a very sweet, loving. mild mannered dog, and greets people with a calm approach, that make people fall in love with her. Thru training, Lance will be a great companion, it is just that it will take some time.

MiyasMomma wrote:

Amanda, Victoria is a Cesar guru, however that particular video isn't bad, and had some useful educational value, I had seen it a long time ago, and decided to see it again, when you posted up just now. If you read my post above yours it is indeed similar to what the video mentions, keep a calm demeanor of yourself, leash dog at all times so not allowing dog to jump and mouth, time outs. lance probably was taken from his litter to early and is probably why he was in rescue, because many people have no idea how to handle a high drive animal. I did laugh at one spot of the video when Victoria said that Diesel was one of the most mouthy dogs she had ever encountered, ummmm, nope, not by a long shot, my girl Miya was the demon puppy from hell, and today she is a very sweet, loving. mild mannered dog, and greets people with a calm approach, that make people fall in love with her. Thru training, Lance will be a great companion, it is just that it will take some time.

Oh ok, I had no idea, haha. Yes my girl is super mouthy, too - I swear it's a Husky pup thing. I have noticed a connection with bad behavior in dogs that are taken young. There is a Staffordshire pup the same age as my girl at our dog park and his owner said he got him at five weeks.. His justification was the breeder was already selling them and he didn't want to miss the opportunity of getting the dog he wanted... And on top of that he had his ears cropped as such a young pup. Poor thing is very skiddish and untrusting. Picked up my girl when she was 12 weeks old and she's the cockiest little thing.

Oh, gee, I haven't had my book published for this thread yet - gods, I must be slipping.

Madison, you'll find that simply putting the dog in a time out (as Victoria does in that vid) is one of the best ways to convince a Husky to behave - they *crave* attention and when they don't get it they can learn in a hurry that it's their behaviour that's getting them put out.

That said, Victoria makes a couple of good comments "5 weeks is completely irresponsible" (to have gotten their puppy).  A puppy learns so much during those last few weeks with his siblings and 8-10 is immeasurably better than 5 <!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!>.  Add to that the comment made by the girl in that vid that "now we're doing things the same way."  If there are more than one person doing the training, they must "be on the same page" otherwise the dog learns who he can dominate and who he can sugar coat his way to getting things.  

As Amanda says right above, the Staffy who was brought home at 5 weeks -vs- her bringing her Arya home at 12 ...

Now to directly comment on questions:  Madison, a dog has very little sense of time, anything over two minutes may as well be an hour or eight.  So when you went out for 15 minutes, it might as well have been forever.  Start your crate training with seconds, or not at all.  Dog in crate, open door and shut door (with you still inside); then step outside, shut the door and turn around and come back in.  As long as the pooch is stable, increase it by, let's say, 5 seconds at a time.  When you've reached a minute then you can start to think about stretching it by 15 seconds at a time.  Sure it's going to take time, but a few minutes of your time for a dog who's content to be alone is a small trade off.

I keep Benadryl in the house (reminds me, I need to check the expiration date on my current batch since snakes are around again) to reduce swelling from a snake and insect bites.  It also helps that it calms them ... however, like Renee I don't drug my dogs.  It's more important to me that the dog learn good behaviour rather than being in a drug induced state where they aren't learning much of anything.

Amanda, you comment that Arya is a mouthy dog.  I realize that she's still young but are you actively working on setting boundaries with her.  Boundaries mean that you initiate any play, especially any that might get you 'bit' - if she brings a toy to you to invite you to play, that's one thing; if she nips at you for attention, well, that needs to be nipped in the bud.

One of my lines is that you want to raise the puppy to be the dog you want it to become.  If you want some particular behaviour from your adult dog, that's the behaviour you want to instill in your puppy.

I use melatonin for my girl when she is worked up either from anxiety or hormones. She gets one 3mg pill before bed to help her sleep and settle down so she doesn't keep us awake. It has helped. I don't use it for separation anxiety so I don't have advice specific to that. My girl had separation anxiety when we first got her too. Puppy proofing and leaving a radio on was how we dealt. She stopped beating up on stuff after a month or so of having a set routine.

aljones wrote:

Amanda, you comment that Arya is a mouthy dog.  I realize that she's still young but are you actively working on setting boundaries with her.  Boundaries mean that you initiate any play, especially any that might get you 'bit' - if she brings a toy to you to invite you to play, that's one thing; if she nips at you for attention, well, that needs to be nipped in the bud.

Yeah she does it for play.. If she bites too hard I stop and ignore her. For attention she stares at me and does a single bark then runs around all goofy hahaha.