Hi I have recently been able to let my husky off her lead. Although she seems to be building up more confidence in going further away from me. Today she disappeared completely out of sight for about 5 mins. I was calling her and shaking her treat bag and she did not reappear it felt like until she wanted too.
Is this normal and should I keep allowing her off as she does come back or is there any other reccommendations?
Thank you
Fiona

Fiona, Husky's are notorious for "getting lost" when off lead.  I live in an area where I have few neighbors (let's say 5 within a mile of me), when I first moved here I had a Husky who was really good about coming home - until one day she didn't ...

I now have three Huskies, one I'll let off lead when we're walking since she stays close to me.  The other two are on lead - all the time.

If you can't see her, if she doesn't come when you call - then it's possible that she's in the next county chasing a rabbit.

Simply stated - if you let her off lead someplace that isn't contained ( a dog park or tennis court, for example ) you're taking the chance that she may never come home.  You're playing with her life and you may both lose.

I understand why oh are saying But my question is more how can I teach her to get better at call back?

Huskies are notorious for selective hearing, this is why we do not recommend off leash work with them. They perfectly know recall it is a matter of if they want to listen and obey your command. Most will not listen nor obey "come here" or "let's go". To work with recall I would use a 30-50 foot long leash and start off at 10 feet use your dogs name and then your recall command, if dog doesn't budge reel them in and treat, once they get the 10 feet, let the line a little longer say 15 feet, repeat. Continue this in a positive manner until you get to the end of the line, may take weeks. If you find that your dog does not come when called after this on line, it obvious you will never have a dog (this dog) that will be solid enough to be off leash, chances are slim that you will be successful, I am sorry to say that. It is not that your husky doesn't love you, it has so much more to do with their stubborn personality and their prey drive.

You could also try ecollar training. I like the Ecollar Technologies Mini Educator. Just remember, the function of the collar is to get their attention... not to fry the hell out of them as a punishment. First, you be to find her trading level (directions with the collar or online) Use a long lead as Miyas momma suggests, pick a word for the command ( here, front, come...potato. whatever you choose) then, buzz the collar, pull on the line and give the command. Release the buzz as soon as puppy starts towards you. Rebuzz if puppy changes direction, release when continues towards you. There is lots of info and videos online, search ecollar recall training. Good luck.

Aoki wrote:

I understand why oh are saying But my question is more how can I teach her to get better at call back?

A little bit of dog nerd facts here. When talking about getting a dog to come when called most dog people use the word "recall" as kind of a short hand. As with any dog when you let a husky off leash you are leaving it up to the dog if it is going to come back and even a well trained Labrador could see an animal and run or misjudge a distance and fall. There is an inherent risk in letting your dog roam free. Siberian huskies are over all confident independent dogs that are comfortable making choices on their own. Unfortunately for those of us who love them it means they are less likely to look to you for direction when off leash. In addition to that they are built to be very athletic dogs capable of running for miles on end and covering large distances with surprising speed. On top of that they have a very intact prey drive and it is very high in most of the breed. This all adds up to a dog who can be gone in an instant get further away than you might think is possible and be so distracted chasing something that when it stops your dog might not be able to find it's way back to you even if it wanted to.

With that being said. There are many people who with a lot of training and with using there best judgment chose to take their dogs off leash in some situations. Normally hiking or far out in the country where the risk from cars is lower. We even have people on the forum who have had success of leash training their huskies. Like Al Jones said some dogs are easier than others to train.

It sounds like you are new to huskies and maybe to dogs in general. This might be a good chance to look at the trainers in your area. There is a ton of information online in articles as well as videos but it can be nice when you are starting out to have someone watch you and get tips from them. However when looking for a trainer do your homework. Talk to other clients who have worked with them unfortunately anyone can call themselves a dog trainer with no experience or training.

The basic concepts to train a recall are as follows:

Only call the dog to you if you are going to do nice things to the dog.
For example: call your dog to give a treat or pets
Don't call your dog and yell at it or if you need to clip nails. For something unpleasant go to your dog and grab it and bring it.

Most of the time you call the dog have high value treats that your dog loves so the dog learns that coming to you is awesome. Also make sure to have different treats so that you can rotate what you give so it is always a fun surprise for your dog.

Work in places you can be confident such as fenced dog parks or tennis courts so that you don't have to worry about running off when still learning.

When not in fenced in ares you can work on a long leash or so your dog can have a fair amount of freedom while you can safely practice recalls.

Only call once.

If this is an actual puppy do not use an ecollar. Knowing the age of the dog would help in knowing what advice is most likely to work with its mental abilities and attention span.

I'm lucky that both my pups seem to be really good at recall (in fact the best in puppy training despite being huskies).

I play a recall game with them many times a day (about 100 reps broken up into smaller sessions). I toss a treat in front of the pup and run in the opposite direction. I turn around & yell their name + come. It's super exciting for them to turn around and see you runnung away. They think it is the best game ever.

It seriously works though. I can call mine to me in the dog park with distractions or even mid-play (I sneak treats in to give them). Or I just have 2 abnormal husky puppies

When Wolf was a puppy, he had excellent recall as well. As he became more independent, that quickly faded. If he's in a fenced area, like the dog park, he'll come when it's time to leave and I call him. In an unenclosed area, however, he's gone. It's my opinion, though, that no dog should be off lead, for their own protection

The off leash debate is completely pointless that's why I don't get involved. There are so many variables it's impossible to give specific advice so most people will say don't do it and to be honest I can understand why. it depends on the dog, the owner and how you work with them. Time is your greatest asset. I have one dog who frankly could be off the lead 100% but in reality his off lead activities are few and far between. My other dog is very different and has a higher prey drive so I'm not comfortable with him off the lead. Reinforcement training is unreliable as they will most likely have no idea why they are responding so may ignore commands when they feel like it. I know this is not a popular approach but Huskys are more than capable of understanding what you expect of them and over time you can work that relationship to your advantage - assuming the dog is responsive.

Remember however, everything is a risk, it's about your attitude to risk given the nature of the dog.

Oh and don't use one of those shock collars - it's basically animal cruelty. The shock is similar to a firm kick in the neck but hidden from public view. The dog will never know why he is being electrocuted so will be in constant fear. I have no idea how they are legal. Anyone using one should be banned from keeping dogs if they persist.

Ok...i need to clear up some misconceptions regarding ecollars. I use one for my boy, a mini educator. Proper use of an ecollar starts with finding the lowest level at which your dog responds to the stimulation... indicated by a twitch of the ear or nose, looking up etc. If the dog is getting a firm kick in the neck, the stimulation is too high. My collar has 100 levels. Ami's training level is 12. He can feel it, apparently. I can't feel it on my neck or wrist until somewhere around 17.

The function of the collar is to get the dogs attention, not to punish him. I like to say it's sort of like in back to the future..."Mcfly....Mcfly...."

Other than my one response earlier, I've been intentionally quiet on this topic.  

There were two recent posts by @beMoreHusky and I have to comment now.  

The first post I'll generally agree with.  Whether you feel comfortable with the safety of your dog being off lead is a choice only you can make.  As he says,  there are too many things that go into determining whether *your* pup can be allowed off lead for most of us to be qualified to answer the question "Should I allow my dog off lead?"  

If you're comfortable that you have 100% recall then go for it. I, personally, don't feel comfortable with most people who want to "give their dogs some freedom."  But that's not my call, it is, as I said up to each owner to determine the risk they're willing to take.

The second message he posted is the real reason I chose to respond.  Dogmatism - speaking of absolutes - tends to offend me.  I'll make statements like "In my opinion, the safest place for almost any Husky is on the end of a leash." That's my opinion and qualified as such. To suggest uncategorically that any training tool in our arsenal qualifies as animal cruelty is, imho, too disrespectful of trainers who know how to use that tool properly.

I, personally, dislike the use of several tools - ecollars, choke chain and their ilk are at the top of my list.  Not because I think there's anything inherently wrong with the tool but with their use by someone who is uneducated in their proper use. I have never felt the need to use most of these tools, so I cont myself among the ignorant regarding their proper use.

Again, in my opinion, disrespecting our members who use tools that we personally feel uncomfortable using is begging for an argument without cause.

Al, I agree that a member should not make another member feel bad for the choices they make at using certain training tools. Be more husky, could have been more polite in their choice of not agreeing to use it. However, people must understand this is an international forum, and well, e-collars are illegal in many EU countries, so of course someone from Europe may not be familiar to that certain training tool.

I have been a successful e-collar user. However, I will never suggest someone else use one, because of a few factors. 1) don't know the age of dog. 2) don't know if the person will use it properly or have someone who does know how to use properly and can properly teach. 3) it should never be used to teach an unknown command. If the dog does not understand "come here" an e-collar could cause a lot of issues for the dog. It should be used to proof a command, not teach. 4) certain dogs will see it as a punishment, it needs to be used as a correction. If you do not understand your dogs personality, then it should not be used.

If someone asks about one I always refer them to Lou Castle's website, what I said above is almost exactly what Lou says on his website.

From a personal perspective, I do not agree with people using choke collars, prong collars, and martingales, but I will not make someone feel bad for using them, as long as they get proper education on using them correctly. To each their own.

I will say also, that every dog is different. And we can not cookie cut training as a one size fits all. I bought a second e-collar for Sofie, since I was so successful with Miya, Sofie is NOT a good candidate for one. Sofie has a submissive personality, and the nick that is used would not be useful to her, it would be punishment and not a correction. And that is what training tools are all about, it's about proper correction not punishment. Be more Husky has the right to his opinion, it's just a shame that it wasn't done in a nicer fashion, you can't blame him, because more than likely in Europe it is frowned upon for it's use, and most will say it is evil and overtly punishing. Ahhh, but now I am preaching about the world in general, hmmmm, we all need to be a little more understanding of different view points, and be polite when we do not understand.

Apologies if anyone felt offended - it was far from my intention, but I will stick to my main concern about shock collars however.  I'm not being dogmatic as it is an absolute - a binary argument - you either use them or you dont and they deliver physical punishment in the form of an electric shock.

The fact remains that the use of shock collars is considered cruelty in many countries that why they are banned and will eventually be banned in most countries that respect animal rights and the reason why is that they deliver physical punishment in the form of an electric shock.

http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/our-resources/kennel-club-campaigns/electric-shock-collars/